Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Eminent historian alert

Chindu's favourite eminent historian is back with a bang. Romila Thapar is comparing various versions of Ramayana, written in ancient Indian languages, by basing her understanding on translations. How anyone could pass off as an authority on ancient Indian history without knowledge of the prevalent languages of the time is a mystery. That Romila Thapar never had to learn Sanskrit shows the nature of academic research in India.
The Hindu : National : “Ramayana versions reflect period perspectives”
Ms. Thapar elaborated on the diverse facets through which historians viewed the text. For this, she made a comparison of three different versions of the tale: Valmiki's Ramayana in Sanskrit, the Buddhist version contained in the Jataka Tales in Pali and the Jaina version in the ‘Paumacariyam' in Prakrit.

3 comments:

Xinhua Ram said...

Her highness knows with certainty that Ramayana was created after 400BC (post-Buddha!). And what is Buddhist in Buddhist Ramayana? It had Buddha's stamp on it? My head is spinning.

Anonymous said...

She missed Tulsidas Ramayana and the great Thyagarajas Ramayana which He has sung in compositions. She just wants to pick up Buddhist and Jain texts and show some ambiguities. Valmikis Ramayana is the ultimate and the first one. Romila Thapars AIT has been torpedoed by Stephen Oppeinheimer and many geneticits, So she is passing her time by quoting Buddhist texts which will be different. Very stupid lady.

Satyadhyana Theertha said...

The so called Buddhist Ramayana is not an epic. It is just an anecdote in the jataka tales of the buddha. Where Rama and Sita are brothers and sisters and finally Bharatha tried to persuade Rama to occupy the kingdom but rama does not agree and finally after 12 years he comes back and occupies the throne and lives happily ever after.
I sometimes wonder why such a small anecdote which does not run into more than a page is given such importance by the eminents. Even comparing it and giving it equal footing with a magnum opus like valmiki ramayana. Thanks MR shourie your theories of the eminents have proved to be true time and again.