[INDOLOGY] Scientification in India

Tue Sep 11 12:31:07 UTC 2018

Dear Prof. Michaels,

Perhaps you already know of this overly misquoted article by Briggs
<https://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/466>, from
which it is believed by many that NASA considers Sanskrit to be the best
language for programming their computers and space ships. It seems,
however, to be the source of one of the biggest factoids in relation to
Sanskrit and Science. It seems that...no one who argues that Sanskrit is
the best language for computing, has actually read the article. It
suggests, instead, that learning case-inflected languages like Sanskrit
might possibly help the computer programmer in making new,
specifically-engineered languages for computing through having a better
appreciation for languages.

Samskrita Bharati have this publication
<https://www.samskritabharati.in/preview?s_bharti=NDIxNjY2MDkwMTMyMzI=>. I
was just watching this video by Sushma Swaraj, i
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn1_rrRtk0s>n which by the 3rd-min, the
audience learns of Sanskrit's true wonders as a programming language,
amongst other things. Sanskrit will, it is alleged, even by high-ranking
members of the Indian government, will heal the wounds of culture and
tradition caused by modernity. Such as Prime Minister Modi’s recent
factoid-laden opinion
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCbfH-nuDhA&feature=youtu.be> (in the
first 5-minutes). Or the Minister for the MEA, Sushma Swaraj,
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLlHUx3pXtg> who explained at the 16th
World Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok, 2015, that Sanskrit is capable of
purifying the world. However, this is part of a bigger push
<https://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/sanskrit-sushma-swaraj/#.rt34au28f> to
revive Sanskrit culture within India through the use of metaphors that
suggest Sanskrit will purify all that comes in contact with it. Swaraj also
asserts that Sanskrit is like the Ganges river; yet, we know that this
river is terribly polluted
<https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-ganges-holy-river-from-hell-20140806-100xz9.html>.
What, then, does this tell us about the purity of Sanskrit
<https://www.academia.edu/6274287/The_sanitising_power_of_spoken_Sanskrit>,
and it’s ability to purify things, especially minds
<https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/16th-world-sanskrit-conference-in-bangkok-sanskrit-should-be-propagated-to-purify-minds-of-people-says-sushma/article7363971.ece>
?

Also, I was watching this video this morning, in which, around the 19-min
mark, Maria Wirth explains
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE8r5t56AR8&lc=z23fszogdzziw3yuiacdp433qdxi0lccdi5kyqlpgldw03c010c.1536664787529344>
how the Russians apparently used knowledge from some ancient manuscript
they took from the Germans after WW2 that helped them build their ICBMs. I
often find myself reading Meera Nanda's
<https://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2026/stories/20040102000607800.htm>
work on 'Vedic science' to help understand this phenomenon. 'Science in
Saffron'
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303857130_Science_in_Saffron_Skeptical_Essays_on_History_of_Science>
is quite good. And, also, prophets facing backwards
<http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=8AAD803B743B0484DA0BBFB0E52CF174>.
So too, Saffron Science
<https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/6/margin-speak/saffron-science.html>.
There is a broader discussion around pseudoscience mimicking science
<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/theo.12109> and the
philosophy
of pseudoscience
<http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=742E9347357C303AAEF580C8AC89CE2E>,
which are worth considering.

Hope these links help.

All the best,

パトリック マッカートニー
Patrick McCartney, PhD
JSPS Fellow - Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto
University, Japan
Research Associate - Nanzan University Anthropological Institute, Nagoya,
Japan
Visiting Fellow - South and South-east Asian Studies Department, Australian
National University

Skype - psdmccartney
Phone + Whatsapp:  +81-80-9811-3235
Twitter - @psdmccartney

*bodhapūrvam calema* ;-)

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On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 4:33 PM Michaels, Axel via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
>
> In the course of the recent WSC discussions on this list, Dr Iris Iran
> Farkhondeh recently mentioned a little brochure by the RSS: “There was also
> this little booklet produced by the RSS (samskrit samsthan and not svayam
> sevak even though it seems now that the two RSS are getting nearer and
> nearer) with a mention of astrolomy (sic) and all the other sciences that
> for sure originated in ancient India.” Unfortunately, she did not keep this
> booklet. Since I am co-editing a book on this topic, I would be very
> grateful if someone who attended the conference could share the brochure
> with me.  I would also be interested in relevant and serious literature
> focusing and the wide-spread claim that all science is rooted in India.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Axel Michaels
>
>
>
> Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels
>
> Seniorprofessor | Vice President Heidelberg Academy of Science and
> Humanities |
>
> Director Research Unit "Historical Documents of Nepal" (नेपालका पूर्व-
> आधुनिक कालका लिखतहरू), Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
>
> South Asia Institute
> Im Neuenheimer Feld 330
> 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
>
>
> http://www.haw.uni-heidelberg.de/forschung/forschungsstellen/nepal/index.de.html
>
>
>
>
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