Bharat's Scholarly Views (धार्मिक विद्वत्समीक्षा)

Bharatiya vidhvat samiksha refers to the scholarly views of Vedas and Shastras from the bharatiya perspective. We see from last 300 years or so the invading missionaries have dictated the way the sanskriti and sanskrit parishad are to be viewed. They have taken the narratives over from the scholars of India, now, it is the purpose of Dharmawiki to bring back the narratives of Sanatana Dharma into the hands of scholars grounded in Bharatiyata.

Missionaries Viewpoint

Shri. Narayanacharya points out that the so called Orientalists whether under Max Mueller or East India company with their wisdom of "Sacred books of the East" or a similar attempt by Charles Longsman in Harvard - are motivated especially to destroy Hinduism. They perceived that the "Brahman" culture was threat for them, Vedic culture was what they wanted to block. The compilation of the dictionary of Monier Williams was with the object of "exposing the roots of Hinduism" to people who believe in the Vedas and to prove to them that there is nothing of worth or value in the Vedas.

The Sanathani pandits, for a very long time, were deceived because they neither knew English nor wanted to have any contact with the Westerners as they have no culture, so they ignored them. This indifference has costed us our cultural values, for there came about the distorted versions of it. Sir William Jones, who translated Shakuntala into English, had little opportunity to learn rudimentary Sanskrit through a vulnerable Sanskrit pandit from Banares. That little window of vulnerability of Indians opened a vast vista of knowledge to the western world which while showing appreciation was also plundered and destroyed. While the Muslim invaders of the earlier centuries destroyed the valuable literary heritage by brute force and killing the scholars, the later day invaders used intellectual means to divide the different communities which were united in until then in strong cultural and traditional bonds.

Therefore, today it is the great need for Sanskrit original scholars, samparadaya-nishtas to know English, to muster a good acquaintance a command over English. The knowledge is required to assess the mischief and counter them in their own language. Needless to say, although Samskrit terms do not have exact equivalent words in English, the points of our scholarly community have to be brought into limelight. The subjects have to be taught and approached as understood by the silently practicing traditional scholars in true spirit of Dharma.