I wrote, re the Indian Civilization group:
> This group is too loud, too overrun by nutcase nationalists.
> It's like trying to talk about the US Civil War on a group
> run by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
S. Kalyanaraman responds:
> What is wrong with nationalism? The history of civilizations
> of the last two centuries is a history of adoring nationalism.
> See, e.g., what is happening NOW in the Balkans or in Central
> Asia.
There's nothing wrong with nationalism. But the kind of groups I hang
out in don't display this particular kind of toxic, anti-historical,
anti-intellectual nationalism. There are some sane sensible voices on
the group, but they are shouted down by the maniacs.
As for the Central Asian or Balkan examples of this kind of
'nationalism', well Slobbo Milosevich current situation is a fine
example of what I think should be one's attitudeL ship'em all off to
's Gravenhage.
There is room on the net for a nice, quiet English-language group
dedicated to Vedic and early Indic studies, rather much like Cybalist
here does IE studies, where the usual scholarly consensus is
respected. We get chattily off topic, but not that off topic. We want
to learn something.
The trouble with Vedic/Indic studies is you need an extensive
introduction, particularly if you want to make use of web resources.
Most of what I have come across on the web looks like the approximate
equivalent to what you get with premillenial dispensationalist sites
vis-a-vis the Bible. I am not interested in reading the RV as a
born-againer reads the bible; rather, I want to read the RV as one
would read The Epic of Gilgamesh or the Iliad, and read about the RV a
la Robert Graves' _The Greek Myths_ or, say, Noth's commentaries on
the Old Testament.
Yeah. I wanna read the Rig Veda -- but with some insight, with some
introduction. And there seems to be NOTHING, either on the web, or in
print, that gets me there (I've asked around). I'd hafta enroll in a
course at a Big University to do this -- and they'd pro'ly make me
learn Sanskrit first.