Dear Colleagues,
I am all praise for the noble sentiments expressed. We may, perhaps, also add the name of Jeanne Corbin (France and Canada) among the fighters against Hitler. She did not leave an autobiography but one may consult Louise Watson (1976) on Annie Buller. Unfortunately the relevant writings are considered taboo in some Western countries.

What strikes me as discordant is that the Indian version of the MLBD Newsletter, April 2014 does not have any advertisement on the Mein Kampf. It is necessary to assert if the MLBD authorities in India are aware of its appearance in the UK. I enquired but have not yet got a reply. But there are neo-Nazis in the West.
Another point. There are quite a few in the book business who promote the Mein Kampf. They are of course, free to do so. But List members and their organizations shoiuld be careful of Amazon etc.
Best wishes and greetings.



On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 10:51 PM, Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear list members, 
An indological publisher claiming to  be a "leading Indian publishing house on Sanskrit and Indology" and the first to win a Padma award for outstanding community service through publishing (accorded to Shantilal Jain in 1992), has a scientific reputation which it can choose to maintain or throw away. 
To decide to add an isolated non-indological book to the indological and new age books published and marketed world-wide is a free choice and it makes a free statement.   
Especially if this isolated non-indological book happens to be Mein Kampf (already widely available and widely read in India since 1928) -- rather than giving the word to real heroes of the period such as Anne Frank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl) or the non-violent resistance group the White Rose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose). 
Although it contains many unverified points "(citation needed)", it may be instructive to have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf
Mein Kampf may be tucked away toward the bottom of p. 10 of MLBD Newsletter vol. XXXVI No. 4 (April 2014), it appears most prominently on the Motilal homepage where it cannot be missed: http://www.mlbd.com/. 
Jan Houben




On 18 May 2014 10:54, Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veerankp@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear list members

I dont understand the hues and cries in this list which is mainly a forum for indology on availability of hitlars book on MLBD. 

Off course I am neither against your decision to cut ties with MLBD  (it is your decision anyway) nor a fan of hitler. 
hitler has nothing to do in india. there are more national heroes in india to follow.


all these editions must be pirated one as it is still in copyright.

what is the crime of MLBD if it publishes it for scholarly use just like it is sold on many booksellers cited above.

more over MLBD is free institute to publish anything they want. there is no need of justification. this book is not banned even in Germany  according to http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17837325  Mein Kampf: Bavaria plans first German publication since WWII.

"The book is not banned by law in Germany, but Bavaria has used ownership of the copyright to prevent publication of German editions since 1945."




On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 3:45 AM, Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben@gmail.com> wrote:
MLBD and its "New Age" wing should withdraw the book OR be boycotted by authors, readers and conferences. 
A longer description is found on:
http://www.mlbd.com/BookDecription.aspx?id=18815
where we also learn that the book is in English (no translator's name is given), that its Territory is "Available For Sale Worldwide", and that the book "will give you an insight into one of the greatest evil geniuses of the last century". 
"About the book" contains no justification (attempt) why a scientific indological or new age publisher should publish this book. 
Jan Houben


On 16 May 2014 15:40, <jacob@fabularasa.dk> wrote:
New Age Books is an associate of Motilal Banarsidass (mlbd.com/contactus.aspx). The website of the former (newagebooksindia.com) leads directly to the website of the latter (mlbd.com).

Best,
Jacob

Toke Knudsen skrev den 2014-05-16 15:30:

Looking up the ISBN number of the book, it appears that it was
published by New Age Books on 1/1/2014; see
<http://www.lookupbyisbn.com/Search/Book/978-81-7822-464-0/1>.

All best,
Toke



On May 16, 2014, at 9:17 AM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei@uchicago.edu> wrote:

Pirated or not, Mein Kampf has been a regular fixture of street-corner and railway station booksellers in India for decades. I recall it all over the place even during my first visit to India in 1970. What is surprising is
to see a "respectable" publisher dealing with it. This is why I wanted to know whether MLBD has
actually published it, or whether it appears only in their distribution list. In the latter case, higher
management might not be at all responsible, though this would certainly be a great oversight
on their part.

In any case, it seems to me to be necessary to determine just what MLBD is doing with this, and
then to make known to them that the Indological community (many of us at least) consider this
to be unacceptable and that we will recommend that our libraries stop dealing with them if
they are indeed committed to publishiing or distributing this particular item. I imagine that
such a move would get their attention in a hurry.

And, if they have indeed published it, I think we should insist very publically (e.g. in an op ed in
The Times of India or The Hindu) that they have the thing "pulped."

There's not much we can do about the fly-by-night publishers, but MLBD should know better.

best to all,
Matthew

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago

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--
Veeranarayana N.K. Pandurangi
Faculty of Vedantas
Karnakata Samskrita University, 
Chamarajendra Samskrit College
Chamarajpet, Bengaluru.


अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि। ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि।।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः। निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः।। (भ.गी.)


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