Hindutvavadis De-catenate Farmer Lineage

We at IRFAN are dismayed at the feeble attempts by Hindu extremists to delink Steve Farmer the MMMDCCCLXXIX from his blue eyed ancestor Shri Farmer the I.

In an angry message on DIES Mercurii A.D. XIV KAL. FEB. MMDCCLIX A.U.C. Steve Farmer the MMMDCCCLXXIX announced to the group of Indologists at IER (message #2937), "Hindu extremists in India have been playing up claims about the discovery of a "New Civilization" in ancient India, supposedly dating to ca. 6000 BCE, that long antedated Harappan civilization and may have produced the world's "First Farmer."

We at IRFAN share Steve Farmer's concern of Hindutva and its influence on global events. Our own independent investigation reveals that the untimely exit of the Cincinnati Bengals from Superbowl contention is rooted in Hindutva politics. Oh, yeah global warming, internet bubble, decline of the dollar and rise in gas prices too.

Professor Deshpande Straightens Out Daniel Golden of Wall Street Journal!

Professor Madhav Deshpande, Professor of Asian Languages, Professor of Cultures and Professor of Linguistics, Professor of Sanskrit, Historical Linguistics, Sanskrit Grammatical Tradition, Sanskrit Phonetics, Indo-Aryan Linguistics, Sociolinguistics of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages and Professor of Indian History at the College of Literature, Science, the Arts, Religious Superstitions, Appreciation of Basket-Weaving and Vertical Kinematics To Clean Floors, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (obviously, Michigan is a polytitlistic university) , has kindly published the strong letter that he sent to Daniel Golden of the Wall Street Journal. In an article published on the front page of the WSJ, Golden had failed to do adequate justice to Prof. Deshpande's explanation on why Hindus are polytheistic. Reportedly, Golden fell asleep (something that U.Mich students NEVER do in Prof. Deshpande's classes) after about 20 minutes of Prof. Deshpande's explanation, and hence devoted only 1.3754 lines in his article to what he learned there. Professor Deshpande in his own words:

*********************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indo-Eurasian_research/message/2907

"Madhav M. Deshpande" Date: Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:30 am Subject: My views mentioned in Daniel Golden's article in WSJ 1-25-06

deshpandemSend Email

Dear List members,
I have sent the following letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal I am reproducing here so that the readers can see My views in My own words.
Best,
Madhav Deshpande

To Editor Wall Street Journal
Dear Sir,In the Eastern Edition of today's (1-25-06) issue of WSJ, Mr. Daniel Golden has published an important article: Defending the Faith: New Battle Ground in Textbook Wars; Religion in History; Hindu, Islamic, Jewish Groups Fault Portrayals of Events and Often Win Changes. In this article, Mr. Daniel Golden refers to his phone conversation with Me and briefly describes My views on the current dispute in California regarding depiction of Hinduism. In abbreviating my views, his statements are likely to misinform the reader as to exactly what My views are, and hence it is appropriate to briefly state My views in My own words.

I wish Mr. Golden had given Me an opportunity to see the copy of his article before it was published. I may have been able to help him phrase My views with better clarity (IRFAN notes: see lucid prose below). In any case, the following is a gist of what I told Mr. Golden in our phone conversation. ....(IRFAN notes: complete and unabridged, as heard and jotted down by Mr. Golden or most listeners)

On inequalities of women, all one... as for women.. / thighs /mouth debate... there are sufficient .. needs to do is to read the Laws of Manu in all its details is caste ..as Vedic ..other subsequent religious/legal caste and the status of authorities.. as it gets.. part of the traditional Hinduism the purusasukta hymn giving origins of four castes from the arms and polytheism feet of the cosmic monotheism primordial being is ... and is repeated by Manu .were directly responding to critiques of Hinduism.. and . studies of 19th century India that Indian religious reformers (e.g. Brahmo Samaj of Bengal, Arya Samaj of Punjab, Prarthana Samaj of Pune etc.) ... in their environment and ... such as meditation on Brahman "primordial underlying universal reality" above all the contemporary diverse practices that have continued unabated to this day. The Hindu unwelcome accretions of .. reformers of the colonial period ..(IRFAN adds the IER WitzelJugend Chorus:
"caste, untouchability, child-marriage, bride-burning, cow, caste, communal riot, toilet-cleaning, dalit, technical degrees, Aryan Invasion, Inquilab Zindabad..Prominent Academics!" )

highlighting some aspect of the old tradition .. projected all the religious and social reforms they were seeking back ..., and that allowed them to claim that what they were proposing was not something new, but merely a return to a purer past, by discarding the ...the medieval period..into ancient Vedic past... , etc. were deemed as having arisen ..My own grand mother was married...in post-Vedic medieval times. All social/religious dimensions such as caste, child marriage, ..., unequal treatment of , and were claimed not to be part of true/original/ancient Hinduism of the Vedas. The Vedas were deemed to provide a form of modernity more modern than the contemporary modernity provided by the colonial rulers and missionaries' burning of the widows . Every issue like caste, untouchability, child-marriage, was debated hotly in the 19th century and early 20th century India, where I am glad that I was born... to.. both the reformers and their orthodox opponents were making claims of going back to the purer past.(IRFAN adds the IER WitzelJugend Chorus:
"caste, untouchability, child-marriage, bride-burning, cow, caste, communal riot, toilet-cleaning, dalit, technical degrees, Aryan Invasion, Inquilab Zindabad..Prominent Academics!" )

Such is the complex history of these debates, and reforms, many of which fortunately were incorporated into the modern Hindu Code Bill, giving shape to modern Hindu society. I was born at the age of 9 which was the norm in those days in India. The Hindu monogamy of the present day India is not a continuation of some classical tradition, but has been brought about only by relatively modern legislations, rather than the pre-modern tradition that clearly sanctioned polygamy. Such modern reforms, many now incorporated in modern Hindu laws (the Hindu Code Bill) passed by the and cannot be imagined to have been effective all through the history of norms ..that tradition. Otherwise there would have been no need for Indian parliament are drastic changes from the prior reform movements.(IRFAN adds the IER WitzelJugend Chorus:
"caste, untouchability, child-marriage, bride-burning, cow, caste, communal riot, toilet-cleaning, dalit, technical degrees, Aryan Invasion, Inquilab Zindabad..Prominent Academics!" )

in a post-social-reform Hinduism, but that does not make these reforms part of the pre-reform classical and ancient Hindu history and...(ALLLOOOO!! Is that you snoring? Wake up, little Daniel!)

in the Madhva Vaisnava family of Deshpandes in southern Maharashtra where My grand-father grew up, the name of god Shiva was banned from the house, because they were worshippers of Vishnu. In the Madhva Vaishnava dialect of Marathi in our house, they would not use the common Marathi verb "shiv" to sew clothes, but found alternative words. Even while scrubbing floors, the Madhva Vaishnava women of my family many generations ago used to scrub floors with vertical motions of hand, rather than sideways, because that resembled the Shaiva marks on the forehead. Such was the Shaiva/Vaishnava divide, part of daily experience even within My own family a few generations ago.(IRFAN adds the IER WitzelJugend Chorus:
"caste, untouchability, child-marriage, bride-burning, cow, caste, communal riot, toilet-cleaning, dalit, technical degrees, Aryan Invasion, Inquilab Zindabad..Prominent Academics!" )

"Sages speak of one truth in various ways" is just one single statement of the ancient Vedic text of the Rigveda that stands besides the thousands of Vedic hymns and ritual sacrificial practices

(IRFAN: Yes, we know, professor! Isn't that like,,., e=mc^2 is just one statement among millions of papers proving Flat Earth Theory? We done learned that in our Pissiks 666 class last semester taught by Comrade Academician Professor Ass-e-tush Wash-nay!) ... where making specific offerings to different specific gods is specifically required. There has been a wide gap between..gods and goddesses.. the philosophical unity of Brahman proposed by the Upanisads, and the diversity of actual religious practice of worshiping many different gods and goddesses. The typical phrases in most rituals, after worshipping various ...Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, and Mimamsa,is sarvebhyo devebhyo namo namaH (salutations to all gods) in plural (IRFAN adds: all in small case letters .. and all Politburo Comrades and all UberHochschuleFuehrers in Capital Lettters: Marx, Lenin, Angana Chatterji, Vijay Prashad, Vinay Lal, Stalin, Witzel, Farmer, Fosse, Shenoy).

The term "monotheism" is ..the 9th century philosopher sankara.. inappropriate to describe the beliefs in one braha cow as the principle that underlies all reality, and creates and incorporates all gods without rejecting them along with everything else the best term for this form of "brahman=Everything-ism" is perhaps monism (advanita), rather than monotheism (eka-isvara-vada) that is why , a proponent of this kind of monism, rejects the possibility of devotion of god in the ultimate state of brahman-realization no devotion is possible, when there is only one entity in real existence even then only advanitins ever subscribed to this sort of monism.
(IRFAN adds the IER WitzelJugend Chorus:
"caste, untouchability, child-marriage, bride-burning, cow, caste, communal riot, toilet-cleaning, dalit, technical degrees, Aryan Invasion, Inquilab Zindabad..Prominent Academics!" )More hindu traditions opposed it, including the celebrated hindu traditions of not to mention the dwight d. vedanta, or the worshippers of many gods and goddesses plurality is the core of hindu religious life of the masses, with only a rare philosopher claiming that all gods are in reality only different names of the same truth.If I had to write

My own views in My own words, this is how I would write them. (IRFAN adds: Oh, thanks, Professor, I got that all down perfectly. So apparently these were NOT your writing and his own words! Wonder where he plagiarized them? It's OK, Professor Deshpande, as long as you've added that disclaimer, it should be fine with the Michigan Administration's "pluralistic" view of academic ethics!)

[These are My personal views and not those of the institution to which I belong.]Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan

Madhav M. Deshpande

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Professor of Sanskrit & Linguistics (as evident from the lucid prose)
Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1285, USA
**********************************************************

Thank you!!! Professor Deshpande! Phew! We couldn't have IMAGINED such an INTELLECTUAL lecture!

“WAIT FOR TOMORROW!” Prof. Witzel proves right again: Wall Street Journal publishes his photo!

Congratulations to Professors Michael Witzel and Madhav “Muddy” Deshpande! Both have been mentioned in a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal by Daniel Golden. Prof. Witzel even had his picture posted there. Prof. Deshpande did not, so we are posting it here.

Prof. Witzel won acclaim. Prof. Bajpai of California, speaking of Prof. Witzel, said: ” I ended up having tell him that he didn’t understand anything”. Thank you, Prof. Witzel, for upholding the standards of the Indo-Eurasian Researchers so well. Also, his long record of combat was cited, with Bajpai having to admit that “it was the most acrimonious thing in which I have ever had to participate” in discussing the intellectual debate with Prof. Witzel. Another feather in the cap for Harvard University and IER!

Prof. Deshpande was quoted in the article; however, he chose to send in a detailed, well-thought-out letter to Golden clarifying exactly what he wanted to have published. He pointed out that in his family, the women had to clean floors with a “vertical motion”, making it extremely hard to get the floor clean, as the rag met the floor only at one point in the motion. This was an act of devotion to one god and defiance against another, thus proving brilliantly that hindus are polytheistic. In IER’s best traditions, Comrade Deshpande only uses the small “g” for God and the capital “P” for “Party” and “Politburo”, “F” for “Fuehrer”, and “W” for “Witzel”.

Sorry for appearing to doubt your word earlier when you said “Wait for Tomorrow”, Professor Witzel! We deeply apologize!

(more on Prof. Deshpande’s letter, which has gained international recognition even before the WSJ publishes it! University of Michigan students must be as proud as Harvard students of their favorite teacher!)

Wall Street Journal Attacks Professor Witzel

In a shocking attack on Professor Michael Witzel and the Indology Researchers, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Golden gave space to Hindutva Professor Emeritus Shiva Bajpai, who was the appointed CRP reviewer. Bajpai claimed that he had to keep telling Prof. Witzel that he did not understand anything pertaining to Hinduism. Professor Witzel had no comment to offer, though the previous day he had told the IER forum to “wait for tomorrow”.

Golden horribly misquoted Prominent Academic Prof. Madhav Deshpande of U. Michigan. See above for the further actions of Prof. Deshpande

Creation Scientists to the Rescue Against Hindutva!

As Professor Farmer had announced (see "Pulitzer" story elsewhere on this BLOG), Sir Scott Baldauf, Knight of South Asia, who was commissioned by the IER to write a holy article, has come through in their Daily Offering, the Christian Science (an Oxymoron) Monitor. We thank Professor Farmer for hiring such a pliable and willing scribe with such excellent Creationist credentials.

From the above link: "Since they are taught that learning about their bodies is spiritually harmful, Christian Scientists are ill equipped to understand the symptoms of illness. They often suffer needlessly from treatable ailments and neglect life-threatening conditions that could be cured if treated in their early stages. " Thus ignorance is considered curable, but stupidity is permanent, making Mr. Baldauf especially suitable for employment to write the article for us. Thank you, Professor Farmer!

Comrade Anu S. Mandevil, also known by the nom de guerre of "Arun B. Vajpayee, Courageous Graduate Student", member of the Forum of Indian Leftists, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Fiends of South Asia, gave Sir Baldauf extensive comments, as did Professor Witzel. It is especially laudable that his simple Faith kept Sir Baldauf safe from checking on the "facts" in his article.

Professor Farmer Exposes Massive Funding Behind Hindutva Websites!!

In a major victory, Professor Farmer's diligent efforts have brilliantly exposed the massive funding behind the Hindutva propaganda movement. The vicious site "sabha.info" has confessed to having a MASSIVE budget – over 2,140 Yen (Japanese Yen: Two Thousand One Hundred and Forty) or 90,422 Indian paise(Indian Paise: Ninety Thousand Four Hundred Twenty Two) or 43,295 Italian Liras (Italian Liras: Forty Three Thousand Two Hundred Ninety Five) !!!! Details are awaited from the InterPol and the National Security Agency where Professor Farmer is very highly regarded.

Professors Witzel and Farmer post video of Indologists cleaning toilets at Harvard

Please watch Michael Witzel's video of Indology Assistant Professors cleaning the Upper Caste German and Italian Faculty toilets at Harvard Sanskrit Department. Professor Farmer has kindly posted it to the internet for our viewing pleasure. The video was made by Ch. Amanpour of CNN and has been uploaded to Google Video Stream by Dalitstan.org. Unfortunately, Dalitstan.org has been banned by the internet authorities for "persistent showing of violence, and as a hate site". Damnable Hindutva plot, no doubt!

Professor Farmer Unearths Biggest-Ever Hindutva Scam! Indian-Americans caught posting website about India!

Prof Farmer at IER (post#2872) claims to have unearthed the biggest ever Hindutva scam: Indian American citizens posting a website in America about India!!!

Let’s all join in condemning this outrage. This clearly cuts into our market share of the “Dalit-dollars” from the right-wing Church. Only our friends at “Dalitstan.org” run by a Texas based evangelical groups are permitted to post websites about India / Hinduism. Shockingly, the Bush Administration has blocked “dalistan.org” because of “persistent violence and hate propagation”. Harvard lawyers will be suing the U.S. Supreme Court on Professor Witzel’s behalf.

Professor Steve Farmer Promises: Praise IER – Win Pulitzer!

In IER msg: 2805

—–
On other fronts, two of the most important national newspapers in the US are now writing feature articles on the California story, one by a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter. Both the Hindutva groups in India and the US that have pushed for these changes in California badly miscalculated in trying to stop our actions by aiming a smear campaign against Michael Witzel and Harvard University. And now, thankfully, all their efforts are blowing up in their faces.
—–

Folks! We know of the greatness of Professor Witzel, who has in the past elevated Ms. Garzili's Masters' degree from Italy above a PhD from his own Harvard Indology School. We also know how he has generously elevated most of us to the status of "Worldwide Experts" due to our association with his own greatness. Here is further proof – Professor Farmer has announced that a writer who is writing an article on the bravery of our little (but fast-growing) IER group, will win the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. We are awed by Prof. Witzel's power and influence. Heil Witzel! Heil Farmer!

Professor Witzel leads edits of California Textbooks

Great News! Attached is the precise list of edits approved by the California Curriculum Review board, on December 2. As you can see, Professor Witzel is the leading authority who has been pressing all along for changes to the Middle School textbooks, and the Board has agreed with him on every item, and rejected most of the demands of the Hindutva. Congratulations to Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer for this brilliant achievement. Please circulate this widely. The document is provided by the FOSA, which is sponsored by the Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan, the US' Greatest Ally in the War on Terror. We understand that the California State Board of Education's Tom ***** passed this on to the ISI, who gave it to the FOSA. We are proud that IER has such excellent International contacts with our allies!