[INDOLOGY] New article on Sanskrit

[Artur Karp]

> academics need to step out of the ivory tower and resist the government’s
manipulation of this ancient language

Dear Ananya,

Why should they *step out* and *resist*? Whatever the government's efforts,
people aren't going to start speaking/writing Sanskrit.

Do you suspect that replacing some - yes, Islamic and Christian
(Arabic/Persian and English) - parts of Modern Indian Languages
vocabularies with their - yes, Hindu (Sanskrit) equivalents could create
communal tension?

Look at European Languages and the role of Latin/Greek lexemes in their
development, especially late XIXth century. In the case of my language
(Polish) many German(ic) lexemes were being then systematically replaced
with their Latin equivalents. And new Latin/Greek lexemes introduced - to
describe, by one word, new philosophical, scientific, technological,
political concepts.

Yes, there were some people who tried to resist this trend and kind of
re-introduce (largely artificially created) Old-Slavic lexemes. Yes - but
their efforts were soon forgotten.

Regards,

Artur Karp (ret.)
University of Warsaw
Poland

2016-09-15 14:27 GMT+02:00 Ananya Vajpeyi <vajpeyi at csds.in>:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> The fall issue of World Policy Journal, titled "History's Ghosts", is just
> out.
>
> The issue published by Duke University Press journals, is now live online
> <http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/fall2016>, and here is a direct link
> <http://wpj.dukejournals.org/content/33/3/45.full> to my article in it,
> titled "The Return of Sanskrit".
>
> The Return of Sanskrit
> How an Old Language Got Caught up in India’s New Culture Wars
>
> Indian scholar Ananya Vajpeyi examines the way the ruling Bharatiya Janata
> Party is using Sanskrit to advance a Hindu supremacist agenda. She argues
> that academics need to step out of the ivory tower and resist the
> government’s manipulation of this ancient language.
>
> ​Thanks and all best,
>
> Ananya Vajpeyi. ​
>
>
> --
>
> *Ananya Vajpeyi *
> *Fellow*
> *Centre for the Study of Developing Societies*
> *29 Rajpur Road, Civil Lines*
> *New Delhi 110054*
> *e: vajpeyi at csds.in <vajpeyi at csds.in>*
> *ext: 229*
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
> unsubscribe)
>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20160916/4777de88/attachment.htm>