It is amusing, and entirely expected, to see how the messenger (PB) is
beaten, not the message....
In my original message I intentionally included INDIA ABROAD's last
line: that PB "is a political commentator". His severe comments were
excised from my 'gem' quotes... Read the full story at:
http://www.indiaabroadonline.com/PublicAccess/ia012100/Opinion/ConcernExpressed.html
Perhaps the respondents, members of the usual list of suspects, did/do
not realize that they supply abundant material for a future study of
the Indian post-colonial, and emerging nationalistic set of mind. So it
is worth saving these letters after all...
The message is, of course, the steadily increasing
proliferation of politically motivated, enforced changes by Govt. in
culture and science ...
Politicians everywhere (ultimately, futilely so far) strive for mind
control, to quote a case for balance:
Don Davis on the RISA list: (Tue, 29 Feb 2000 00:51:55 )
"... the ruling Communist Party of Kerala ... tried to
censor a book by A. Sreedhara Menon called ... Freedom Struggle in
Kerala. Menon is a respected general
historian of Kerala .... the day he submitted the manuscript, he
received an official letter from the State Gov't informing him that he
would
have to work with a committee of people, all party members, including
the
grand old man of Kerala communism, E.M.S. Namboothiripad.
.... Menon published the letter in the Kerala press ... Eventually,
Menon withdrew his
submission and DC Books published his book independently. "
((NB: Remember how the COMMUNIST PARTY OF KERALA saved 11 goats' lives
at the great 1975 Agnicayana? Everything for a raise in popularity --
even, using religious sentiments! ))
Still, the saga continues, no wonder after the resecent
changes at ICHR:
Following is a copy of a letter sent to the Prime Minister by
university
faculty members in Delhi:
"The latest order from the ICHR directing the Oxford University
Press to
stop midway the publication of two volumes on the freedom struggle by
two of
India's leading historians, Prof. Sumit Sarkar and Prof. K.N. Panikkar,
has
shocked the academic community in the capital. ....
....the typescripts were in press when the Oxford
University Press received the letter directing it to suspend
production
of the two volumes and return them to the ICHR for review. ...
.... it appears that the letter was
written bypassing even the ICHR and at the behest of the HRD
Ministry...
We, the teachers of the four universities of Delhi, strongly protest
against this despicable attack on freedom of scholarship and urge you
to direct
the ICHR to immediately retract its order to stop publication of these
two
volumes."
Which *western academicians* are misled here?
Looking forward to...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Witzel Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies
Harvard University www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
my direct line (also for messages) : 617- 496 2990
home page: www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138
ph. 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page: www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm
Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies: www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs