Prof George Hart and Tamil

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

 

With all due respects towards the erudition of Prof George Hart, I

would request members to look for inspiration from Tamil Classics

instead of Prof Hart.

 

It is ironic that we criticize the west for gross materialism and yet

look to it for inspiration to study our own heritage. Instead of

looking at George Hart or X or Y or Z, why not look into the

Thirukkural, Kamba Ramayanam, PuranAnuru, Thiruvaymozhi for

inspiration.

 

Apart from the fact that Tamil Studies has taken a virulently

political motive under certain self-styled scholars of the west, it

is imperative that we not let our classical heritage be interpreted

in order to divide us. You should read some of his "theories" about

the antiquity of tamil. It would make a nice book for fiction.

 

We already have had this tragic experience with indologists like Max

Muller, H H Wilson, G U Pope who categorically state in the

introduction to their works "in order to speed up the conversion of

indians to christian religion". They interpreted our heritage

according to their whims and fancies. The ulterior motive was to

discredit the Hindu heritage and relegate it to a pariah status as

compared to the west. This would then expedite the conversion of

Hindus to Christianity according to their plans. Unfortunately for

them and fortunately for us, their motives was exposed before it took

seriously damaging positions in the indian(read hindu) society.

 

I am not denying their scholarship of erudition. But with ulterior

motives which is still lingering among non-indian scholars, we should

be careful so as to avoid reading them.

 

There have been extensive translations of Tamil Classics in the past,

by Sri P S Sundaram for example.

 

Last but not least, if we as Indians continue financing such "racist"

research, we alone have to suffer. It would be much more beneficial

for us to finance research projects undertaken by indian scholars

rather than non-indian scholars with such an ulterior motive.

 

Regards,

 

Malolan Cadambi

 

 

 

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