Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Your omission of a critical theory of Aryan origins

mar 14th

oh, i simply loved this reader comment. i was practically ROTFL. it beats, hands down, some of the other inane comments i have endured.

this one reminds me of the late prof. m krishnan nair who used to write the 'weekly literary horoscope' in kalakaumudi, a malayalam magazine. he always illustrated his oblique points with reference to some incredibly obscure latin american or eastern european writer. for instance (i am making this up,  but you get the picture), "the wandering ancient bearing the albatross of failed expectations is a metaphor for the cognate sins of mankind, as seen in the truculent, powerful and gyno-erotic visions of the lesbian argentinian poet alessandra tressconi in her masterpiece 'the lost virginity of katarina del barossa' ". absolutely guaranteed to leave the reader gasping for breath, as nobody has heard of alessandra tressconi.

this comment also reminds me of the 'dada engine' that spews out post-modernist tripe, that i once posted references to on this blog.

i just love self-righteousness. don't you? especially when it is combined with cluelessness.

ps. krishnan nair was not clueless. he was having fun.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: K
Date: Mar 14, 2006 1:50 AM
Subject: Your omission of a critical theory of Aryan origins
To: Rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com

Vanakkam, Shri Srinivasan,
 
I noticed the following statement on your blog:
"Thus, when it became clear that the 'Aryan' Invasion Theory was not tenable, a new theory was created, that of 'Aryan' 'Migration'. This is old wine in new bottles: apparently the illiterate nomadic 'Aryans' (previously "thundering down the Khyber Pass in their horse-drawn chariots") now are claimed to have trickled in peaceably to the Indus-Sarasvati cities, which, despite their sophistication, did not have a literature or culture. The 'Aryans' allegedly brought Sanskrit and the Vedas with them and the grateful Indus-Sarasvati people adopted them wholesale. This is the new snake-oil being purveyed currently by Indian Marxists.  With all due modesty, I present, free of charge, my trademarked alternative theory, the 'Aryan' Tourist Theory."
 
Before grandiosely embarking on your own theory, you should have given due credit to previous theorizers.  I allude to your glaring omission of the "Wandering Aryan Theory," gloriously enunciated by a certain Occallaghan Marion in the Trinidad and Tobago news:
"The evidence is of neither invasion nor of Aryans beginning in India. It is of groups speaking an Aryan language wandering across the Indian border and bringing with them a language which is afterwards adopted as the language of the Court and of Brahmin rituals.
 
Even today, we find that India and Pakistan often detain shepherds and farmers who, in the absence of clear border demarcation, wander off into foreign territory in pursuit of straying livestock.  There is no reason why this should not have happened in the Central Asia/Afghanistan border in pre-Vedic times.  Therefore, this Wandering Aryan Theory has the additional merit of *experimental validation* which the "Engineering Types" like yourself are wont to demand from linguists and philologists.   
 
So, my dear sir, before your next presentation of your theory with fanfare, have the goodness and humility to acknowledge the giants whose shoulders you stand on. 
 
S. Ramakrishnan


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7 comments:

kautilya said...

ROTFL.... 100% 24-carat funny.. this..

and oh by the way, all i could get from this buggers comment was he was not "those Engineering types". :-))

And that fact pinches him a bit i think.. he is not very happy with his qualifications, which obviously has something to do with him being either a BA or something like that..

[BA degree used to be the greatest achievement of the Hindi film heros few years back. So this guy might even be an old Hindi film hero, who knows? :-)]

And here's my own 2 cents hypothesis on this subject :-))) call it Kaunteya's Hypothesis

'If you are an engineering graduate, you are more likely to support Hindu nationalist party'

bluntly put, if you are logical and analytical you are likely to support BJP ...:-))))

Check the list of commentators in the media today. And try to find their qualifications if possible. Most writers who lean to the right have a professional degree.
I have done this excercise and figured out i was in the "right" company :-)))


Excuse me if my comment seemed like S.Ramakrishan himself. But i just could not resist this hilarious bit.

iamfordemocracy said...

The Trinidad article mentions this Tajmahal issue. Who built it really? Has any carbon dating ever been done? There have been a few books claiming it was a Shivmandir (Tejomahalay) and I have heard from a few that all attempts to get to the truth are hammered down by the officialdom.

daisies said...

Hi Kaunteya,
Re:
"And that fact pinches him a bit i think.. he is not very happy with his qualifications, which obviously has something to do with him being either a BA or something like that..."

--- Actually BA in English may be
a good thing. It makes one more
right-brained. So it may make
one lean to the right.

This flash of insight came to
me from my right-brain. Not
from my logical left.

So BA in the non-logical and
artistic disciplines could
be a blessing....

Or it may cause inane,
illogical comments, who
knows...?

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Murli said...

Frankly, it looks like Ramakrishnan's message was intended to be tongue-in-cheek.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daisies said...

Darkstorm,

You are correct.
Left brain is responsible for
logical reasoning.

Right brain is intuitive. That is
why I said "flash of insight". It
is intuitive insight. The kind
that makes you say "Eureka!" and
jump out of the bath-tub and
announce a new idea.

I was postulating that a right
brained person will lean to the
right.

That's all. It has nothing to do
with logical reasoning. Every
decision doesnt depend on logic.

At the same time I said, a right
brained person might make illogical
comments. This is not a fixed
rule, but possible.

All this was just taking off from
Kaunteya's hypothesis, which he
admitted was not necessarily
logical.

Basically everyone here has just
been having a bit of fun off the
S. Ramakrishnan post.

-

daisies said...

Re. Darkstorm's:
"I think ATT is a valid theory. Actually, Rajeev, you can try to get it proven right."

--- I have been under the
impression that Rajeev has all
along been offering ATT as a
riduculous counter-claim to
the ridiculous AIT.

I dont think Rajeev believes
in ATT. In one of his posts,
he called himself it
"long-discredited" or some
such thing along, with AIT.

Altough the first time I read
his ATT (trademarked), I
seriously thought he believed
in it.

Rajeev, pls. enlighten me if I
got it all wrong.


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