Taking Back Hindu Studies

Taking Back Hindu Studies

by Shrinivas Tilak

Professor Albrecht Welzer is one of the few Western academics to acknowledge that scholars of Europe and North America have frequently been the source of misinterpretation of many key Hindu concepts. By way of illustration, he discusses the prevailing notion of varna in Indology and in academic literature dealing with India in general. Traditionally, varna means sounds of speech or language. In the nineteenth century, however, scholars like H.H. Wilson wrongly identified varna with 'a letter of the alphabet'. This misrepresentation was continued in the works of Th. Benfey, H.T. Colebrooke, Franz Bopp, and others. Though grammatically varna is derived from the social term denoting "class" (as attested in Panini 2:1.69; 5:2.132, 6:3.85), it nevertheless acquired the now commonly accepted (though incorrect) meaning of "colour" (Welzer 1994: 229-230). Following them, most modern Indic scholars (including K.V. Abhyankar, Balakrishna Ghosh and Ganganath Jha) rendered varna as letter in Sanskrit alphabet rather than sound.

Welzer raises the question: Why did Indic scholars acquiesce to and even imitate such mistakes committed by European Indologists, in spite of the fact that they could and should know better. The answer, according to Welzer, lies in part in India's colonization. He alludes to it in the Latin portion of the title of the article he wrote: "Credo, Quia Occidentale"; viz. a widespread overestimation of western culture and the blind belief that anything of western or European origin cannot but be superior to the corresponding element of Indic culture (see Welzer 1994: 232-234). The resulting "inferiority complex" has had a shattering and traumatic effect upon Indic scholarship and academic output. Unfortunately, this trend continues even in post-independent India and among Indians living in the diaspora today.