HINDU BUNGLING ARYAN INVASION THEORY BY WITZEL'S CALIFORNIA COMPAIGN DENIAL BY HINDUS ACTIVISTS SRI RAM SWARUP AND SRI SITA RAM GOEL & LORD RAMA BRIDGE BY SRI SUBRAMANIAN SWAMI

Hindu bungling and as an unmixed triumph for Aryan theory retained in school books, theories on which  own career and reputation rest to a large degree. This is far from the case, though this was how it was portrayed on partisan websites. Both paid a heavy price both financially and in credibility. He soon found himself in disreputable company with fly by night evangelical outfits, communist groups and the like, hardly worthy of a senior professor at a prestigious university proud of its liberal credentials. The enduring power of the Aryan invasion theory and of academics subscribe to it. The fact is both are headed into the dustbin of history. In 2005, “Collapse of the Aryan invasion theory”, by Greek Vedic scholar Nicolas Kazanas, it was already old hat. Where are its advocates? In the wilderness, fighting to save themselves and their departments which are being eliminated by universities from Berlin to Cambridge. His tour of India where he tried to drum up support for his programme was an embarrassment. He was ridiculed even by schoolchildren questioning his Sanskrit while at the prestigious India International Centre in Delhi, eminent scholar Kapila Vatsayan politely but firmly put him in place.  This episode merits attention as it illustrates the hazards of basing a narrative on personalities rather than issues. Personalities come and go — whatever happened to Angana Chatterji — but issues move much more slowly. The issue today is no longer the Aryan invasion but rebuilding a foundation for the study of ancient history on a scientific basis. Several publications treat the Aryan theories in the same light as Creation science and reject papers that use it. This needs to be mentioned because the author devotes a great deal of attention to personalities like Meera Nanda and their positions.  Hindu activism mentors  like Sri Ram Swarup and Sri Sita Ram Goel, especially the latter who provided an intellectual foundation for nationalism. He laments their passing and also the fact that such vigour is absent among present day workers. This may be so, but as the author himself notes, their work is now common property and many of their ideas have been adopted by Hindus worldwide, especially by the diaspora. This is not to suggest there is no room for improvement. The author is very much on the mark when he accuses Hindu intellectuals of lethargy and obscurantism.   There are discussions of karma and rebirth, humour in Hinduism, Macaulay, historicity of the Vedas and the like in which he expresses opinions on these and other topics where the reader has to accept or reject them based on one’s own beliefs and prejudices. (This reviewer found most of them to be familiar and a few, like his interpretation of apauresheya, to be plain wrong. Philosophy, metaphysics in particular, is not the author’s Witzel’s California campaign and  the Subramanian Swamy scandal) to Rama’s Bridge to Sati and Vedic Seers. strength.