Michael Witzel

Textual criticism in Indology and in European philology during the 19 th and 20 th centuries

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 04:52:04 +0000

This paper discusses the post enlightenment development of philology in Europe during the 19th 20th centuries,particularly in the German speaking areas.After several centuries of sustained interest in the Graeco Roman Classics, all types of medieval,older European and Asian literatures became the focus of new textual approaches.Prominent was an historical and critical approach bolstered by the newly developed MSS stemmatics and the new evidence from comparative historical linguistics.

‘Paradigm shift’ in history? – II

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 11:02:34 +0000

Scholarship is not local but universal. Those who want to turn it back in indigenous fashion may succeed for a while but their pronouncements will eventually be thrown out on the dung heap of history. The history of a great civilisation such as the Indian one does not deserve to be hijacked by narrow parochial, nationalistic, chauvinistic or political interests. A truly international approach is needed, with input from many sides.

Read News

‘Paradigm shift’ in history? — I

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 11:00:36 +0000

Frawley may `love’ India all the way he wants, but if he really wants to understand, he must at least begin to study the required sciences, be they anthropology, linguistics, philology, biology or geography. Of course, he does not see the need as he already knows the `secrets’ of the Veda.

Read News

Ecology, rhetoric or dumbing down? — II

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:58:12 +0000

Simple solutions to complex problems may be appealing to many, and are successful in politics. But they are not suitable in scholarship, where manifold facts do not allow for a one-fits-all theory that takes care of complex subjects such as Indian prehistory.

Read News

Ecology, rhetoric or dumbing down? — I

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:56:21 +0000

As long as the scholarly world has not agreed on any of the many dozens of “decipherments” of the Indus seals, much of the prehistory of the subcontinent remains steeped in mystery, in spite of ever-expanding archaeological data.

Read News

Rewriting history

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:53:40 +0000

Sir,— I was disappointed to read the reported remarks on India being the only former colony not to rewrite history: Reassessing earlier historical writing is an ongoing process in all civilizations. David Frawley and N.S. Rajaram are wrong in claiming that India “has failed to rewrite the history dictated by its former colonial masters”. Historiography has not stopped in 1947.

Read News

Witzel’s philology

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 10:51:11 +0000

Witzel has removed the Rigvedic Aryans from all but the corner of north India according to his philological conclusions. Though the Rigveda mentions samudra, the common Sanskrit term for ocean over 150 times, as the goal of all rivers, as endless in extent and as containing great waves, Witzel will not credit them with knowing the ocean because according to him they didn’t portray samudra with the correct salt content!

Read News