Posted on 11/11/2002 3:08:30 PM PST by blam
Aryans In India: Old Debate Triggers New Debate
New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) An Ancient India historian today said his remarks on academic debate over Aryan invasion were torn out of context by the Director of the New Delhi-based National Council of Educational Research and Training.
''He should read my book,'' Prof D N Jha said, commenting on a suggestion by Prof J S Rajput that his remarks perhaps implied a shift from the theory of Aryans' foreign origin.
Prof Rajput's suggestion came in a statement voicing satisfaction over scholars' ''professional'' remarks on the publication of the Council textbook on Ancient History for XI graders.
''Even Professor D N Jha, an esteemed scholar of Ancient India who has himself authored several books, has accepted that the Aryan invasion theory is a matter of academic debate,'' Prof Rajput said.
''This admission, coming from Prof Jha, is particularly significant in that his books never mentioned anything else than the Aryans' foreign origin theory,'' Prof Rajput said.
''The previous authors of NCERT's textbooks on Ancient India, Professors Romila Thapar and R S Sharma, had also shied from mentioning the India-origin theory of Aryans,'' he went on. ''We are happy that the new NCERT publication has already made an impact.'' Reached for comment, Prof Jha said, ''He should read my book. My position is clear that the Aryans' origin was foreign. The debate I referred to is on the manner of their arrival-- whether it was migration rather than invasion, as I held in my earlier writings.'' He said in his book 'Ancient India-- An Introductory Outline' published in 1977 he took the view it was an invasion, but he updated it and duly recorded it in another book called 'Ancient India in Historical Outline' published in 1998.
Prof Jha said the overall view in the debate-- which scholars say is more than 100 years old-- was balanced in favour of migration of Aryans as opposed to an invasion by them. ''I don't think there is much evidence of Aryans having an indigenous origin in India. They came from outside.'' Another scholar, Prof Arjun Dev, a former Professor of History and Head of the Social Science Department in the Council, said the Council remarks appeared intended to mislead by portraying a debate on the manner of Aryans' arrival as one on their origin.
He said it reflected eagerness of the establishment and its ideologues to try to prop up a communal ideology. The insistence on the Aryans' Indian origin is integral to this ideology.
He cited how Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar accounted for nationalist leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak's view that Aryans hailed from the Arctic by saying Arctic had been a part of India
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This is the guy's name? How does he even remember who he is?
His friends and family call him 'Junior'.
Indian tradition has the Aryan invasion coming from the north and pushing the original inhabitants to the south. The pattern of languages on the subcontinent today supports that scenario, with Dravidian (non-Indoeuropean) languages in the south and in Sri Lanka, but only in a pocket or two in the north where Hindi and other descendants of Sanskrit predominate.
This "Indian origin" thing resembles the idea put out in this country that Ancient Egypt was peopled by blacks. That is, it's a modern invention to encourage ethnic pride. Perhaps next the Brits will decide that the Norman invaders may have come from Scotland or Wales.
Editor wanted. Must work for peanuts.
That looks pretty good. Are you sure the Philistines weren't Semitic?
Heard of them, but remember little.
Ok, here goes.. if you care:
"Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" is the name of an organization (Hindu fascist). "Sarsanghchalak" is the name of a position within that organization. "Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar" is his name. Think of it as "Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard John Doe".
The name of the person is Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar. "Sarsanghchalak" , transliterated into English would mean President and "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh" is the name of a cultural organization. I hope that clarifies.
Not very surprising that you choose to slander certain people and organizations and mislead the others with your hate propaganda.
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