eurocentrism/indoeuropeanism- impressive argument Rajesh

[Guest guest]

Dear Rajesh,

I agree with your points, but indology also has also

to accept that is is an elitist discourse and what

happens on ground in peoples' lives is not indological

but anthropological: hence the necessity to combine

both perspectives...indological languages need to be

supported by subaltern studies in complimentarity...

and further the wise have to fortell the future by

telling what can be achieved or should be aimed at so

looking upward is as essential as being aware of the

present and thr past: time has to be be studied in

synchronic and diachronic perspective...

I am remembering a definiton that a philosopher is one

who believes in self-torture for the sake of being

remembered by the posterity...you have to think with

and in the times...as Marx stated men make history but

not under conditions of their choosing...but as

Dilthey argued individual charisma is also important..

regards

vibha

 

--- Rajesh Kochhar <rkk wrote: >

Thoreau said," A man is wise with the wisdom of his

> time only,and ignorant

> with its ignorance."

>

> We should keep this in mind when we subject

> individuals from earlier times

> to contemporary scrutiny.Throughout the 19th

> century, the world indeed was

> Euro-centric,and the English-knowing upper crust of

> India had no difficulty

> in accepting this.Orientalism might have been

> confrontationist in the Muslim

> world. But in India it was seductive ; it took the

> form of

> Indo-europeanism."Inherent in the British rule over

> India was the slow ,and

> often reluctant preparation of the Indians to

> challenge and eventually

> overthrow that rule.

> The first Indian middle class initiative was taken

> in 1869 by allopath -

> turned - homeopath, Dr Mahendralal Sircar , who

> finally set up (in 1975 ) a

> "national institution for the cultivation of

> sciences by the natives of

> India " Sircar wrote in his 1869 pamphlet :

>

> " thanks to the inherent generosity that flows

> through every British

> heart,some obstacle or other is being removed that

> stood in the way of our

> being recognized as brethren , though now fallen

> and degraded."

>

> Even Mohandas Gandhi , before he became Mahatma ,

> held similar views.In

> 1894 , while in South Africa Gandhi protested to the

> Europeans in Natal

> against the ill treatment of the Indians. He sought

> to remind them that "

> both the English and the Indians spring from a

> common stock, called the

> Indo-aryan "

>

> *

> Indology is a rigorous avademic discipline ,

> worthy of serious study by

> any student of history of civilization. Indology is

> too important a subject

> to be left to the Indians alone.Thoreau spoke of

> ignorance of the times. To

> this we may add cultural conditioning, biases,

> conscious and

> subconscious,real or imaginary. It is not fair to

> comment on the motives of

> the scholar.There are any number of instances of

> good motives producing bad

> results and vice versa. In our keenness to read

> between the lines, we must

> not forget to read the lines . In any case, in the

> modern age, every body,

> especially a scholar, has every right to make a

> fool of himself.

>

> Who was it who said something to the effect ; don't

> bite the finger; look

> where it is pointing ?

>

> Rajesh Kochhar.

>

>

>

>

>

> indology

>

>

>

> Your use of is subject to

>

>

>

 

 

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