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Decebal
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Topic: The weakness of ancient Indian literature Posted: 14-Nov-2006 at 14:06 |
Originally posted by M. Nachiappan
Therefore, his far-fatched imagination to conceive that the author of Manimekhalai mentioned the date of Buddha in Christian era. This totally wrong. If he really does not know about BCE-CE, then, he should have clarified, before jumping to some wrong conception to make wrong conclusion to confuse others.
He should read read "THe Chrononology of Amcient Kingdoms Amended", "Ancient Monarchs" etc., before making any comments.
I do not know as to the persons who write or post articles in this forum are are "historians" or otherwise.
The chronology of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese has been questioned by Newton, as such chronology was constructed based on astronomy.
Therefore, what historians or Decebal or editortial staff / moderators of AE forums accept or reject has to be decided.
If astronomy as a tool for determining chronology is accepted for one or some civilizations, the same methodology should be adopted to others also. If not, then, everybod has a right to question the chronology of others, particularly, when it has been fixed based on astronomy.
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You clearly misunderstood my post! I was simply being sarcastic because I had found your argument preposterous (see my above post). I really don't see how you got from my comment that "far-fatched imagination to conceive that the author of Manimekhalai mentioned the date of Buddha in Christian era".
Not that I really want to toot my own horn here, but would you really expect me to make such an elementary mistake? After all, I was appointed moderator, editorial staff and won several AE quizzes: this wouldn't really happen if I did not have an understanding of CE and BCE, would it now? I would suggest you read my posts twice before jumping to conclusions.
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What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi
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Vivek Sharma
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Posted: 15-Nov-2006 at 00:06 |
Are you a professional historian ?
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PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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Decebal
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Posted: 15-Nov-2006 at 15:07 |
Who, me? Not yet: I'm studying history in university (my day job is as an engineer) as I want to become a history professor. On the other hand I've been reading up on history since I was a little child. I usually spend an average of 10-20 hours a week studying history in some way.
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What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi
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explorer6
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Posted: 16-Nov-2006 at 18:35 |
Originally posted by Gun Powder Ma
[QUOTE=Preobrazhenskoe] No,
it is not. Your comparison is flawed. These works were subject to
meticulous copying by scribes. Written works were rewritten, simple as
that.
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Well "rewritten" is a bad choice of words since that's often what
happened i.e. interpolation and such. Also complete invention of texts
fradulently ascribed to some ancient author. Not to mention flaws that
happen when works are "copied."
Needless to say when you have texts translated from Greek into Arabic
then into Latin, some errors can occur there also in translation.
In some cases you can catch the mistakes if you have the Arabic
douments, but you can't detect errors from Greek into Arabic. The Greek
texts we have now were in most cases translated into Greek from
Latin! Although a few were preserved by the Byzantines but not
necessarily in the original Greek.
Voice of the Ancestors
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Vivek Sharma
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Posted: 17-Nov-2006 at 00:55 |
Originally posted by Decebal
Who, me? Not yet: I'm studying history in university (my day job is as an engineer) as I want to become a history professor. On the other hand I've been reading up on history since I was a little child. I usually spend an average of 10-20 hours a week studying history in some way. |
Engineering to History ? But that is not financially sound here. Is it a good career option in the nation you live ?
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PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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AP Singh
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Posted: 17-Nov-2006 at 05:22 |
It is not the weakness of ancient Indian literature but availability of that today since lot of libraries were destroyed during Muslim invasions.
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Vivek Sharma
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Posted: 23-Nov-2006 at 22:09 |
True & a lot letter confiscated by the British.
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PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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Decebal
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Posted: 24-Nov-2006 at 10:36 |
Originally posted by Vivek Sharma
Originally posted by Decebal
Who, me? Not yet: I'm studying history in university (my day job is as an engineer) as I want to become a history professor. On the other hand I've been reading up on history since I was a little child. I usually spend an average of 10-20 hours a week studying history in some way. |
Engineering to History ? But that is not financially sound here. Is it a good career option in the nation you live ?
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It's not really financially sound here either. Still, as a university professor in Canada, one can make a pretty decent living (income of $40,000-100,000 a year before taxes, depending on experience and tenure, field of study, and university): this is comparable to an average engineer, but not a good one, who can make more. I do expect that by the time I'll make the switch, I'll have to take a considerable paycut (probably 30-50% of my gross salary), which I will probably make up in 5-10 years. The thing is that I'm doing this primarily because it's my passion, not for money.
Also, it can be quite difficult to get a university professor job, but on the other hand, I can afford to spend a few years looking for such a job, since I do have a very good backup plan (my current job) after all. Had I only done history, it would have been very risky, and I might have ended up with a poorly paid job.
Edited by Decebal - 24-Nov-2006 at 10:39
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What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi
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maqsad
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Posted: 27-Nov-2006 at 21:01 |
Originally posted by Decebal
It's not really financially sound here either. Still, as a university professor in Canada, one can make a pretty decent living (income of $40,000-100,000 a year before taxes, depending on experience and tenure, field of study, and university): this is comparable to an average engineer, but not a good one, who can make more. I do expect that by the time I'll make the switch, I'll have to take a considerable paycut (probably 30-50% of my gross salary), which I will probably make up in 5-10 years. The thing is that I'm doing this primarily because it's my passion, not for money.
Also, it can be quite difficult to get a university professor job, but on the other hand, I can afford to spend a few years looking for such a job, since I do have a very good backup plan (my current job) after all. Had I only done history, it would have been very risky, and I might have ended up with a poorly paid job. |
On the other hand by the time you get ready to make the switch you might be burning out from being a programmer or engineer so it could be a wise decision career wise too.
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maqsad
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Posted: 27-Nov-2006 at 21:10 |
Originally posted by Decebal
It's not really financially sound here either. Still, as a university professor in Canada, one can make a pretty decent living (income of $40,000-100,000 a year before taxes, depending on experience and tenure, field of study, and university): this is comparable to an average engineer, but not a good one, who can make more. I do expect that by the time I'll make the switch, I'll have to take a considerable paycut (probably 30-50% of my gross salary), which I will probably make up in 5-10 years. The thing is that I'm doing this primarily because it's my passion, not for money.
Also, it can be quite difficult to get a university professor job, but on the other hand, I can afford to spend a few years looking for such a job, since I do have a very good backup plan (my current job) after all. Had I only done history, it would have been very risky, and I might have ended up with a poorly paid job. |
On the other hand by the time you get ready to make the switch you might be burning out from being a programmer or engineer so it could be a wise decision career wise too.
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Vivek Sharma
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Posted: 27-Nov-2006 at 21:59 |
You are good at strategy, Decebel.
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PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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M. Nachiappan
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Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 02:24 |
Coming to the Indian literature, it is mentioned in the literature itself that it is for the "Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha" of people.
The literature has been from the poets of antquity and they have recorded their thought processes according to their time and space.
As at present, we perceive, conceive and assess it, only we can make mistake and for that they cannot be blamed.
The Indian literature could be subjected to critical study, as has been done by many in different perspectives. In fact, a multi-disciplinary approach would bring out may aspects.
The Manimekhalai example is given to show that such chronological aspect could also be found in literature and it is the duty of historian or researcher to find out its significance.
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M. Nachiappan
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Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 02:29 |
In India, the Marxist historians (Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, Bipan Chandra, Harbans Mukhia, Barun De, S. Gopal, Chempakalakshmi etc.,)would not accept "engineers" and other as "historians".
In fact, in Indian History Congress, they introduced conditions in 1991 that a member should have a M.Phil / Ph.D, or should have presented paper or published book to become a member. Earliet, "just interest in history and 18 years completion" was enough.
Anyway, I am happy to note that being an engineer, DECEBAL spends time on history.
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Vivek Sharma
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Posted: 28-Nov-2006 at 02:43 |
This policy of these communist hisorians of India is similiar to all nearly all think tank sort of establishments & the older guard in media too. This is traditional communist thinking in India. Very exclusivist.
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PATTON NAGAR, Brains win over Brawn
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M. Nachiappan
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Posted: 04-Dec-2006 at 01:35 |
Indian literature has been the largest in the world and much has been discussed about it by many-many scholars and therefore, to view that there is "weakness" in it does not reflect its weakness, but the persons, who conceive and perceive so.
If anything is pointed out specifically, it can be debated.
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sayak
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Posted: 29-Dec-2006 at 12:47 |
greeks adopted writing when?
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Decebal
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Posted: 30-Dec-2006 at 12:51 |
sayak, it depends what you mean by greeks. The Minoans, who had a civilization around 2200BC-1300BC, and who seem to have been greek, did have 2 writing systems. After a long dark age, the greeks seem to have lost their literary tradition, whihc started again in the 7th century BC.
What does this have to do with Indian literature, though?
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What is history but a fable agreed upon?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.- Mohandas Gandhi
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K. V. Ramakrishna Rao
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Posted: 12-Jan-2007 at 21:37 |
Perhaps, he would have read Puranas, which clearly say that the Greeks were nothing but "excommunicated Khastriyas".
Edward Pocokoke's "India in Greece" gives details.
Of course, William Jones proceeded only on those lines coming to conclusion that Sanskrirt, Greek, etc., should have a common origin, as they have many similarities.
Col. Tod, CFC Volney and many more have pointed out such facts.
Anyway, how you link Minoans, Greeks etc.?
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History is not what was written or is written, but it is actually what had happened in the past.
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