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Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943 at Schwiebus, Poland) is Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University, United States.

Biographical information

He has been teaching Sanskrit since 1972. He studied Indology in Germany under Paul Thieme, H. P. Schmidt, K. Hoffmann and J. Narten as well as in Nepal under the Mīmāmsaka Jununath Pandit. At Kathmandu (1972-1978), he led the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project and the Nepal Research Centre. He has taught at Tübingen (1972), Leiden (1978-1986), and at Harvard (since 1986) and has held visiting appointments at Kyoto, Paris (twice), and Tokyo.

He is noted for his studies of the dialects of Vedic Sanskrit , old Indian history , the development of Vedic religion , and the linguistic prehistory of South Asia . He is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) , and the Harvard Oriental Series. He has been president of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory (ASLIP) since 1999, and has been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

Research

Witzel’s early philological work) deals with the oldest texts of India, the Vedas, their manuscripts and their traditional recitation; it included some editions and translations of unknown texts (1972-).

He studied at length the various Vedic recensions (śākhā) and their importance for the geographical spread of Vedic culture across North India and beyond. This resulted in book-length investigations of Vedic dialects (1989), the development of the Vedic canon (1997), and of Old India as such (2003).

Shorter papers provide analyses of important religious (2004) and literary concepts of the period, such as the oldest frame story (1986, 1987), prosimetric texts (1997), the Mahabarata (2005), the concept of rebirth (1984), the 'line of progeny' (2000), splitting one's head in discussion (1987), the holy cow (1991), the Milky Way (1984), the asterism of the Seven Rsis (1995, 1999), the sage Yajnavalkya (2003), the persistence of some Vedic beliefs in modern Hinduism (1989, 2002, with S. Farmer and J.B. Henderson), as well as some modern Indocentric tendencies (2001-).

Other work (1976-) deals with the traditions of medieval and modern Nepal, including its linguistic history, Brahmins, rituals, and kingship (1987), as well as with Old Iran and the Avesta (1972-), including its homeland (2000).

After 1987, he has increasingly focused on the localization of Vedic texts (1987) and the evidence contained in them for early Indian history, notably that of the Rgveda and the following period, represented by the Black Yajurveda Samhitas and the Brahmanas. This work has been done in close collaboration with Harvard archaeologists. Witzel aims at indicating the emergence of the Kuru tribe in the Delhi area (1989, 1995, 1997, 2003), its seminal culture and its political dominance, as well as studying the origin of late Vedic polities and the first Indian empire in eastern North India (1995, 1997, 2003).

The linguistic aspect of earliest Indian history has been explored in a number of papers (1993, 1999, 2000, 2001) dealing with the pre-Vedic substrate languages of Northern India. These result in a substantial amount of loan words from a prefixing language similar to Austro-Asiatic (Munda, Khasi, etc.) as well as from other unidentified languages. In addition, a considerable number of Vedic and Old Iranian words are traced back to a Central Asian substrate language (1999, 2003, 2004, 2006).

In recent years, he has explored the links between old Indian, Eurasian and other mythologies (1990, 2001, 2004-6), resulting in a new scheme of historical comparative mythology that covers most of Eurasia and the Americas ("Laurasia", cf. the related Harvard, Kyoto and Beijing conferences, 1999-2006).

Recently, he has also published (2001-) articles criticizing what he calls "spurious interpretations" of Vedic texts and decipherments of Indus inscriptions such as that of N.S. Rajaram. At times he has questioned the linguistic nature of the so-called Indus Script (Farmer, Sproat, Witzel 2004). While at other times, he has suggested that para-Munda might have been the language of the Indus script.

He has organized a number of international conferences at Harvard such as the first of the intermittent International Vedic Workshops (1989,1999,2004), the first of several annual International Conferences on Dowry and Bride-Burning in India (1995 sqq.), the yearly Round Tables on the Ethnogenesis of South and Central Asia (1999 sqq).Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Criticism

Some authors, such as David Frawley , have criticized Witzel's approach to Vedic texts and history. These critics reject his account of Indo-Aryan migration into India and subscribe to a view of Indian history that stresses a purely "indigenous Aryan" origin for the Vedas and Vedic civilization.

Californian Hindu textbook controversy

Main article: Californian Hindu textbook controversy

Witzel joined other academics and activist groups to oppose changes to California state school history textbooks proposed by US-based Hindu groups, arguing that the changes were not of a scholarly but of a religious-political nature. He was appointed to an expert panel set up to review the changes and helped draft the compromise edits that were later adopted.

While Witzel has been criticised by those supporting the original changes, who question his expertise of the subject and his appointment to the expert panel, his efforts have received the support of academics and other South Asian community groups.

Rejecting criticism that he was a 'Hindu hater', Witzel said, "I hate people who misrepresent history."

Sandhya Jain of the Daily Pioneer notes that Prof. Witzel worked with Christian Evangelical groups who were supporting Witzel against the Hindu groups edits shows his anti-Hindu bias. Among the Christian organizations he worked with was the Dalit Freedom Network whose president, Joseph D'Souza also heads the All-India Christian Council.

References

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  1. Michael Witzel's curriculum vitae, accessed 13 September 2007.
  2. Michael Witzel, On the Localisation of Vedic Texts and Schools (Materials on Vedic sakhas, 7), India and the Ancient World. History, Trade and Culture before A.D. 650. P.H.L. Eggermont Jubilee Volume, ed. by G. Pollet, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 25, Leuven 1987, pp. 173-213, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  3. (page not available as of 13 September 2007); Michael Witzel, The Development of the Vedic Canon and Its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu (Materials on Vedic Sakhas, 8, in Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, ed. M. Witzel, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, vol. 2, Cambridge 1997, pp. 257-345, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  4. Michael Witzel, How To Enter the Vedic Mind? Strategies in Translating a Brahmana Text, Translating, Translations, Translators From India to the West, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, vol. 1, Cambridge: Harvard Oriental Series, 1996, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007; Steve Farmer, John B. Henderson, and Michael Witzel, Neurobiology, Layered Texts, and Correlative Cosmologies: A Cross-Cultural Framework for Premodern History, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 72 (2000): 48-90, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  5. Michael Witzel, Early Sources for South Asian Substrate Languages, Mother Tongue, Special Issue (October 1999): 1-70, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  6. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies homepage, accessed 13 September 2007.
  7. About the Harvard Oriental Series, accessed 13 September 2007.
  8. ASLIP homepage, accessed 13 September 2007.
  9. Michael Witzel's list of publications, accessed 13 September 2007.
  10. Michael Witzel, Caraka, English summary of "Materialen zu den vedischen Schulen: I. Uber die Caraka-Schule," Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 7 (1981): 109-132, and 8/9 (1982): 171-240, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007; Michael Witzel, The Development of the Vedic Canon and Its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu (Materials on Vedic Sakhas, 8), in Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, ed. M. Witzel, Harvard Oriental Studies, Opera Minora, vol. 2, Cambridge 1997, pp. 257-345, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  11. Michael Witzel, On the Localisation of Vedic Texts and Schools (Materials on Vedic Sakhas, 7), in India and the Ancient World. History, Trade and Culture before A.D. 650. P.H.L. Eggermont Jubilee Volume, ed. by G. Pollet, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 25, Leuven 1987, pp. 173-213, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  12. Michael Witzel, The Development of the Vedic Canon and Its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu (Materials on Vedic Sakhas, 8), in Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, ed. M. Witzel, Harvard Oriental Studies, Opera Minora, vol. 2, Cambridge 1997, pp. 257-345, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  13. S. W. Jamison and M. Witzel, Vedic Hinduism, written in 1992/95, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007; according to his list of publications a shorter version appeared in The Study of Hinduism, ed. A. Sharma (University of South Carolina Press, 2003), pp. 65-113.
  14. (not accessible as of 13 September 2007).
  15. Michael Witzel, Sur le chemin du ciel, Bulletin des Etudes indiennes 2 (1984): 213-279, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  16. Michael Witzel, Looking for the Heavenly Casket, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 1-2 (1999), accessed 13 September 2007.
  17. Michael Witzel, On Magical Thought in the Veda, inaugural lecture, Leiden, Universitaire Pers, 1979, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  18. Steve Farmer, John B. Henderson, and Michael Witzel, Neurobiology, Layered Texts, and Correlative Cosmologies: A Cross-Cultural Framework for Premodern History, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 72 (2000): 48-90, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  19. (page not available as of 13 September 2007)
  20. Michael Witzel, Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 7-3 (2001): 1-115, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  21. Michael Witzel, "WESTWARD HO! The Incredible Wanderlust of the Rgvedic Tribes Exposed by S. Talageri. A Review of: Shrikant G. Talageri, The Rgveda. A historical analysis," Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 7-2 (2001), in three parts, part 1, part 2, and part 3 all accessed 13 September 2007;Aryomke (not English), accessed 13 September 2007.
  22. Michael Witzel, On Indian Historical Writing: The Role of the Vamcavalis Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies 2 (1990): 1-57, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007; Michael Witzel, On the History and the Present State of Vedaic Tradition in Nepal, Vasudha vol. XV, no. 12, Kathmandu 1976, pp. 17-24, 35-39, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007.
  23. Michael Witzel, Nepalese Hydronomy: Towards a History of Settlement in the Himalayas, in Proceedings of the Franco-German Conference at Arc-et-Senans, June 1990, Paris 1993, pp. 217-266, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007.
  24. Page unavailable as of 21 September 2007.
  25. Michael Witzel, The Home of the Aryans, Anusantatyi: Festschrift fuer Johanna Narten zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. A. Hinze and E. Tichy (Muenchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, Beihefte NF 19) Dettelbach: J. H. Roell 2000, 283-338, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007.
  26. Michael Witzel, On Indian Historical Writing: The Role of the Vamcavalis Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies 2 (1990): 1-57, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007
  27. Michael Witzel, Nepalese Hydronomy: Towards a History of Settlement in the Himalayas, in Proceedings of the Franco-German Conference at Arc-et-Senans, June 1990, Paris 1993, pp. 217-266, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007.
  28. Michael Witzel, Aryan and Non-Aryan Names in Vedic India. Data for the Linguistic Situation, c. 1900-500 B.C., in J. Bronkhorst and M. Deshpande, eds., Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation, and Ideology, Cambridge (Harvard Orienatal Series, Opera Minora 3), 1999, pp. 337-404, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007; Michael Witzel, Early Sources for South Asian Substrate Languages, Mother Tongue, special issue (October 1999): 1-70, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  29. page not available as of 21 September 2007.
  30. Michael Witzel, Kumano.kara Woruga.made ("From Kumano to the Volga"), Zinbun 36, Kyoto 1990, pp. 4-5, in Japanese, accessed 21 September 2007.
  32. Harvard Round Tables on the Ethnogenesis of (South and Central) Asia
  33. Michael Witzel publications list Harvard Univ. website
  35. , pdf
  36. (PDF),
  37. page 9 of the pdf http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~fsouth/LASAcontents.pdf
  38. David Frawley (With input from Vishal Agarwal), Witzel's Vanishing Ocean, How to read Vedic texts any way you like, Voice of India, 29 June 2002
  39. ^ Swapan, Ashfaque (Mar 03, 2006). "Compromise Reached on California Textbook Controversy About Hinduism". Pacific News Service. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
  40. ^ NALINI TANEJA, A saffron assault abroad, Frontline (magazine), Volume 23 - Issue 01, Jan. 14 - 27, 2006
  41. ^ Rediff.com interview
  42. Suman Guha Mozumder (March 19, 2006). "Hindu groups sue California Board of Education". Rediff News.
  43. MEENAKSHI GANJOO (Jan 17, 2006). "Re-written history raises intellectual temper in California". Outlook (magazine).
  44. "Indian history books raise storm in California". Times of India. 17 Jan 2006.
  45. http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=jain%2Fjain120.txt&writer=jain
  46. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060130/ai_n16032672/pg_2
  47. http://www.dalitnetwork.org/go?/dfn/about/C24/
  48. http://www.secularindia.com/news/2007/06/10ThousandsofChristians.htm
  49. http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=jain%2Fjain120.txt&writer=jain

Publications

Vedic Texts and Early Indian History
  • Michael Witzel, "On the localisation of Vedic texts and schools." In: India and the Ancient world. History, Trade and Culture before A.D. 650. P.H.L. Eggermont Jubilee Volume, ed. by G. Pollet. Leuven: Departement Oriëntalistiek 1987 173-213 , maps at: ,
  • 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, "Early Sanskritization. Origins and development of the Kuru State". B. Kölver (ed.), Recht, Staat und Verwaltung im klassischen Indien. The state, the Law, and Administration in Classical India. München : R. Oldenbourg 1997, 27-52
  • Michael Witzel."The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu." In: Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas. Harvard Oriental Series. Opera Minora, vol. 2. Cambridge 1997, 257-345
Later Indian History
  • Michael Witzel, Das Alte Indien . München: C.H. Beck 2003
  • Michael Witzel, The Vedas and the Epics: Some Comparative Notes on Persons, Lineages, Geography, and Grammar. In: P. Koskikallio (ed.) Epics, Khilas, and Puranas. Continuities and Ruptures. Proceedings of the Third Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas. September 2002. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and the Arts 2005: 21-80
  • Michael Witzel, Brahmanical Reactions to Foreign Influences and to Social and Religious Change. In: Olivelle, P. (ed.) Between the Empires. Society in India between 300 BCE and 400 CE. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006: 457-499
  • Michael Witzel, On Indian historical writing: The case of the Vamsavalis. Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, No. 2, 1990, p.1-57
Linguistic Studies, Substrates
  • Michael Witzel, Aryan and non-Aryan Names in Vedic India. Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900-500 B.C. in : J. Bronkhorst & M. Deshpande (eds.), Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Cambridge (Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 3). 1999, 337-404
  • Michael Witzel, "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Rgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic), EJVS Vol. 5,1, Aug. 1999, 1-67
  • Michael Witzel, Linguistic Evidence for Cultural Exchange in Prehistoric Western Central Asia. Philadelphia: Sino-Platonic Papers 129, 2003. (Extract on Indo-Iranians and immigrations at )
  • Michael Witzel, Loan words in western Central Asia. Indicators of substrate populations, migrations, and trade relations. In: V. Mair (ed.) Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press 2006: 158-190
  • 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
  • Michael Witzel, South Asian agricultural vocabulary. In: T. Osada (ed.), Proceedings of the Pre-Symposium of RHIN and 7th ESCA Harvard-Kyoto Round Table. Published by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RHIN), Kyoto, Japan 2006: 96-120
  • Michael Witzel, Central Asian Roots and Acculturation in South Asia. Linguistic and Archaeological Evidence from Western Central Asia, the Hindukush and Northwestern South Asia for Early Indo-Aryan Language and Religion. In: T. Osada (ed.) Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past. Kyoto : Indus Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature 2004, 87-211
Textual Studies, Religion
  • Michael Witzel, Katha Âranyaka. Critical edition with a translation into German and an introduction. Cambridge: Harvard Oriental Series 65. 2004
  • Michael Witzel, Medieval Veda Tradition as Reflected in Nepalese Manuscripts. Journal of the Nepal Research Centre, 12, 2001, 255-299
  • Michael Witzel, How to enter the Vedic mind? Strategies in Translating a Brahmana text. Translating, Translations, Translators From India to the West. (Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, 1) Cambridge : Harvard Oriental Series 1996
  • Michael Witzel, Macrocosm, Mesocosm, and Microcosm. The persistant nature of 'Hindu' beliefs and symbolical forms . in S. Mittal (ed.), IJHS Symposium on Robert Levy's MESOCOSM, International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1.3 Dec. 1998, 501-53
  • Michael Witzel, The Kashmiri Brahmins. in: Studies on the Nilamata-Purana, ed. by Y. Ikari, Kyoto 1995, pp. 211- 268
  • Michael Witzel, Meaningful ritual. Structure, development and interpretation of the Tantric Agnihotra ritual of Nepal. Ritual, State and History in South Asia. Essays in honour of J.C. Heesterman, ed. A.W. van den Hoek, D.H.A. Kolff, M.S.Oort, Leiden 1992, 774-827
Comparative mythology
  • Michael Witzel, "Comparison and Reconstruction : Language and Mythology." Mother Tongue VI, 2001, 45- 62
  • Michael Witzel, "Vala and Iwato. The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan and beyond." EJVS 12-1, 2005, 1-69
  • Michael Witzel, "Creation myths." In: T. Osada (ed.). Proceedings of the Pre-Symposium of RHIN and 7th ESCA Harvard-Kyoto Round Table. Published by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RHIN), Kyoto, Japan 2006: 101-135
Indus Inscriptions
  • M. Witzel and S. Farmer, "Horseplay in Harappa" Fontline, Oct. 10, 2000.
  • 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)
  • Michael Witzel,Indocentrism: Autochthonous visions of ancient India. In: The Indo-Aryan controversy : evidence and inference in Indian history / edited by Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton. London & New York : Routledge, 2005: 341-404
  • Michael Witzel, Ein Fremdling im Rgveda. Journal of Indo-European Studies (JIES) 31, No. 1-2 (2003), 107-185
  • Michael Witzel, Rama's Realm: Indocentric Rewritings of Early South Asian Archaeology and History. In: Archaeological Fantasies. How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public, ed. by G. G. Fagan.London/New York: Routledge 2006:203-232
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