[Ind-Arch] Questions for Dr.Loganathan
Friday, February 18, 2011 4:40 AM
From:
"mrithak" <Paangloss@aol.com>
To:
IndiaArchaeology@yahoogroups.com
Questions for Dr.Loganathan
Dear Moderator,
Feel free to reject this post if you think it is too polemical. The reason I thought of posting it here is because this is one forum where both myself and Dr.Loga are members. I would understand if you reject it.
best regards,
Ramesh
===================================
Dear Dr.Loganathan,
I hope all is well in your realm of existence and your hermeneutical linguistic studies are progressing nicely. I am a fan of your metaphysical musings and have been reading your interesting posts for more than 10 years now in the now defunct IndianCivilization list, Akandabaratham list (not a member), Agathiyar list (not a member) etc. I also want to thank you for introducing me to Meykandhar. I have few questions for you on a couple of topics that I have been meaning to ask for some time. Before I venture to do that, let me also give you a brief summary of myself. I was born in Kerala and lived about 15 years of my adolescent life in Tamil Nadu. I can read, speak and write (poorly) the great language of Tamil to some extent. For the past 21 years I have been living outside India though I make it a point to visit my land of birth at least once a year. Now to the questions.
Linguistics – I am open to your theory that ancient Sumerian language was archaic Tamil. My take on linguistics is that it is a type of philosophical enterprise and not a discipline of hard sciences at all as there seem to be a severe lack of conclusive evidences as to which sound/word originated from where etc. I have tried to understand a little bit of the principles of Linguistics (doesn't reject it altogether either) and got discouraged with the speculative theories about the reconstruction of sound changes in languages. For speculative theories, I choose to study philosophy and not linguistics. So for a novice like myself, the arguments of an European linguist vouching on the existence of the Proto-Indo –European (or arguments about sound shift etc) is not much different from your claims of Sumerian being archaic Tamil. Both are speculative theories. It is just that the Europeans control the process of research today and they deny (and even denigrate) those who disagree with their world view like we see in the Indo Eurasian Reasearch forum etc. But I do think that behind every linguistic hypothesis of language reconstruction there is a cultural/national/religious and even atheistic motive.
However, unlike the European scholars, I assume your primary goal in life is to attain the "Siva jnana Bodham" of Meykandhar. Yet from your efforts in trying to prove the Sumerian orgins of Tamil, I can't help but see a similarity between your efforts and that of many past and present day Brahmins of India. It looks like both of you are obsessed with the correct pronunciation, origination of sounds etc , but for different reasons. One of the criticisms that I have about the Brahmins in Indian history is that they spent too much time on vedic rituals, intellectual pursuits and metaphysical day-dreaming and spent less time on the socio-political issues of Bharata. Are you not also indulging in the same type of action when you speak about Tamil/Sumerian/ etc and not see your views being misused for the further division of the Hindu society in Tamil Nadu by those who are not that dedicated to "Siva jnana bodham of Meykandhar" as yourself? I have read your arguments where you try unsuccessfully to separate your studies from the Dravidian party ideology of Tamilnadu. But I see you and the dravidian ideologues in TN share the same hatred for the Brahmins. Scholarship has a social consequence and are you sensitive to that aspect of your studies ?. After all " anbe Sivam " (Shiva is love) must have lots of meaning to a Shiva baktha like yourself. I just want to point out that there are many Siva bakthas in the Brahmin community as well and are you being fair to them when you don't miss an opportunity to speak about the evils of Brahminism in so many internet forums?
Varna/Jati - Let me first of all say that for Hinduism to survive in India, the mental cancer of Jati/Varna among Hindus need to be eradicated. So on that point, I am totally with you in principle. But you keep flagellating the mythical enemy called the "Brahmins" for all the social evils of Hindu society of today. I would request you to reconsider. After all the Brahmins of today's India have very little political power. The real cause about Jati/Varna division is an issue of "ritualistic purity" among all Jatis and Varnas. This is the mental cancer of the Hindus in general. When I use the phrase "ritualistic purity", I am talking about the exclusive views that Hindus cherish about their lineage of birth which in my view leads to divisive tendencies in Hindu social life like temple worship, marriage, scriptural study etc. Such exclusive tendencies of Jati/Varna complex is prevalent among all Jatis/Varnas and is not just the mentality of the Brahmins alone. The present day Kshathriya and Vaishya Jatis are the biggest culprits of the Jati based atrocities in India today. But I have never heard you speak against the Kshathriyas or the Vaishyas of India. Wouldn't it be fair to criticize the Brahmins, Kshathriyas and the Vaishayas equally for the Jati/Varna issue?. I request you to start doing that because that would give more credibility to your scholarly pursuits of Sumerian Tamil. Right now, you come across as the intellectual arm of the Dravidian chauvinists of Tamilnadu.
If your counter argument is that it was the Brahmins who first twisted the verses of the Vedas and invented the Jati/Varna social stratification in the first place then don't you think that it was the " Kshathriyas" (my lineage) who enforced it as they were the rulers of Hindu society. Don't you think the Kshathriya kings, feudal landlords etc need to take equal or more of the blame along with the Brahmins for the Jati/Varna system of the Hindus?. But I have never heard you speak against the Kshathriyas or the Vaishyas. Wouldn't it be fair to criticize the Brahmins, Kshthriyas and even the Vaishayas equally ?. After all, every community needs to take responsibility for their actions and just can't blame it on the Brahmins alone for all of Hindu social issues . That is my view and would like to hear your thoughts on it.
Dravidianism – I grew up in Tamil Nadu in the early 70's and am aware of the actions of Dravidian party enthusiasts which are to be least desired. I have heard you give token objection to Christian proselytization . Do you know that the Dravidian parties in Tamilnadu are hand-in-glove with the Christian missionaries because of their misconceived and hateful anti-brahminism and in the process destroying Hinduism ?. Or is it that you like to hide behind the intellectual veil called "freedom of scholarship" and not care about the consequences of your schlolarship that is contributing to the destruction of Hinduism in TN ?. You wrote in the Akandabaratam list that Rajiv Malhotra's work " Breaking India" as out of date . Have you read it?. Can you please provide a constructive criticism of that work?. That would be really helpful instead of merely rejecting it without any basis.
It is one thing to love language , but quite another to spew hatred towards other communities and destroy our culture in the process. Please note that I am not saying that you are spewing hatred as I have noticed that you believe in civil discussions. I am saying that your philosophical and linguistic claims about Dravidan, sumeroTamil etc are being used by those Dravidianists in TN as an intellectual justification for their ignorance, hatred and violence in Tamil Nadu. If you think that your studies are not contributing to a political discourse of hatred in Tamil Nadu then I would say you are also like those ancient Brahmins who were immersed in scholarship and were indifferent to the socio-political realities of their time.
Malaysian Hindus – I have been reading reports about the ethnic cleansing of Hindus and the destruction of Hindu temples in Malaysia for some time. Occasionally, I read the reports posted on the Hindraf website and it looks like the Hindus in Malaysia are living in fear. I recall reading somewhere in your posts that there is no Jati/Varna complex among the Malaysian Hindus and that is wonderful. Don't you think you need to do your part to protect the Jati/Varna free Malaysian Hindus from oppression and ethnic cleaning ?. As I said earlier, I have been reading your posts for a long time now. But I don't ever recall you writing anything about the issues facing Malaysian Hindus. As I see it, if the current plight of Malaysian Hindus continue, you will have to seek refuge in Tamil Nadu like the Sri Lankan Tamils. Perhaps then you will have a better understanding of the consequences of your Sumero-Tamil scholarship in the hands of the Dravidian chauvinists in TN. Importantly by your silence about the issues facing Malaysian Hindus, are you not acting just like the Brahmins/Kshathriyas of Indian history who failed to pay attention to the socio-political realities of Hindu society and hid behind their intellectual/spiritual pursuits. I tend to believe in the paradigm that higher the knowledge, greater the responsibility.
These are the concerns I have about you and your scholarship. I fully believe that you are a Shiva baktha and you are serious about Siva bodha Jnanam. But I seriously doubt whether your pursuits of Vijnanam ( like your pursuits of hermeneutical linguistics of sumero-tamil) is contributing to the increase in the Jnanam of "Ondre kulam, oruvane Devan " (one race and one God) in the Tamil land but instead seem to be contributing to the division and hatred in an already fractured Hindu society. If the summary of your counter arguments is that your studies involve seeking the Truth and you are not concerned about the extremely negative consequences of your studies then I will have to conclude that you are not that different from those Brahmins of Indian history whom you love to criticize.
Sincerely,
Ramesh