[INDOLOGY] New article on Sanskrit

[Nityanand Misra]

I think Dr. Griffiths' misspelling of Dr. Vajpeyi's last name was
influenced by the way I spelt it. Both the spellings ‘Vajpayee’ and
‘Vajpeyi’ are used in English for the last name वाजपेयी in India. The
former being used by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, ex-Prime Minister of India. It
was out of habit that I typed Vajpayee (being more used to this spelling)
instead of Vajpeyi. It was not deliberate, yet I apologize for the lack of
attention on my part.

It is obvious that Dr. Vajpeyi and I have different political leanings, but
that need not come in the way of a healthy discussion. It is unfortunate
that my questioning of Dr. Vajpeyi's claim is seen as offering apologetics
for the current government of India. Claims, political or not, are expected
to be critically examined and/or questioned.

However, I agree with Prof. Kapstein that political debates are best
avoided on this list.

On 18 September 2016 at 11:56, Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Dr. Vajpeyi,
>
>
> I do apologize for having misspelled your name. Just to make this
> explicit, because it was not clear from your other message whether you have
> now classified me among those who offer "thinly-veiled apologetics" of the
> current government of India's policies: I did not write because I disagree
> with your political positions, but because I wondered whether it is helpful
> for your cause, and morally defensible, to be anything but critical of the
> Emergency. I simultaneously admit that I have no more than superficial
> knowledge of that period of Indian history, and will be happy to receive
> information, on or off list, that will allow me to nuance my perspective.
>
>
> Part of the problem in the increasingly polarized political scenes we see
> all over the world is that people can't even agree on what the facts are,
> and refuse to talk about them in a manner that is conducive to solving
> problems. As a generally silent observer of political debates on this
> list, I conclude by expressing the hope that you and Nityanand Misra (who
> has taken it upon himself to challenge you on most occasions when you write
> to the list), and more generally the two political camps that you two seem
> to represent, will start to attempt to find some common ground. At least on
> this list such an effort may actually be realistically achievable.
>
>
> With best wishes,
>
>
> Arlo Griffiths
>
> École française d'Extrême-Orient
>
>
>


-- 
Nityānanda Miśra
http://nmisra.googlepages.com


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