Sat Sri Akal Ji, ThinkingOne,
This seems to be the origin of the quote from Asian Wall Street Journal: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/casi/reports/PanikkarPaper112000.htm
The article is mainly concerned with the political re-writing of school books.
From http://www.ambedkar.org/News/Outsiderasenemy.htm: "... P.N. Oak, whose main contribution is the identification of every medieval monument as a Hindu structure. Incidentally, Oak recently approached the Supreme Court of India with a request to declare the Taj Mahal a Hindu building. The Supreme Court has indeed dismissed the plea stating that Oak seems to have 'a bee in his bonnet'."
One of the world's currently foremost Sanskrit scholars, Prof. Michael Witzel at the Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University, often uses Mr. Oak' name as a simile when real stupid things are proposed: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/EJVS-7-2.htm "Free-form etymologizing worthy of the Indian nationalist P. N. Oak lets Talageri interpret the names of persons, tribes, and local animals as "Aryan" or "Eastern" (as his model requires) when the linguistic evidence points squarely elsewhere -- often to pre-Indo-Aryan substrates. Talageri's embarrassing lack of scholarly linguistic and philological skills ..."
From http://www.www.secularindia.net/article6.html, I quote: "If the BJP is to have its way, we would soon be competing with Pakistan in framing the utmost possible parochial view of the past.Just as Buddhism and Guru Nanak are in effect excluded from the cultural legacy of Pakistan, Islam and Kabir will soon be marched out of our heritage. For nearly a century, since Tagore so saw it, we have been accustomed to see our past as a composite one, integrating many streams creatively. Such as attitude is anathema to the RSS. It will be noticed that words like “composite culture,” once so much a part of Delhi officialese, are now politically incorrect in the corridors of the Union Ministries of Human Resource Development and Culture, and of the University Grants Commission. When Kabir died, both Hindus and Muslims came to claim him. For official Delhi of today, this is, of course, unthinkable." (written in 2001)
More from the political comrades of mr. Oak: "The BJP has gone to the extent of saying that the history taught to school children should assert the historicity of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The party's view is that Mr. P.N. Oak, the "historian'' who claims the Taj Mahal is a "Hindu monument'' should be given as much weightage as Ms. Romila Thapar or Mr. Irfan Habib." - Because of Internet trouble, I can't retrieve that link now.
I argue mainly from the point of linguistics, because Mr. Oak's ventures into etynmology violate every priciple of that science. I hope that I have been able to demonstrate how far from reality his claims are.
Just you wait. I won't be surprised if he one day will claim that the Harmandir Sahib is a Hindu temple, because of the name Hari occurring in its name, or that Guru Har Krishan Ji must have been a Hindu worshipper, because his name really is Hare Krishna.
This seems to be the origin of the quote from Asian Wall Street Journal: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/casi/reports/PanikkarPaper112000.htm
The article is mainly concerned with the political re-writing of school books.
From http://www.ambedkar.org/News/Outsiderasenemy.htm: "... P.N. Oak, whose main contribution is the identification of every medieval monument as a Hindu structure. Incidentally, Oak recently approached the Supreme Court of India with a request to declare the Taj Mahal a Hindu building. The Supreme Court has indeed dismissed the plea stating that Oak seems to have 'a bee in his bonnet'."
One of the world's currently foremost Sanskrit scholars, Prof. Michael Witzel at the Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University, often uses Mr. Oak' name as a simile when real stupid things are proposed: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/EJVS-7-2.htm "Free-form etymologizing worthy of the Indian nationalist P. N. Oak lets Talageri interpret the names of persons, tribes, and local animals as "Aryan" or "Eastern" (as his model requires) when the linguistic evidence points squarely elsewhere -- often to pre-Indo-Aryan substrates. Talageri's embarrassing lack of scholarly linguistic and philological skills ..."
From http://www.www.secularindia.net/article6.html, I quote: "If the BJP is to have its way, we would soon be competing with Pakistan in framing the utmost possible parochial view of the past.Just as Buddhism and Guru Nanak are in effect excluded from the cultural legacy of Pakistan, Islam and Kabir will soon be marched out of our heritage. For nearly a century, since Tagore so saw it, we have been accustomed to see our past as a composite one, integrating many streams creatively. Such as attitude is anathema to the RSS. It will be noticed that words like “composite culture,” once so much a part of Delhi officialese, are now politically incorrect in the corridors of the Union Ministries of Human Resource Development and Culture, and of the University Grants Commission. When Kabir died, both Hindus and Muslims came to claim him. For official Delhi of today, this is, of course, unthinkable." (written in 2001)
More from the political comrades of mr. Oak: "The BJP has gone to the extent of saying that the history taught to school children should assert the historicity of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The party's view is that Mr. P.N. Oak, the "historian'' who claims the Taj Mahal is a "Hindu monument'' should be given as much weightage as Ms. Romila Thapar or Mr. Irfan Habib." - Because of Internet trouble, I can't retrieve that link now.
I argue mainly from the point of linguistics, because Mr. Oak's ventures into etynmology violate every priciple of that science. I hope that I have been able to demonstrate how far from reality his claims are.
Just you wait. I won't be surprised if he one day will claim that the Harmandir Sahib is a Hindu temple, because of the name Hari occurring in its name, or that Guru Har Krishan Ji must have been a Hindu worshipper, because his name really is Hare Krishna.
