Western opponents cry, “Foul play – Hindu Nationalism/Saffronization.”

[Guest guest]

"garuda1953" <garuda1953> wrote:

 

some excerpts..

 

 

Western opponents cry, "Foul play – Hindu

Nationalism/Saffronization."

Into India, Out from India, or Both?

 

"Aryan Comings and Goings" is now the biggest football game in

Indology town. Scholars line up on both sides of the divide: Aryans

into India or Aryans out. Western Indologists predominantly defend

the "into-India" goal. Some Indian Indologists vehemently defend

the "out-from-India" goal. Most Indian scholars, however, just want

to shut down the West's dominance of the tourney – or at least

establish a level playing field.

 

Now the Indian scholars are hungry for an upset – they want to take

possession of the game. After all, most popular books on India

written for educated people imply that blue-eyed warriors from near

Europe conquered the South Asian region and then mixed with the

backward natives to create the Vedic tradition and modern India.

 

The Western titans shoot back that it is highly probable, if not

almost certain, that the Aryans were coming in – even if we do not

know when, how or why. Any other view, they feel, has to reek of

contemporary South Asian nationalism, and politics. Most of the

Indian scholars simply feel that there is no evidence that the Indo-

Aryans pushed their way into the subcontinent from outside.

 

Understandably, they wonder why they should uncritically inherit a

version of their remote antiquity assembled for them by their former

colonial lords. They want to erect ac post-colonial era of Indian

scholarship, unencumbered by excess baggage from the British Raj.

Hence, Indian brains feel the need to reclaim their intellectual

sovereignty, so to speak.

 

Attempts by Indian scholars to establish the so-called indigenous-

Aryan paradigm set off a mighty uproar in Western arenas.

Immediately the Western opponents cry, "Foul play – nationalism."

Unfortunately, sometimes even moderate attempts just to question the

incumbent Aryan immigration model – not replace it – risk swift

chastisement.

 

Western Indologists bristle at the thought that their Indian

counterparts may see them as neo-colonists. Nevertheless, decreasing

numbers of Western scholars are willing to deny that what we now

call India's ancient history was largely the product of the 19th

century climate of European politics and religion.

 

The British regime had a huge stake in the Aryan notion. By

asserting that the Ancient Aryans intruded into India from Europe or

nearby, the British arrival could be seen as the modern reenactment

of an ancient drama. Instead of colonialism, Indians were witnessing

the natural return of long-lost Aryan brothers. Indologists have

tacitly clung to the Aryan-entrace idea in the same way biologist

seem to hold tight to Darwinism.

 

(source: Searching for Vedic India – By Devamrita Swami p. 60 – 64).

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