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Hi

Hi havent seen you for a long time, you must come back, your old hardwork has produced very good results! 59.92.193.166 (talk) 05:34, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Max Müller

Don't underestimate the "blog comments" how mind opening they are the moment you notice how history can be deliberately hampered to favour on party point of view. And in the case of Max Muller, I doubt his work holds no bias and it is good to let know the lame readers how the famous Max Muller who translated many Sanskrit texts into English and German was paid to mis-translate and to add information that would be deceptive.Davedawit (talk) 15:17, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

User:rudrasharman, Your following comment "He's parroting some blog-warrior, as usual. Though it could be of momentary interest to see which spit-flecked raving bozo it is this time." is a personal attack not in agreement with WP primciples. Please avoid personal attacks.-Bharatveer (talk) 08:18, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

A Chandas disambiguation page

Can you help with the Sanskrit metre article talk page situation? I have created a Chandas disambiguation page, but I don't think it is correctly done. --DThomsen8 (talk) 21:11, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply on my talk page about Sanskrit metre and for the longer remarks on the Sanskrit metre article's talk page. From those remarks, I see that the article is a complete mess, and the only remedy would be to start over. However, I know nothing about the subject beyond what I read on Misplaced Pages. What you could do for me is to look at the Chandas page and see if the first line is correct, or should be changed. The second line, about Chandas (typeface) is how I came into the situation as part of an effort to improve typography articles. You could take a look at that as well, but I think it is substantially correct as written. --DThomsen8 (talk) 13:06, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

The disambiguation page is fine, although I appreciate your point about its stylistic suboptimality. chandas actually has a cluster of related meanings, derived from a root meaning, roughly, "(making a) pleasing rhythm". Thus, it has been used to refer to

1. Vedic verses themselves (i.e. as a synonym for "verse")
2. Vedic metres (numbering 3 or 7 or 8, depending on source)
3. The language of Vedic poetry, esp. Rgvedic. Panini used chandasi (a locative form of the word) in this technical sense to indicate Vedic usage and language, in contrast to Classical.
4. The study of metre as a Vedanga

In all, I'd say the last one (as you have it on the dab page) is best because it is a formal definition of sorts, whereas the others are ostensive in nature. rudra (talk) 18:50, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Astrology

Rudra, I find your point that Vedanga Jyotisha is astronomy, not astrology, difficult to accept. For the purposes of antiquity (in Mesopotamia as well as in India), there is simply no difference between the two by conception. If you use astronomy to identify "auspicious days for sacrifice", that's astrology by any other name. I realize that Vedanga Jyotisha has very little to do with Greek-derived astrology of the Mauryan period and classical India, but then Babylonian astrology, especially of the Old Babylonian period, has very little to do with Roman era -- let alone modern -- astrology and it's still astrology.

I am also uncomfortable with the claim that there was "no astrology" in the Vedic period. I would like to know who made such a sweeping statement. I agree that astrology is of comaratively little concern in Vedic texts, but that might as soon just be due to the nature and scope of the texts we have. --dab (𒁳) 14:32, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

The basic point is that ever since the Mesoptamian/Greek synthesis, astrology (and jyotisha) has come to mean horoscopy (i.e. as the principal sense). The older astrology was much more calendar-oriented in nature. The big difference is planets. The VJ doesn't have them, so their "influence" (a HUGE deal in modern astrology) didn't even exist. (So "no astrology in Vedic times" = "no astrology in the usual modern sense in vedic times".) I just don't like the idea of encouraging anachronistic expectations of what jyotisha really meant, and involved, in Vedic times. rudra (talk) 14:45, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Also, btw, Pingree 1981 treats the VJ in the chapter on astronomy. Quote (p.9): "The literature on astronomy in Sanskrit is headed by the Jyotiṣavedāńga". (On p.8, he notes that horoscopy didn't interest the astronomers until the 2nd CE or so.) rudra (talk) 15:26, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

I realize that this is what you intend to say, but it isn't what you are saying. If you mean to say "no horoscopy", you should say "no horoscopy", not "no astrology". The point that needs to be made is that for all dates prior to AD 1500 or so, astrology=astronomy.

I also appreciate your best intention of counterpunching against the Indian gremlins. Only, you may be counterpunching too much in this case. I suggest we make this about horoscopy specifically instead of the artificial "astrology" question. --dab (𒁳) 15:38, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, yes, but the average reader of WP, unless specifically clued in otherwise, is still going to read "astrology" and understand "horoscopy". Consequently, to tell him "the VJ is a text of astrology" and expect him to grasp that some archaic sense of astrology (= astronomy) is meant, simply doesn't cut the mustard, IMHO. It is more accurate, historically and semantically -- and easier on the average Joe's brain cells -- to tell him "the VJ is a text of astronomy" (= astrology "back then, if you're interested enough to find out"). If this leads him to think that the vedics had telescopes, I give up. rudra (talk) 15:59, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Sanskrit metre

I un-redirected the talk page. Hope you don't mind. --Aryaman (talk) 05:00, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Avatar

Hi Rudra, if you have a moment to look at the Avatar article it would be helpful, particularly the Etymology and meaning section. It's been improved quite a bit, but could use a more authoritative view. Good to see you back here (at least from a respectable distance so far :-) ) Priyanath  19:24, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Gayatri Mantra

Hi Rudra, Just wanted to express a teeny concern about what I perceive as WP:OWN concerns for recent edits on this. Can you clarify the "aghihotra rite" reference you used for a deletion, as well as your reinsertion of the "word by word translation" of Griffith attributed to M-W (presumably the dictionary?) - it may be true but is somewhat O/Rish. Thanks for the other guidance, particularly the Jan Gonda ref. Annette46 (talk) 06:33, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Please ignore the agnihotra comment, it isn't really relevant and shouldn't have been there. As for the word-by-word translation, I think dab's reason is well taken. The basic problem (on which Gonda, btw, expands quite a bit) is that "interpretations" of the GM are legion. In such a situation it becomes necessary to include a literal translation, for the benefit of the reader who in general will not be interested in the details of the sectarian disputes and whatnot underlying the differing interpretations. There is nothing OR-ish about literal renderings that can be verified from a well-established dictionary. rudra (talk) 05:31, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Acknowledgment

		The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
		For consistently standing up for quality content and sources in some notably POV-warrior infested areas of wikipedia. More personally, a thanks for all that I have learned from your talk page and article contributions over the years. Abecedare (talk) 13:56, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks very much. I appreciate it. rudra (talk) 14:37, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

RD

In case you can shed some light on this. 220.227.207.32 (talk) 04:37, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Probably not, sorry! I freely admit my ignorance when it comes to Art. All I know is that these are sculpture motifs seen in temples. I'd love to find a good online resource myself! rudra (talk) 04:59, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia

Why are you editing Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia to mislead people into thinking that R1a1 in India is indicative of the false Aryan Invasion Theory while ignoring the consensus on Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) (that all the evidence points to a South Asian origin)? I'm starting to think your intention may be less than good faith. GSMR (talk) 07:10, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Your sequence of 31 consecutive edits (so far) on the Talk page was fascinating. rudra (talk) 08:09, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Not as much as your attempt to push forward the long-debunked Aryan Invasion Theory. Each of the sources I added are used on Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) to state the exact same thing I added there. GSMR (talk) 14:51, 17 January 2010 (UTC)