linguistics, Indian Jewry

[Guest guest]

--- sprose1 wrote:

> In a message dated 12/19/02 5:51:09 AM Eastern

> Standard Time,

> Ammachi writes:

>

>

> > Although English contains

>

> keval,

>

> Where do you get this info? I understand that the

> Indo-European languages

> have a singular source, so I disagree that the roots

> of English are Germanic.

> Why not say that English and German share

> Indo-European roots?

 

My point was that if 1066 had not happened we might be

speaking something very different from modern English

- perhaps a highly-inflected language more like

present-day German, or even the Anglo-Saxon of

Beowulf. Of course almost all the Western languages

(with the notable exceptions of Finnish, Estonian,

Hungarian, and Basque) share Indo-European roots. I

was referring to language groups within the I-E family

- Germanic vs. Italic/Romance. If you know Latin it

won't help you learn English grammar, though it is an

enormous help with the English vocabulary. And if you

know Sanskrit, you will have a much easier time

learning Malayalam vocabulary, but it likely wouldn't

help much with the basic grammar as the Dravidian

languages are non-Indo-European.

 

Yes, India

> is one of the few

> countries, perhaps the only one, which had any

> sizable population of Jews,

> which it did not see fit to kill outright.

 

During World War II Shubash Chandra Bose, believing

that India could gain independence if Britain were to

lose the war, tried to organize an Indian army that

would fight on the Axis side. But fortunately for

India's Jews, Hitler didn't want anything to do with

him.

 

While in Bombay, I visited the Knesseth Eli

Synagogue, built by the Sassoons in the 19th century.

It's right downtown, within walking distance of the

Gateway of India. Although there isn't much left of

India's Jewish community since India's independence

and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947

and '48 respectively, there are two groups of Indian

Jews - those who have been in India for thousands of

years, and the Jews who came later with the Brits.

 

 

Keval

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Keval,

 

This post concerns what you wrote here:

 

>

> During World War II Shubash Chandra Bose, believing

> that India could gain independence if Britain were to

> lose the war, tried to organize an Indian army that

> would fight on the Axis side. But fortunately for

> India's Jews, Hitler didn't want anything to do with

> him.

> >

> Keval

 

 

I would like to ask you if you have read materials about the life of

Shubash Chandra Bose. To imply that Shubash would have done anything

harmful in anyway to any Jewish person because of their religion ,

is in my opinion a misunderstanding of Shubash, his life and ideals ,

and his sruggle for Indian independence.

 

As I have understood Shubash's life , he DID NOT want to organize an

Indian army to fight on the Axis side, during WW II. He wanted

material support for the struggle against British repression in

India, and for the struggle for Indian independence, from wherever

he could get it, and to that end to raise an army of Indian nationals

for the struggle.

Struggles for national independence have usually looked to

other nations for material support,( and many examples could be given

here) as Shubash did.

 

For example, the American Revolutionary War was an armed struggle for

independence against the British, and an army was raised of American

patriots for that purpose. Shubash held the opinion that such an

armed struggle was also needed in India to throw off British rule.

 

Of course we know that the struggle headed by Gandhi of peaceful

resistance succeeded in the end.... but the cost of that success was

a partitioned India....(as the British rulers succeeded in their

efforts to divide and try to conquer; setting Muslims and Hindus

against each other, which pained Gandhi)... and the world now has a

lot of problems because of that 1948 partition of the Indian

subcontinent.

 

Shubash certainly would not have wanted, or ever envisioned, a Nazi

style dictatorship set up in India. He fought with his life's blood

against repression and oppression.

 

In my opinion, and that of many others, Shubash was an honorable

Indian and Bengali patriot, and also a deeply spiritual man.

It is not very often that I feel the need to defend a point of view

on the discussion group, but you got me here, Keval, as I write this

post defending the reputation of Shubash Chandra Bose.

I humbly hope that you do not take any offense from my post, and you

ceratinly succeeded in drawing me into this discussion.

Best Wishes to you,

Your sister at Amma's feet,

 

Sara J.