George:
Reminiscient of F. max Mueller, writing some 150 years ago (Intro to the Upanishads, vol. I of the SBE); as you know, it was one piece of a larger problematic:
 
“We cannot separate ourselves from those who believed in these sacred books. There is no specific difference between ourselves and the Brahmans, the Buddhists, the Zoroastrians, or the Taosze...”
 
Herman Tull
Princeton, NJ
 
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Fwd: Rajiv Malhotra and the Infinity Foundation
 
Dear McComas,
 
This is an interesting paper.  Thank you.  Yes, this is obviously an issue that we all, as Indologists, need to confront.  But, since I am not much interested in these mythology wars between Wendy's children and Rajiv's children, and since I am no one's child, maybe I can present a different point of view here, an orphan's view, as it were.
 
I am a Vedicist.  When I teach Vedic, I don't teach it as an outsider, i.e., as about them.  I teach it as an insider, i.e., about us.   As a Vedicist, I do not think of myself as studying somebody else's culture.  I think of myself as studying our collective culture, just as when I study Greek or Chinese culture, or Mayan or Sumerian culture, etc., I always think of myself as studying our collective culture.
 
In other words, I think that we are all both insiders and outsiders.  I am a human being.  All things human are a part of my culture.
 
And when, in particular, it comes to a Vedic culture that existed some 3000 years ago, but which in fact survives no longer, nobody has better access to it than those of us who have spent our lives studying it.
 
Isn't this obvious?  When it comes to the Rigveda, is Rajiv really an insider?
 
Best,
 
George Thompson
 
 
On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 3:01 AM, McComas Taylor <McComas.Taylor@anu.edu.au> wrote:
Colleagues might be interested to read a draft of my paper on Malhotra in 'Mythology Wars'  at:

http://asianstudies.anu.edu.au/wiki/images/d/d0/Mythology_wars.pdf

It will appear in the June 2011 edition of the Asian Studies Review

McC


----- Original Message -----
From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk@GMAIL.COM>
Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 9:18 pm
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Fwd: Rajiv Malhotra and the Infinity Foundation
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk

> Just in case there's anyone here who has managed thus far without being aware of the views of Rajiv Malhotra, founder of the Infinity Foundation, here is a recent statement:
>