---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rajiv Malhotra
Subject: Re: Sanskrit cadre of scholars in India reaching extinction
To:
I wish to make a few comments to Tavleen Singh's article quoted below.
I am glad that she has raised awareness of the decline of sanskrit
studies in India. But we have said this for years, so why does it
become a crisis only when a white american scholars says it? Read my
Sulekha article, "Geopolitics and Sanskrit Phobia at:
http://rajivmalhotra.sulekha.com/blog/post/2005/07/geopolitics-and-sanskrit-phobia.htm
It also explains why this decline matters at all. Neither Tavleen nor
Pollock explain why it matters beyond apparant nostalgia.
Sheldon Pollock has teamed up with the Indian Left to show Sanskrit as
an elite language of brahmins, brought to India by foreign aryans. He
loves the language but hates hinduism or at least likes to twist the
knife once in a while. The same is true of many Indological aryan
theorists since Max Mueller -- they love sanskrit as something
belonging to THEIR ANCESTORS. In front of their western academic peers
from other disciplines, Sanskrit is presented as something superior
and deserving funds for their department and programs. In front of
South Asian scholars, the discourse becomes the oppression of the
masses by Sanskrit hegemony. In front of Indian philanthropists the
goal is how to get money for books, foreign trips, academic programs
of the western scholars.
Also the Clay Sanskrit Library is filled with works by biased scholars
as well as good ones. aryan invasion, "caste, cows, dowry" mindset
permeates some of these translations. So blindly distributing all
works is a bad idea.
Finally, deep change is not a matter of giving copies away. Tavleen is
proposing as though it were some tabloid to be handed out at the
railway stations. Who will read them? where will the sanskrit teachers
in india come from?
What Kapil Sibal should be asked to do is not spend money on the US
publisher of those books. He should fund high quality Sanskrit
learning, INCLUDING teaching them purva-paksha of Western thought to
be able to respond to the global discourse in sanskrit categories.
They should not be trained as irrelevant pandits (exotic pets) staring
at their own navels out of touch with global reality today. This is
another divergence I have with Pollock (who btw is a very fine
Sanskrit scholar in terms of his competence). They want to limit
Sanskrit to its old texts and not as a relevant way of thinking for
today's issues. This prevents the "Sanskrit threat" of challenging
ways of thinking. It gives Sanskrit a place of respect in a museum,
and not as a living language. When people have made feeble attempts to
bring Sanskrit based ideas into today's discourse, the same Pollock
types attack them as chauvinists. Well, how does one instill pride and
thereby boost a language, if anything positive is to be denied as
chauvinism? Why would anyone want to study a language deemed to be
filled with horrible things with nothing worthwhile for today's
predicaments? Pollock's own monograph titled, "The Death of Sanskrit"
many years ago played a role in perpetuating this idea of a dead
language.
Specifically, Sanskrit based science, mathematics, astronomy,
computational linguistics -- these are some of the examples of what
can be encouraged for today. But Western Sanskritists are not well
versed here, and feel threatened that indian technocrats will run
circles around them, so they dont encourage this kind of modernized
approach to sanskrit. They like it as the romantic past of white
europeans, now preserved in safe museums for posterity, but feel
threatened when it comes out alive and competes with Western epistemic
categories.
Pollock is not the issue here, and i use his name only because Tavleen
uses him. The problem is the entire establishment that controls the
demonology against Sanskrit which I explained in my article referenced
above.
regards,
rajiv
> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/towards-literacy-then-scholarship/499770
>
> Tavleen Singh
> Aug 9, 2009
>
> Last week I read a report by my friend Sheldon Pollock, who teaches Sanskrit
> at Columbia University, and it made me weep. Listen to the report's first
> paragraph. 'As recently as 50 years ago, India could boast of a cadre of
> scholars in classical studies (defined here as research based on textual
> materials—literary, philosophical, religious, historical, etc. — produced
> prior to 1800) who were as skilled as any in the world. In the time since,
> this class has diminished to the point of extinction.'
>
> The report predicts that in less than ten years, classical studies will have
> died in all Indian languages unless the HRD minister initiates a move to set
> up at least one Indian Institute of Classical Studies. The report makes the
> point that if we can invest in IITs and IIMs by the dozen, then we can
> surely fund one Institute of Classical Studies. This report was prepared for
> a Mumbai industrialist who is trying to set up such an institute with
> private funding. But, in the end, if government and universities do not make
> a concerted effort, nothing will change. There will be no Indian scholars of
> classical studies left in India. Those that there are will be in foreign
> universities.
>
>
>
> Already, as I have mentioned before in this column, the best translations of
> classical Sanskrit texts are those that have been done by foreigners. I am
> at the moment reading Sheldon Pollock's translation of the Ramayana and have
> no hesitation in admitting that I have not read a single Indian translation
> that comes anywhere close. Thanks to the American billionaire who funded the
> creation of the Clay Sanskrit Library, nearly a hundred classical Sanskrit
> texts are available in excellent English.
>
> If Kapil Sibal wants his name written in letters of gold in the history of
> Indian education, he should just make the Clay Sanskrit Library's books
> available in all our universities. Then, since higher education comes
> entirely under his Ministry, he needs to find out why our universities are
> not producing scholars of classical studies. Why do none of Delhi's
> universities have a single professor of classical Hindi literature? Why was
> it impossible for the University of Chicago to find a single scholar of
> Telugu literature in ten years of trying? Why do Maharashtra's universities
> not have a single serious scholar of classical Marathi?
>
> The most important question of all is why has the HRD Ministry not invested
> in an Indian Institute of Classical Studies? The state of classical
> scholarship is so dismal that we need such institutes in every state if we
> are not to end up as a country that loses all sense of its past.
From: Rajiv Malhotra
Subject: Re: Sanskrit cadre of scholars in India reaching extinction
To:
I wish to make a few comments to Tavleen Singh's article quoted below.
I am glad that she has raised awareness of the decline of sanskrit
studies in India. But we have said this for years, so why does it
become a crisis only when a white american scholars says it? Read my
Sulekha article, "Geopolitics and Sanskrit Phobia at:
http://rajivmalhotra.sulekha.com/blog/post/2005/07/geopolitics-and-sanskrit-phobia.htm
It also explains why this decline matters at all. Neither Tavleen nor
Pollock explain why it matters beyond apparant nostalgia.
Sheldon Pollock has teamed up with the Indian Left to show Sanskrit as
an elite language of brahmins, brought to India by foreign aryans. He
loves the language but hates hinduism or at least likes to twist the
knife once in a while. The same is true of many Indological aryan
theorists since Max Mueller -- they love sanskrit as something
belonging to THEIR ANCESTORS. In front of their western academic peers
from other disciplines, Sanskrit is presented as something superior
and deserving funds for their department and programs. In front of
South Asian scholars, the discourse becomes the oppression of the
masses by Sanskrit hegemony. In front of Indian philanthropists the
goal is how to get money for books, foreign trips, academic programs
of the western scholars.
Also the Clay Sanskrit Library is filled with works by biased scholars
as well as good ones. aryan invasion, "caste, cows, dowry" mindset
permeates some of these translations. So blindly distributing all
works is a bad idea.
Finally, deep change is not a matter of giving copies away. Tavleen is
proposing as though it were some tabloid to be handed out at the
railway stations. Who will read them? where will the sanskrit teachers
in india come from?
What Kapil Sibal should be asked to do is not spend money on the US
publisher of those books. He should fund high quality Sanskrit
learning, INCLUDING teaching them purva-paksha of Western thought to
be able to respond to the global discourse in sanskrit categories.
They should not be trained as irrelevant pandits (exotic pets) staring
at their own navels out of touch with global reality today. This is
another divergence I have with Pollock (who btw is a very fine
Sanskrit scholar in terms of his competence). They want to limit
Sanskrit to its old texts and not as a relevant way of thinking for
today's issues. This prevents the "Sanskrit threat" of challenging
ways of thinking. It gives Sanskrit a place of respect in a museum,
and not as a living language. When people have made feeble attempts to
bring Sanskrit based ideas into today's discourse, the same Pollock
types attack them as chauvinists. Well, how does one instill pride and
thereby boost a language, if anything positive is to be denied as
chauvinism? Why would anyone want to study a language deemed to be
filled with horrible things with nothing worthwhile for today's
predicaments? Pollock's own monograph titled, "The Death of Sanskrit"
many years ago played a role in perpetuating this idea of a dead
language.
Specifically, Sanskrit based science, mathematics, astronomy,
computational linguistics -- these are some of the examples of what
can be encouraged for today. But Western Sanskritists are not well
versed here, and feel threatened that indian technocrats will run
circles around them, so they dont encourage this kind of modernized
approach to sanskrit. They like it as the romantic past of white
europeans, now preserved in safe museums for posterity, but feel
threatened when it comes out alive and competes with Western epistemic
categories.
Pollock is not the issue here, and i use his name only because Tavleen
uses him. The problem is the entire establishment that controls the
demonology against Sanskrit which I explained in my article referenced
above.
regards,
rajiv
> http://www.indianexpress.com/news/towards-literacy-then-scholarship/499770
>
> Tavleen Singh
> Aug 9, 2009
>
> Last week I read a report by my friend Sheldon Pollock, who teaches Sanskrit
> at Columbia University, and it made me weep. Listen to the report's first
> paragraph. 'As recently as 50 years ago, India could boast of a cadre of
> scholars in classical studies (defined here as research based on textual
> materials—literary, philosophical, religious, historical, etc. — produced
> prior to 1800) who were as skilled as any in the world. In the time since,
> this class has diminished to the point of extinction.'
>
> The report predicts that in less than ten years, classical studies will have
> died in all Indian languages unless the HRD minister initiates a move to set
> up at least one Indian Institute of Classical Studies. The report makes the
> point that if we can invest in IITs and IIMs by the dozen, then we can
> surely fund one Institute of Classical Studies. This report was prepared for
> a Mumbai industrialist who is trying to set up such an institute with
> private funding. But, in the end, if government and universities do not make
> a concerted effort, nothing will change. There will be no Indian scholars of
> classical studies left in India. Those that there are will be in foreign
> universities.
>
>
>
> Already, as I have mentioned before in this column, the best translations of
> classical Sanskrit texts are those that have been done by foreigners. I am
> at the moment reading Sheldon Pollock's translation of the Ramayana and have
> no hesitation in admitting that I have not read a single Indian translation
> that comes anywhere close. Thanks to the American billionaire who funded the
> creation of the Clay Sanskrit Library, nearly a hundred classical Sanskrit
> texts are available in excellent English.
>
> If Kapil Sibal wants his name written in letters of gold in the history of
> Indian education, he should just make the Clay Sanskrit Library's books
> available in all our universities. Then, since higher education comes
> entirely under his Ministry, he needs to find out why our universities are
> not producing scholars of classical studies. Why do none of Delhi's
> universities have a single professor of classical Hindi literature? Why was
> it impossible for the University of Chicago to find a single scholar of
> Telugu literature in ten years of trying? Why do Maharashtra's universities
> not have a single serious scholar of classical Marathi?
>
> The most important question of all is why has the HRD Ministry not invested
> in an Indian Institute of Classical Studies? The state of classical
> scholarship is so dismal that we need such institutes in every state if we
> are not to end up as a country that loses all sense of its past.
1 comment:
I am as strong a supporter of Hindutva as one can find.
And I think we are wasting too much effort on Sanskrit language which is mostly a dead language anyway except as a symbol of our Hindu Civilization. I am not saying symbols are not important. As one philosopher said, crores of people foght and died for symbols, however meaningless they may be. But very few people died for the sake of science, reason etc. I am cautioning don't invest more energy into sanskrit than the output (nationalism and Hindu pride) it is going to generate.
Don't get me wrong but I think Sanskrit is not going to help us in solving any of the problems Hindus/Indians going to face in the 21st century.
Instead it would be better to guide the youth to study more and more on the possible problems India might face in the 21st century. (ex: Islamic extremism, Chinese aggression, Islamic demographic explosion etc)
And as far as I know there is no literature in Sanskrit dealing with those problems.
Besides in these days of "attention deficit disorder" where people are forever searching for distractions, it is tough to get people to read anything. Now how can we get someone to learn some ancient language?
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