From: bhatnagr@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Raj Bhatnagar)
Subject: Re: On "Secularism and Science" by T. Jayaraman
Organization: University of Cincinnati
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 16:55:57 GMT

In article <1jnlj9INN480@pollux.usc.edu> brao@pollux.usc.edu (Bapa Rao) writes:

> . . . if Hindu chauvinists like the BJP et al come to power in India, there
>will be greater mediocrity in scientific education of the masses. 
>
>The case is  a plausible one. 

I think any plausibility of the above hypothesis greatly diminishes when
one considers the fact that in UP a serious overhaul of the state's
decaying education system was done for the first time in 40+ years
when BJP came to power in the state. All possible steps were taken to 
eliminate copying during the high-school and college exams; teachers 
concerns were looked into; and the informal structure of private 
tuitions becoming the main source of learning was sought to be 
discouraged so that some serious learning could be done in the 
state's schools. 

And as for the vedic maths, it has been pointed out many times that
this part of the maths books did not replace any of the previously
existing maths topics and their extent, but sought only to impart the
idea that Indian tradition, right from the vedic times, has addressed
issues in the field of Mathematics.

And as for the Aryan migration theory, the books mentioned both the
theories and added that an increasing number of scholars are putting
their judgement on the side of the hypothesis that Aryan and Hindu
people are the natives of this land and did not migrate here from any
other place. I think that's a very fair assessment of the situation.

>And certainly, Hindu chauvinists such as the 
>venerable P.N. Oak have displayed bizarrely original interpretations of
>scientific methodology in their analyses. 
>

It may interest you to know that Mr. A Ghosh, the publisher of Mr. P N oak's
books (in Houston), had written a 4-5 page article about 1-1.5 year ago
and tried to circulate it as widely as he could. In this letter he had
basically chided and bad-mouthed senior RSS leaders for not accepting
P N Oak's theories for official sanction and approval by the RSS. The RSS
leaders (I remeber Mr Ghosh citing Prof. Rajendra Singh by name) had
apparantly refused to put their weight behind PN Oak's theories because
of the theories not being sound and scientific enough. It seems they had
sent his theories to a few historians and archeologists for evaluation and
based on this evaluation had made their decision. Mr. Ghosh also had
some criticism directed at those who had evaluated PN Oak's work. 

Well, this incident totally contradicts the Hindutva-vs-Scientific.approach
being propounded by Prof. Jayaraman.


>. . . Hindu chauvinism would deepen the turmoil in the country,
>and science needs tranquility. 

I agree with the part that scientific advancement needs tranquility
and socio-political turmoil is undesirable. But what you call
"Hindu chauvinism" is not emerging in a vacuum. It is in response to some
other forces. I had mentioned in an article yesterday about this central
conflict between the nationalisms. Tranquility will be achieved only if
some prudent political moves are made to settle the conflict, otherwise we
are headed for the resolution of this conflict on the model of RJB/BM
resolution.

>Bapa Rao
>
>
>My personal views.  

---raj

My personal views too. (Others are welcome to share, though!)