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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00053 Dec 2002

 
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Dear Members,

With all due respects towards the erudition of Prof George Hart, I
would request members to look for inspiration from Tamil Classics
instead of Prof Hart.

It is ironic that we criticize the west for gross materialism and yet
look to it for inspiration to study our own heritage. Instead of
looking at George Hart or X or Y or Z, why not look into the
Thirukkural, Kamba Ramayanam, PuranAnuru, Thiruvaymozhi for
inspiration.

Apart from the fact that Tamil Studies has taken a virulently
political motive under certain self-styled scholars of the west, it
is imperative that we not let our classical heritage be interpreted
in order to divide us. You should read some of his "theories" about
the antiquity of tamil. It would make a nice book for fiction.

We already have had this tragic experience with indologists like Max
Muller, H H Wilson, G U Pope who categorically state in the
introduction to their works "in order to speed up the conversion of
indians to christian religion". They interpreted our heritage
according to their whims and fancies. The ulterior motive was to
discredit the Hindu heritage and relegate it to a pariah status as
compared to the west. This would then expedite the conversion of
Hindus to Christianity according to their plans. Unfortunately for
them and fortunately for us, their motives was exposed before it took
seriously damaging positions in the indian(read hindu) society.

I am not denying their scholarship of erudition. But with ulterior
motives which is still lingering among non-indian scholars, we should
be careful so as to avoid reading them.

There have been extensive translations of Tamil Classics in the past,
by Sri P S Sundaram for example. 

Last but not least, if we as Indians continue financing such "racist"
research, we alone have to suffer. It would be much more beneficial
for us to finance research projects undertaken by indian scholars
rather than non-indian scholars with such an ulterior motive.

Regards,

Malolan Cadambi

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