Comments on: Vinay Lal, “The Other Indians”

By: Archana

Archana — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:29:09 +0000

This is definitely going on my to-read list, since I’ve always had problems with Prashad’s book – I agree with a lot of what you say about how his project was definitely to present a critique, not a history. As far as temples go, I think having many deities is typical in many smaller US cities, and it would be interesting to study the layout of these temples to see how it’s decided who takes the central spots and/or the most auspicious directions.

By: whynot

whynot — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:30:12 +0000

I agree with the above poster named Meluhhan. It is impossible for a civilization to remain racially distinct over a period of thousands of years within a contiguous landmass without any significant natural barriers to stop migration. Also history has ample evidence of migrations between northern and southern parts of the country. If one actually looks at maps of kingdoms in ancient India, they seem to extend over many states(of present day India) and even across regions in some cases, like the Maurya and Gupta empires. Assuming that distinct races existed in the north separate from other parts of present day India, it is highly likely that migration would have diminished that distinction. We can extend this observation to almost every part of the country given the formation and dissolution of kingdoms throughout our history. For all these reasons, associating the concept of race to a geographical boundary within India, whether north, south, east or west, is almost a futile endeavor, because the possiblity of existence of a “distinct race” within any part of the nation is impossible , assuming there were distinct races to begin with.

By: Dr Amonymous

Dr Amonymous — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:14:05 +0000

It is important that these studies are taught, but when you ghettoize it into its own department rather than part of the larger study of history or sociology what you end up with is an inane circle-jerk filled with inane pontifications from people trained in a specialization without any knowledge of how it makes sense in a larger, more holistic context.

I agree with this to some extent, setting aside the unnecessary pejoratives - it's not really those people that decided to structure their careers that way but the other way around. Also the critique could apply equally to most social science disciplines, whose boundaries are somewhat arbitrary.

However, a major problem with South Asia as a subject is it tends to perpetuate Orientalism, Indocentrism, and other failings in addition to the insular nature of it. At the same time, there is also a strength to having interdisciplinary programmes. Usually the devil is in the details, and there is a way to establish cross departmental programmes with a focus on South Asia as well as solid training in some methods of understanding, I hope.

By: Meluhhan

Meluhhan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:35:52 +0000

svaha,

Do bear in mind that Dravidian (and of course, most north-eastern) languages are decidedly non Indo-European. And while it may seem reasonable for the most part to assume that evidence of shared linguistic roots might imply shared genetic roots, that rule fails when you consider the Basques, Hungarians, and perhaps even the Finns and Turks.

Max Mueller was an Indophile, but an exclusively Vedic Indophile. This might have changed had the discovery of the antiquity of the non Indo-European Indus-Saraswati civilization been made before his death. It would've thrown his ideas of Vedic superiority for a loop.

boston_mahesh,

South Indians aren't very genetically different from North Indians. Here's some documented evidence of influx of outsiders into the south (not that it's really necessary where you have a continuous landmass):

Roman trading posts along the Arabian Sea coast. Male sailors going without female company for long periods of time. Do the math.
The invitation of brahmins into the South by the Chola kings. And while brahmin men usually married brahmin women, they could keep non-brahmin mistresses.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:28:00 +0000

"puliyodharai" my ears are burning...

PindaUSA, I know you've heard this before, but that's the wrong orifice.

By: Puliogre in da USA

Puliogre in da USA — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:01:05 +0000

"puliyodharai"

my ears are burning...

By: curious minds

curious minds — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:56:27 +0000

Maybe it is a consequence of all the time you've spending with manju?

Are you slandering my poor manju, or do you speak from personal experience?

By: Rahul

Rahul — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:58:39 +0000

things can go flat in just about that amount of time

Sorry, the dosa is the only desi stereotype I succumb to, so I don't understand what you mean here. Maybe it is a consequence of all the time you've spending with manju?

By: ak

ak — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:52:25 +0000

Wow, why the, er, 180-degree turn in 1 minute, ak?

rahul, as you well may (or may not) know, things can go flat in just about that amount of time

By: Rahul

Rahul — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:44:06 +0000

ak on July 7, 2009 10:25 PM:

lal's erection of 'desi'

ak on July 7, 2009 10:26 PM:

er, that should read 'rejection' of 'desi'

Wow, why the, er, 180-degree turn in 1 minute, ak?