--- In cybalist@..., naga_ganesan@... wrote:
> Would appreciate what Chakrabarti says in RAS (is it JRAS)?
VA: Will post extracts later on the IC list.
>
> Lot of new info, theories, data will be coming out
> if the Dravidian experts increase in number in the
> world universities.
VA: There are not many 'world class Vedic' experts either.
Within two decades, you will see even fewer. Most of them are
actually linguists doubling as 'Vedic experts'. However, there are
many private scholars who often know better.
>It's a pity that most Vedic experts
> do not know any Dravidian language at all.
VA: Conversely, many 'Dravidian' experts do not know much beyond
Tamil. They are often ignorant of the other 'Dravidian' languages.
>
> Nor are the archaeologists like Chakrabarti, ....
VA: He is not an expert on Vedic and Sanskrit either. But then, how
many 'world class Vedic experts' also archaeologists? Does one really
need to know Tamil to understand how arbitrary and whimsical some of
Parpola's decipherments are? Does one really need to know
Vedic/Sanskrit perfectly to conclude the same of Rajaram/Jha
decipherment?
> Sanskrit prof.s abound in Western universities.
VA:Nor really. In fact even within India, opposition from
'Dravidianists', 'Liberals', 'Secularists' and members of non-Hindu
communities is stalling the teaching of Sanskrit. The JNU (where most
of the eminent historians like Romila Thapar come from) teaches Latin,
Greek and many other European languages but the teaching of Sanskrit
has been prevented all these years for the fear that it will 'promote
Hindu fascism/communalism'.
It is often forgotten that these 'distinguished' eminent historians of
ancient India do not know even one classical language of India
(Sanskrit, Prakrts, Vedic, Tamil etc.)