[INDOLOGY] Fwd: Hitler and MLBD

Sun May 18 17:21:02 UTC 2014

Dear list members,
An indological publisher claiming to  be a "leading Indian publishing house
on Sanskrit and Indology" and the first to win a Padma award for
outstanding community service through publishing (accorded to Shantilal
Jain in 1992), has a scientific reputation which it can choose to maintain
or throw away.
To decide to add an isolated non-indological book to the indological and
new age books published and marketed world-wide is a free choice and it
makes a free statement.
Especially if this isolated non-indological book happens to be Mein Kampf
(already widely available and widely read in India since 1928) -- rather
than giving the word to real heroes of the period such as Anne Frank (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl) or the non-violent
resistance group the White Rose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose).
Although it contains many unverified points "(citation needed)", it may be
instructive to have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf
and associated references to
http://jungle-world.com/artikel/2013/33/48296.html
http://rt.com/news/mein-kampf-sales-india/
Mein Kampf may be tucked away toward the bottom of p. 10 of MLBD Newsletter
vol. XXXVI No. 4 (April 2014), it appears most prominently on the Motilal
homepage where it cannot be missed: http://www.mlbd.com/.
Jan Houben

On 18 May 2014 10:54, Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veerankp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear list members
>
> I dont understand the hues and cries in this list which is mainly a forum
> for indology on availability of hitlars book on MLBD.
>
> Off course I am neither against your decision to cut ties with MLBD  (it
> is your decision anyway) nor a fan of hitler.
> hitler has nothing to do in india. there are more national heroes in india
> to follow.
>
> this book is available virtuallly in every nook and corner of the world,
> freely on WWW http://www.angelfire.com/folk/bigbaldbob88/MeinKampf.pdf,
> http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mein-kampf-official-nazi-translation-adolf-hitler/1016335572?ean=9780977476091 and
> even on amzon
> http://www.amazon.com/Mein-Kampf-Deutsch-Sprache-ungek%C3%BCrzte/dp/1480191353
>
> all these editions must be pirated one as it is still in copyright.
>
> what is the crime of MLBD if it publishes it for scholarly use just like
> it is sold on many booksellers cited above.
>
> more over MLBD is free institute to publish anything they want. there is
> no need of justification. this book is not banned even in Germany
>  according to http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17837325  Mein Kampf:
> Bavaria plans first German publication since WWII.
>
> "The book is not banned by law in Germany, but Bavaria has used ownership
> of the copyright to prevent publication of German editions since 1945."
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 3:45 AM, Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> MLBD and its "New Age" wing should withdraw the book OR be boycotted by
>> authors, readers and conferences.
>> A longer description is found on:
>> http://www.mlbd.com/BookDecription.aspx?id=18815
>> where we also learn that the book is in English (no translator's name is
>> given), that its Territory is "Available For Sale Worldwide", and that the
>> book "will give you an insight into one of the greatest evil geniuses of
>> the last century".
>> "About the book" contains no justification (attempt) why a scientific
>> indological or new age publisher should publish this book.
>> Jan Houben
>>
>>
>> On 16 May 2014 15:40, <jacob at fabularasa.dk> wrote:
>>
>>> New Age Books is an associate of Motilal Banarsidass (
>>> mlbd.com/contactus.aspx). The website of the former (
>>> newagebooksindia.com) leads directly to the website of the latter (
>>> mlbd.com).
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Jacob
>>>
>>> Toke Knudsen skrev den 2014-05-16 15:30:
>>>
>>>  Looking up the ISBN number of the book, it appears that it was
>>>> published by New Age Books on 1/1/2014; see
>>>> <http://www.lookupbyisbn.com/Search/Book/978-81-7822-464-0/1>.
>>>>
>>>> All best,
>>>> Toke
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On May 16, 2014, at 9:17 AM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at uchicago.edu>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Pirated or not, Mein Kampf has been a regular fixture of street-corner
>>>>> and railway station booksellers in India for decades. I recall it all over
>>>>> the place even during my first visit to India in 1970. What is surprising is
>>>>> to see a "respectable" publisher dealing with it. This is why I wanted
>>>>> to know whether MLBD has
>>>>> actually published it, or whether it appears only in their
>>>>> distribution list. In the latter case, higher
>>>>> management might not be at all responsible, though this would
>>>>> certainly be a great oversight
>>>>> on their part.
>>>>>
>>>>> In any case, it seems to me to be necessary to determine just what
>>>>> MLBD is doing with this, and
>>>>> then to make known to them that the Indological community (many of us
>>>>> at least) consider this
>>>>> to be unacceptable and that we will recommend that our libraries stop
>>>>> dealing with them if
>>>>> they are indeed committed to publishiing or distributing this
>>>>> particular item. I imagine that
>>>>> such a move would get their attention in a hurry.
>>>>>
>>>>> And, if they have indeed published it, I think we should insist very
>>>>> publically (e.g. in an op ed in
>>>>> The Times of India or The Hindu) that they have the thing "pulped."
>>>>>
>>>>> There's not much we can do about the fly-by-night publishers, but MLBD
>>>>> should know better.
>>>>>
>>>>> best to all,
>>>>> Matthew
>>>>>
>>>>> Matthew Kapstein
>>>>> Directeur d'études,
>>>>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
>>>>>
>>>>> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
>>>>> The University of Chicago
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>>>> http://listinfo.indology.info
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Veeranarayana N.K. Pandurangi
> Faculty of Vedantas
> Karnakata Samskrita University,
> Chamarajendra Samskrit College
> Chamarajpet, Bengaluru.
>
>
> अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि। ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा
> पापमवाप्स्यसि।।
> तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः। निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व
> विगतज्वरः।। (भ.गी.)
>
> http://www.ksu.ac.in
> http://jrrsanskrituniversity.ac.in/ <jrrsanskrituniversity at ac.in>
> http://jrrsanskrituniversity.ac.in/acd1.asp <jrrsanskrituniversity at ac.in>
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/bvparishat
>
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