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Michael Witzel (born 1943 in Germany) is Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University. He has been teaching Sanskrit since 1972.He studied Indology in Germany and is noted for his studies of the dialects of Vedic Sanskrit, old Indian history and the development of Vedic religion . He is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies , and the Harvard Oriental Series . He has been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

Work

Witzel's analysis of the Vedic dialects have been praised as "a breakthrough in Vedic Studies" by Frits Staal , Professor of philosophy and South Asian studies.

Witzel switched to Indo-Aryan migration from Indo-Aryan Invasion theory based upon the weight of evidence from archeologists and geneticists. He has published articles attacking spurious decipherments of Indus inscriptions and most recently has co-authored an paper that questions the linguistic nature of the so-called Indus Script (Farmer, Sproat, Witzel 2004).

Criticism

Traditional Hindu scholars and with Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) ideologists. dispute Witzel's work.

In his The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis, Shrikant Talageri (who is closely linked to Hindutva groups) asserts Wizel errs in tracing Vedic lineages and geographical evidence in the Rigveda. Witzel describes Talageri's effort as "a long and confused ‘analysis’" and has criticized Talageri's neglect of well-known results dating back well over 100 years, e.g. in the analyses of the Rgveda by Hermann Oldenberg (Prolegomena, 1888, now available in English, Delhi: Motilal 2005).

In another dispute, Swaminathan, retired Principal of Guruvayoor Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, concluded that Witzel's assertion that ancient grammarian Panini and Sayana did not know of the injunctive used in the RigVeda was false and Witzel himself was ignorant of their work. Witzel's supporters argue that critics often neglect to distinguish Witzel's own results with those of Indology in general.

Politics

Witzel is spear-heading a drive with a coalition of other Hindu experts against attempts by two US Hindu groups to revise California textbooks to reflect the their views of ancient Indian history. A final decision on the textbook issue, which has drawn international attention in the press, is expected in the first few months of 2006.

References

• Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel, "The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization", EVJS, vol. 11 (2004), issue 2 (Dec) (PDF)
• Michael Witzel, Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97–265.
• Michael Witzel, Early Indian History: Linguistic and Textual Parameters, in: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, ed. G. Erdosy, Berlin/New York (de Gruyter) 1995, 85-125.
• Michael Witzel, Rgvedic history: poets, chieftains and politics, in: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, ed. G. Erdosy, Berlin/New York (de Gruyter) 1995, 307-352.
• Michael Witzel, Das Alte Indien . München: C.H. Beck 2003
• Michael Witzel, The Rgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents. In: A. Griffiths & J.E.M. Houben (eds.). The Vedas: Texts, Language and Ritual. Groningen: Forsten 2004: 581-636

External links

• Witzel's Harvard homepage
• India Monitor editorial critical of Witzel's stand in the California textbook issue.
• Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies The relevance of this link to this biography is uncertain.
• Summary listing for all pro and contra pages of the Talageri & Frawley debates

• Indologists