Fwd: Witzel etc.: Report from India by David Frawley

[Guest guest]

IndianCivilization, vshastri@a... wrote:

Witzel etc.

 

I just returned from India where I attended several conferences on

ancient

India in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi, as well as various private

meetings

on these issues over the last two months. Whether Bangalore or

elsewhere,

Witzel's name came up only in passing in a few isolated instances,

which is

why people can hardly remember the exact words spoken about him.

 

There was no effort anywhere to create a concerted program to malign

him. In

fact, scholars at these conferences generally did not regard Witzel's

work as

important, if they knew of it at all. That somehow any conference or

even any

single talk at one of these conferences had its major thrust to malign

Witzel, whether for his views or for his character, is ridiculous.

 

I don't remember the particular words that Talgeri used to describe

Witzel

and they may not have been entirely flattering. He was the main person

that

mentioned Witzel's name, but even his comments about Witzel were only

passing

remarks in the greater presentation of his own work that was the main

thrust

of his comments.

I don't know if I mentioned Witzel at all either, but it is possible I

did so

once or twice in passing.

 

It is also rather silly that Witzel, who has been quite rude in

personally

maligning others, cannot accept anyone criticizing him in return. What

you

put out is going to come back to you! The law of karma. Even scholars

like

Rajaram that Witzel has employed his character assassination

techniques on,

did not take the opportunity of such conferences to attack Witzel in

return.

 

I have also been called a quack and a Hindu fundamentalist (though in

America

I would be called a left-wing environmentalist-vegetarian wacko by the

Republican right!). That I believe in the efficacy of Vedic astrology

has

been used to reject all my work on ancient India on principle. So

what! The

deeper currents of consciousness are what is important, not the

superficial

waves of gossip and innuendo. Being a trained academician does not

make one

immune to such superficial waves, in fact it seems to make one

predisposed to

them these days.

 

It is also strange to find Witzel mentioning Sarasvati, Dharma and

Satyam eva

jayati. Perhaps he should take up some Vedic spiritual practices of

yoga and

meditation or study the great spiritual Vedic teachers like Sri

Aurobindo.

Then he might know how to better communicate with people in India who

have

such a background. This would save him much of the negativity that he

carelessly arouses in people by his inconsiderate behavior that often

reflects a certain cultural arrogance.

 

I am also one who is not particularly impressed by Western Indology as

a

whole and that someone might have a chair in Harvard in Sanskrit

doesn't

carry much weight for me. A chair at Varanasi would reflect a much

more

legitimate training. It seems to me that most of the deference given

to

people like Witzel is owing to the power they hold in Western

academia, not

for the work that they have done, which few people even bother to

study and

doesn't seem to have inspired anyone, even his own students.

 

So far the West has almost entirely failed to see the main thing about

the

Vedas: their deep teachings on consciousness, spirituality, yoga and

mantra.

The historical dimension, however important, is a sidelight. Those who

fail

to understand Vedic spirituality, which is the main thrust of the

Vedas,

inevitably make major blunders in the historical interpretation of

these

texts that represent the heritage of numerous Self-realized sages far

above

our current outward egoic mentality.

 

What I and others like Rajaram are now doing is going forward with our

reconstruction of ancient Indian history based on connecting the Vedic

literature, the largest of the ancient world, with the Harappan

archaeology,

the largest of the ancient world. While we cannot expect the two to

agree in

all instances, or be a perfect match, as they are two very different

types of

evidence, a general connection can easily be found via the Sarasvati

river,

ocean, etc. This is what I have attempted in my forthcoming book Rig

Veda and

the History of India (Rig Veda Bharata Itihasa) soon to be released by

Aditya

Prakashan. It is hard to believe that the people of ancient India

would have

preserved a foreign literature as their own and that their massive

urban

culture was able to leave no real imprint on the literature or

historical

records of the country.

 

The main terms of Indic civilization like dharma, karma, satya,

dhyana,

mantra, manas, prana, shanti, yajna, yoga etc. as well as Sarasvati

herself

go back to the Rig Veda, which set the tone of the civilization of the

region

in ancient times. This those trying to place the Vedas outside of

India

cannot explain.

 

As for personal attacks happening on email lists it is unfortunate and

we

should try to avoid them as much as possible, but it tends to occur on

email

lists everywhere because the internet is such an easy way to put out

quick

comments. We can also simply ignore them when they come up. If no one

responds to them, then people will stop making such comments.

 

Jai Durga!

 

Vamadeva (David Frawley)

--- End forwarded message ---