Dandekar on Thieme

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In "Antecedents of the Vedic Period," (Select Writings # 3

Exercises in Indology, Ajanta Publications Delhi 1981 pp 1-44),

R.N.Dandekar criticaly evaluates Professor Thieme's semantic approach

to the question of "Urheimat."

Dandekar lists the following five points necessary to reconstruct

the history of the Vedic period in India: (1) The relation of the

Vedic Aryans to the other Indo-European-speaking people of the world;

(2) The relation of the Vedic Indians with the Harappan civilisation;

(3) The course of the development of the Vedic history and

civilisation as seen from the Vedic literature itself; (4) The co-

ordination of the history of the kings and princes mentioned inthe

Veda with the dynastic lists of the Puranas; and (5) Correlating

major post-Vedic periods of Indian history (e.g. the Mahabharata War)

with the expansion of the Aryans to the various parts of India. With

the exception of the (latter half of) final point, I think his

approach would be still useful.

The death of a scholar provides useful opportunity for revision

and reassessment of his/her work (simhavalokana). So I see no reason

why Professor Thieme's work cannot be scrutinized--even by those who

may not rise to the standard set by the late lamented scholar.

Shrinivas Tilak