[INDOLOGY] Regarding Further Clarifications on the WSC Forum

Sun Aug 26 16:34:52 UTC 2018

Dear listfolk, 

As an outsider to this WSC controversy, I was a bit surprised that after Prof. Sathaye's apologies, the battering against him continues, repeatedly. I had thought the moderator would intervene at this point to keep the animus on this forum within reasonable limits. Now, even the Pollock controversy is being reopened. Suit yourselves, but in that case, it is about time to get properly informed about the real reason why Hindus (most of them not "Hindutva") felt the need to stand up. For a forum of India-watchers, it is strange that so many people seem satisfied with a less than accurate account. 

The immediate reason for many Hindus to feel slighted at the selection of Sheldon Pollock for getting the Hindu heritage in his care, was his "deep antipathy" against not just "Hindutva", but against Hinduism as such and esp. against Sanskrit. This is not something they make up: Pollock's own words are quoted to this effect. In particular, he calls Sanskrit the source and cause of Nazism and the Holocaust,-- the most hostile position against Sanskrit anyone can possibly take. In contemporary Western culture, it is the single worst allegation you can make. In fact, it makes me wonder why you people are still on this forum focused on an apparently distasteful and evil subject like Sanskrit. 

Here is the whole story: 

https://www.academia.edu/33837547/PurvaPaksha1607NaziIndology.docx 

Hindus make serious mistakes in the way they stand up for themselves. But they are entirely justified in not taking it lying down. Friends would help them do it better. 

Kind regards, 

Dr. Koenraad Elst, Orientalist 

Van: "Indology" <indology at list.indology.info> 
Aan: vajpeyi at csds.in 
Cc: "Indology" <indology at list.indology.info> 
Verzonden: Zondag 26 augustus 2018 12:41:01 
Onderwerp: Re: [INDOLOGY] Regarding Further Clarifications on the WSC Forum 

„The mountain is certainly hard to move ...“, but sometimes solving a seemingly difficult problem can be easier achieved than the crushing of a flower, to apply a maxim from the Mokṣopāya by analogy. 

Getting down to the root of the trouble leads one directly to the overt Hindu-nationalist turn of the IASS, mirrored, e.g., in the witch-hunt with Pollock as a victim in 2016. What followed was predictable. On 1 March 2016, I had posted the below message to this list: 

„it might be of some relevance to the community of Indologists that among the prominent signatories of the Pollock removal petition Prof. V. Kutumba Sastry ranks fifth on top of the list: 

[ https://www.change.org/p/mr-n-r-narayana-murthy-and-mr-rohan-narayan-murty-removal-of-prof-sheldon-pollock-as-mentor-and-chief-editor-of-murty-classical-library | https://www.change.org/p/mr-n-r-narayana-murthy-and-mr-rohan-narayan-murty-removal-of-prof-sheldon-pollock-as-mentor-and-chief-editor-of-murty-classical-library ] 

That Prof. Kutumba Sastry signed this petition in his capacity of the „President, International Association of Sanskrit Studies” (IASS), has meanwhile attracted the attention of also the media, who specifically single out his name and function: 

[ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/murty-library-editor-petition-wants-us-scholar-removed-cites-jnu-remarks/ | http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/murty-library-editor-petition-wants-us-scholar-removed-cites-jnu-remarks/ ] 

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/03/01/sheldon-pollock-murty-lib_n_9345928.html | http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/03/01/sheldon-pollock-murty-lib_n_9345928.html ] 

In terms of Indological research, it is perhaps of no little significance that the President of the IASS - a leading organization carrying “International” as part of their name and arranging the "World Sanskrit Conference" on a regular basis - publicly supports the text of the debated petition in full and demands, among others, “Make in India” ethics and “Swadeshi Indology” in contexts of research and academic publications guidelines. Trying to be “international” and “swadeshi” at the same time clearly equals a contradiction in terms. 

The IASS ought to state their position in this matter by clarifying if, in promoting nationalist ideas of Indological research, their president is acting on their behalf: 

[ http://www.sanskritassociation.org/board-members.php | http://www.sanskritassociation.org/board-members.php ] .” 

In the absence of an acceptable reply, the Indological Branch in the German Oriental Society (DMG) decided to quit the IASS, as explained in minute detail by their present spokesman Dr Steiner in one of his previous posts. 

A feasible way to safeguarding future WSC’s from the negative impact of an ever increasing Hindu nationalist influx would be to unbundle the WSC from the IASS. An independently organised WSC will regain and control their autonomy. On the other hand, bereft of the WSC the IASS lose their "International" aspect and with it the justification of bearing an “I” in their name. The logically following gradual transformation into a “National Association of Sanskrit Studies” (NASS) would in every respect be no less deserved then befitting. 

The little effort required on the part of serious scholars interested in Sanskrit research free of Hindu nationalist ideology consists in cancelling their membership in the IASS with immediate effect. This and only this will make them think. 

An unfailing measure of this kind has been proposed by Dr Steiner in the form of a private communication, from which to quote I have been authorised: 

“The WSC is perceived as the biggest international conference on Sanskrit Studies ("The World Sanskrit Conference is the premier international forum for professional researchers and educators of the Sanskrit language and its literatures, and of the history, religion, and cultures of premodern South Asia." Source: "Main Conference Website" of the 17 th WSC, Vancouver). In a way, it is probably the most visible symbol of these studies at present. The bond between these conferences is the "IASS, as the notional sponsor of the different WSC meetings" (Dominik Wujastyk). There may be further links between these meetings. Rajiv 

Malhotra was the keynote speaker of the WSC in Bangkok in 2015, personally invited by the president of the IASS. In the run-up to the following WSC in Vancouver, it was heard that the local organizers wanted to make it better, and I am sure that they succeeded in doing so. 

My point is that the individual WSCes are not insulated entities that have nothing to do with each other. It is decisive, that they are not perceived that way, regardless of their actual "ontological" status. 

Moreover, the WSC is the (only) flagship of the IASS. The relationship of the IASS to the anti-academic ideology of a "Swadeshi Indology" is still to be clarified, despite our demand (already in 2016) for taking up position here. Any potential organizing committee of a WSC is expected to account to oneself for the question whether they think it acceptable under these circumstances to organize a conference under the auspices of the IASS. One way to react [...] is to clearly disassociate oneself from this present-day IASS and to name our reasons for this decision. We do not need the IASS to organize an international Sanskrit conference.” 

Warm wishes, and kind regards, 

Walter Slaje 

----------------------------- 
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje 
Hermann-Löns-Str. 1 
D-99425 Weimar 
Deutschland 

Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor 
studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum 
non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam, 
sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus 
humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat. 
Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII. 

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