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| On another note, Swaminathan, retired Principal of Guruvayoor Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Witzel's claim that ancient grammarian Panini and Sayana did not know of the injunctive used in the RigVeda and concludes that Witzel himself was ignorant of their work in the face of much evidence to the contrary. | On another note, Swaminathan, retired Principal of Guruvayoor Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Witzel's claim that ancient grammarian Panini and Sayana did not know of the injunctive used in the RigVeda and concludes that Witzel himself was ignorant of their work in the face of much evidence to the contrary. | ||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| '''Talageri - Witzel flamewar''' | |||
| * Shrikant G. Talageri | |||
| ** by Michael Witzel () Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies Vol. 7 (2001), issue 2 (March 31). Witzel considers Talageri's book a ]-inspired "historical fantasy" | |||
| *** (2001) () | |||
| **** | |||
| ***** | |||
Revision as of 19:09, 25 December 2005
Michael Witzel (born 1943) is Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University. He has been teaching Sanskrit since 1972. He is noted for his studies of the dialects of Vedic Sanskrit, old Indian history and the development of Vedic religion. He is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS).
Michael Witzel works on Aryan Invasion of the Indian sub-continent invited angry reactions from the Hindu nationalists. Any work on ancient history of India and invasion of Aryans from the middle east to India were vehemently protested by the more ardent believers among Hindu nationalists. Treatment of History as a political tool has created unnecessary controversy around his works.
Criticism
Michael Witzel is criticized for his allegedly errored scholarship and squelching voices critical of his theory with ad hominem attacks about their nationalistic nature.
Shrikant Talageri, author of the The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis which analyzes the opposing Indian homeland theory, is his most vocal critic. He accuses Witzel's treatment of information to be casual, careless and shipshod. In his book, he also explores what he alleges to be errors and manipulations in Witzel's tracing of Vedic lineages and geographical evidence in the Rigveda to prove his theory. Particularly, he says, Witzel, as we have seen, violates every single norm and basic principle, set up by himself, in the analysis of the Rigveda. And yet, he manages to get nowhere. The Rigveda, basically, refuses to yield to his cajoling. Witzel didn't write a rebuttal of these accusations in his review on Talageri's book (which he deems "devoid of scholarly value"), but only stated that it is "a long and confused ‘analysis’ in Talageri’s book of my same 1995 paper” and that the “angry assault on my 1995 paper…. can thankfully be passed over here”.
On another note, Swaminathan, retired Principal of Guruvayoor Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, dissected Witzel's claim that ancient grammarian Panini and Sayana did not know of the injunctive used in the RigVeda and concludes that Witzel himself was ignorant of their work in the face of much evidence to the contrary.