[INDOLOGY] Comparison of Brahmins (and their cultural context) with Nazis (and their cultural context)? both inappropriate and inapt

Sun May 9 13:57:45 UTC 2021

Dear All,
A fascinating symposium on "Greater Magadha" is at present taking place at
Edmonton (Alberta), Canada, and on account of the ongoing epidemic it is
entirely online: the announcement (http://eventleaf.com/GreaterMagadha) is
accessible on several lists.
In a brief presentation and subsequent discussion of his theory at the
beginning of this symposium -- a detailed argument and extensive references
to pieces of evidence for this stimulating and well-researched theory is
found in his *Greater Magadha: Studies in the culture of early India* (Leiden
2007) --   Johannes Bronkhorst referred briefly to his comparison between
Brahmins (and their cultural context) and the German Nazis (and their
cultural context). On this specific reference by Johannes Bronkhorst during
the symposium, I posed a question in the special section set up by the
organizers of the conference: "Questions and answers will be conducted over
a separate service, sli.do."
Since my question, although it received several "upvotes", did not pass the
censorship of the anonymous "moderator" of the online questions -- who
wrote to me "3 days ago (only visible to you) There was no such comparison"
-- it would be useful to pose the question in other fora such as this
Indology List.
Those familiar with the work and especially the *Greater Magadha* book of
Johannes Bronkhorst -- this apparently does not include the anonymous
moderator of the Questions section of the symposium -- will have
immediately recognized that the remark by Johannes Bronkhorst refers to pp.
251-252 of *Greater Magadha* (and similar passages elsewhere), where we
read:

"when it came in contact with cities, Vedic civilization did not like them.
...
It is hard to resist the temptation of a comparison with the Third Reich.
Among the hundreds of paintings brought together in the House of German Art
in Munich, opened by Hitler in 1937, not a single canvas depicted urban and
industrial life (Watson, 2004: 311-312)."

The comparison is both inappropriate and inapt, especially since a very
different analysis of the situation of the community of practicing Brahmins
in ancient India is possible, for instance the one proposed by me in:

“From Fuzzy-Edged ‘Family-Veda’ to the Canonical Śākhas of the Catur-Veda:
Structures and Tangible Traces.” In: *Vedic Śākhās: Past, Present, Future.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Bucharest* 2011, ed.
by J.E.M. Houben, J. Rotaru and M. Witzel, p. 159-192. Cambridge, Mass. :
Harvard University, 2016.

As the book is at present no more available but will soon again be
available in a new edition, I have made this study *temporarily* accessible
on my Academia.edu page.

The main principles followed in this study to explain the situation of the
community of practicing Brahmins in ancient India are (1) "natural
selection" in the transmission of knowledge through any current medium of
transmission (at first exclusively ritual, next ritual plus written texts,
inscriptions and manuscripts -- much later printing is added and at present
the internet...): see e.g. Houben 2001; (2) ritual in the context of an
*evolving* economical and ecological world: see Houben 2019 (see also:
Gadgil and Guha, *This Fissured Land: an Ecological History of India*, 1992
and Perennials edition 2013).
N.B. Both Houben 2001:
“’Verschriftlichung' and the relation between the *pramāṇa*s in the history
of Sāṁkhya.” *Études de Lettres* 2001.3: *La rationalité en Asie /
Rationality in Asia*, ed. by J. Bronkhorst: 165-194.
and Houben 2019:
“Ecology of Ritual Innovation in Ancient India: Textual and Contextual
Evidence.” [NB: partly comparing and contrasting Vedic and ancient Iranian
ritual.] In: *Self, Sacrifice, and Cosmos: Vedic Thought, Ritual, and
Philosophy. Essays in Honor of Professor Ganesh Umakant Thite’s
Contribution to Vedic Studies*, ed. by Lauren M. Bausch, pp. 182-210
(References to this article integrated in id., “Bibliography,” pp.
223-238.) Delhi: Primus Books
are now accessible on my Academia.edu page.

I hope and expect the issue will lead to further fruitful discussions.

All best, Jan Houben

--

*Jan E.M. Houben*

Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology

*Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*

École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)

*Sciences historiques et philologiques *

Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)

*johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*

*https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
<https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>*

*https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info>

LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- *L'Inde Classique* augmentée: construction,
transmission

et transformations d'un savoir scientifique
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