Idle Thoughts

While talking of evolution, Richard Dawkins lamented that many still consider evolution as a theory and not as a fact. He was surprised that people hung on to ideas that were scientifically proven wrong. Unlike Dawkins, I am not surprised. As I see the reluctance of some of the ‘rational’ and ‘scientific’ minded in letting go of theories in the face of facts, it does not surprise me that the 'believers' are still hanging on to various religious ‘theories’ on the topic. For example, consider how a so called fact based discipline like history hangs on to its ideas in the face of contradicting evidence. A century back, some Europeans ventured into learning Vedas and Sanskrit. They were stricken by the similarity of the language to their own. In the absence of any other fact, they postulated that Aryans invaded India and spread their language and culture in India. This was not founded on much, but we can’t blame those who made this theory because there was no other fact to cont...

I had read a lot about Max Muller, before I got around to reading anything that he wrote. In fact, going by the contrasting views that I had read about him, I knew of two Max Mullers. The first Max Muller opened the eyes of western scholars (and some eastern, they say) to the real worth of Vedas and argued for this civilization’s rightful place in history. The second Max Muller misrepresented the facts about Vedas to suit his faith and prejudice. Which one is the real Max Muller? Was he the apostle who propagated the message of Vedas to the west? Or was he the devil who distorted the facts to fit prejudices, confusing the uninformed? Recently I had the opportunity to read what Max Muller thought of Vedas and Indians in his own words. Initial revelation was that Max Muller is not as much of a student of philosophy and religion as he is a historian. His interest in Vedas and the rest of Sanskrit literature mainly is the light that it can throw to the history of development of reli...