Indology and "the disastrous ideology of the 'pure Aryan race'"

[Roland Steiner]

Dear members of the list,

Prof. Houben wrote in his last email (Fri, 5 Jan 2007 10:13:01 -0800)
to this list:

> By the way, did you notice that it has become
> quite silent on the list since you tried to open
> the discussion on the "Indology and the
> disastrous ideology of pure Aryan race" topic [...]?
I cannot see what this remark should mean. Anyway, I find it better  
not to remain silent any longer, esp., as I am one of the co-editors  
of the series, in which the Gustav Roth Festschrift and Reinhold  
Grünendahl's article appeared. I am limiting myself just to a few  
points.

As for the statement,

> Let
> others read your well-documented and cleverly
> argued article liberating each and every German
> indologist of the 1900-1945 period from any
> possible association with the German government
> and its disastrous ideology of the pure Aryan
> race, not only the heroic Heinrich Lüders but
> also Wüst, Schubring, Sieg, Frauwallner (but he
> was Austrian? but didn't he study and publish in
> Germany?);

Any careful reader of Reinhold Grünendahl's article in the Gustav Roth  
Festschrift (2006) will be surprised at this insinuation, especially  
in the case of Wüst. In his own words Grünendahl (2006: 212) says:  
"Hier erkennt man deutlich die Handschrift Wüsts, dessen erklärtes  
Ziel es war, das durchweg philologisch geprägte Fach in eine von  
völkischer Ideologie bestimmte Handlangertätigkeit umzudefinieren."  
("Here one clearly recognizes Wüste's signature whose explicit aim was  
to redefine the completely philogically oriented discipline as an  
activity that is subsidiary to 'völkisch' ideology".)

Or, what should the question of Frauwallner's Austrian nationality suggest?
Again, in Grünendahl's own words (2006: 207, n. 46): "Der Hinweis auf
die Tatsache, daß Frauwallner Österreicher war, soll  
selbstverständlich nicht dazu dienen, die Verantwortung für dessen  
Thesen etwa auf eine 'österreichische Indologie' abzuwälzen [...];  
Frauwallner selbst [stellt] sich nachdrücklich in die Tradition einer  
'deutschen Indologie". ("The reference to the fact that Frauwallner  
was Austrian should not in any way at all be used to shift the  
responsibility of his [Frauwallner's] theses, say, onto an 'Austrian  
Indology' [...]; Frauwallner [puts] himself emphatically in the  
tradition of a 'German Indology'.")

I am looking forward to _evidence_  with regard to Dr Grünendahl's  
questions instead of, I think, giving mere allegations.

With kind regards,
Roland Steiner