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:

http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1035907050,71170,.shtml

"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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