[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit can tackle climate change

Mon Sep 10 11:03:44 UTC 2018

>  I don't defend "German Indology" because I am German. I defend it
because German Indology has been good Indology.

-- If you defend German Indology because you are German, there is no
anauchitya in it. You might be saying this to say that your statement
German Indology is a good Indology is not a subjective or biased statement
but an objective and unbiased one. that intention is well taken. But at the
same time, reacting or responding to statements about our respective
countries/nations as members of those nations has no anouchitya.

Trying to appear as though we have overcame our love for our own individual
prestige, prestige of our family, prestige of our educational institute of
our affiliation, nation of our origin, nation of our current belonging etc.
is unnecessary.

Expressions such as का ते कांता?  कस्ते पुत्रः ? suit a संन्यासी, a
renounced ascetic , not a संसारी  , a family person. Within the reference
frame of  संसारी ,  expressions such as का ते कांता?  कस्ते पुत्रः ? are
not only anauchitya but even infidelity and treachery to that system. In
Telugu there is an idiom meaning "dry Vedanta" used in reference to such
usages of extreme level ascetic Vedanta used by family people with mundane
interests.

-----------------------------

Coming to the word German Indology, I must confess that my understanding of
-logy of -logy in the case of Indology is not adavanced enough to
distinctly identify German Indology from other strands of Indology. Prof.s
Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee even talk of German Indology of 18th and
19th centuries as their focus. That is too much of a minute nuance to my
level of understanding. Some time ago, some people asked me to respond to
their posts and responses to their posts. I responded to them saying that
the issues such as antisemitism in German Indology (of 18th and 19th
centuries) etc. raised by them are not studied by me so well.

Later, a few months ago, I got the opportunity to meet the two professors
in India. That was their talk on Mahabharata. They were doing a
poorvapaksha of the view that Mahabharata is full of self-contradictions
etc.

---------------------------------

Antisemitism might look to be straw man used by the critiques of early or
old German Indology to malign it using the Hitler, Nazis, genocide etc.

But 'Hinduism' and Indian nationalism have been greater victims of this
straw man based on Hitler, Nazis and genocide because the symbol of
swastika associated with 'Hinduism' and the word nationalism in Indian
nationalism are repeatedly invoked to stereotype 'Hinduism', Indian
nationalism etc. as fascist, Nazi-like, genocidal in tendency etc. The word
German Indology is not popular beyond the readers of the publications of
Profs Adluri and Bagchee. But the  repeated invoking of stereotypes of
'Hinduism', Indian nationalism etc. as fascist, Nazi-like, genocidal in
tendency etc  is found almost everywhere including popular political
discourse. Connection of German Indology with antisemitism may at least
give an impression of being reasonable. But why Hinduism should be bad
because Hitler used its sacred symbol or why Indian nationalism should be
bad because Hitler and Nazis were 'nationalists' or because they used the
unscientific racist term 'Aryan', is beyond the comprehension of any
reasonable understanding.

------------------------------

Those knowledgeable in German Indology of 18th and 19th centuries and its
connection or lack of it with antisemitism might discuss with Prof.s Adluri
and Bagchee.

-------------------------------

I for one, am not in a reference frame of  का ते कांता?  कस्ते पुत्रः ? or
what your nation? , what my nation ? not to respond when I see that
misrepresentation of Sanskrit, India and Indian culture is being done
particularly by those who are viewed in India as those who chose  Sanskrit,
India and Indian culture  as their subject matter out of love and respect
for that subject matter.

On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 12:52 PM, Jonathan Silk <kauzeya at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am sorry if I was unclear: mine was not a plea to allow a certain
> viewpoint (please do not assume that because I use that term I think "there
> are always two sides to any issue" or make any other assumptions about my
> position or motivation)--mine was not a plea to allow a certain viewpoint;
> it was a plea NOT to introduce Trump into the Indology list, and to
> introduce Modi only insofar as his policies directly relate to Indology
> (Skt, Tamil, etc).
> I may well be astonishingly naive, that obviously is something of which I
> would be the least qualified judge. And astonishment is naturally an
> entirely subjective experience, so you are welcome to it. But please please
> let us keep politics off this list. [Again, simply to make overly clear:
> this does NOT mean that I think discussion of the theories concerning the
> MBh propounded by whomever are not fair game. Certainly they are, but just
> because, for instance, the authors of those theories engage in ad hominem
> attacks does not mean that the proper response is to respond in kind.
> "Racist" anything stands or falls on its own merits. [this is a different,
> although not entirely different, perhaps, issue than whether we should
> acknowledge and take into account the work of persons whose history is
> absolutely clear -- eg the studies of Wust, or I would venture to say,
> although foreign to most of the readers of the Indology list, the research
> of Miyamoto Shoson, who was an incredible Japanese imperialist--one of his
> prefaces celebrates the day the Imperial Japanese army entered India, the
> land of the Buddha's birth. This, to be as polite as possible, turns my
> stomach, but that does not solve the question whether I should, therefore,
> stop reading his book at the preface. [you might, all of you, take solace
> in the fact that this proves that at least one person reads prefaces!]]]
> (sorry, lost count of my embedded brackets!)
> Anyway, back to the point (there was one): I am far from the first person
> to notice that it hardly makes any sense at all to speak of "German"
> Indology in the first place, but whatever attacks are made against one
> approach or another, whether the nature of those attacks makes any sense is
> not to be determined by the motivation of the attacker. Let's sift the
> wheat from the chaff, and perhaps, after all, some ideas, even if published
> as scholarship, are not really worthwhile rebutting at all.
>
> Hoping earnestly that I have clarified my ideas, as poor and unhelpful as
> they may be,
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 12:40 AM, George Thompson <gthomgt at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> re JOYDEEP
>>
>> As long as you all allow this hindutva racist to post to this list, mr
>> joydeep, who has regularly attacked "German Indology" over the years, then
>> I will fight with you.  I don't defend "German Indology" because I am
>> German. I defend it because German Indology has been good Indology.
>> Joydeep's Indology is a racist Indology.  I think that Jonathan and Nagaraj
>> are astonishingly naïve when it comes to Joydeep's ideology.  Have they
>> read Joydeep's papers?
>>
>> Shame on you both!  Please read some of  Joydeep's papers, and then get
>> back in touch with the rest of us.
>>
>> best wishes,
>>
>> George Thompson
>>
>>
>>
>>
> --
> J. Silk
> Leiden University
> Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
> Matthias de Vrieshof 3
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=Matthias+de+Vrieshof+3&entry=gmail&source=g>,
> Room 0.05b
> 2311 BZ Leiden
> The Netherlands
>
> copies of my publications may be found at
> https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/JASilk
>

-- 
Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

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