[Y-Indology] De-Essentializing the 'Eastern Wisdom'.

[Guest guest]

Rajiv,

 

You bring up a multitude of points on which engaged discussion

is necessary. Let me just give you one tip here -

 

When it comes to Indian philosophies, one must remember a general

rule of thumb. Philosophers and philologists usually cannot stand

the sight of each other. Somewhat sad, but that is how it is. Just

check some of the discussions that appear in PEW.

 

The legacy of Sanskrit studies is a mixed blessing. Anything to

do with India is seen as primarily philological in nature. Even

if some contemporary students want to know about Indian schools

of thought, they are usually turned away, for a variety of reasons.

 

This ensures that such fundamental research as the production of

critical editions of Indian texts has rarely been done, and will

never be done in future. This needs a marriage of philosophy and

philology - doomed from the start. I know of two scholars from

top American universities who are doing (or have done) precisely

such work, but are struggling to find the academic placement that

will support their interests.

 

I have brought up the following question earlier, and will do so

again now. Does anyone ever wonder why scholars like Cardona,

Larson, Olivelle, Mayeda, Potter, Hart, Thurman and Staal are

conspicuous by their absence here? Nor do I see historians like

Kulke or social scientists like Arjun Appadurai, Doris Srinivasan,

Chris Fuller here. Many of them have areas of interest that would

(or should) overlap with what is considered classical Indology.

I am sure most of these people, if not all, have access to email.

They simply do not seem to want to spend their time here ... On

the other hand, there are more pressing topics to be dealt with

on this list, such as you-know-what ...

 

Best regards,

Vidyasankar