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Michael Witzel

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

Contents

Biographical information

He studied Indology in Germany (from 1965 to 1971) under Paul Thieme, H. P. Schmidt, K. Hoffmann and J. Narten as well as in Nepal (1972-1973) under the Mīmāmsaka Jununath Pandit.[1] 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 (twice). He has been teaching Sanskrit since 1972.

He is noted for his studies of the dialects of Vedic Sanskrit,[2] old Indian history,[3], the development of Vedic religion,[4] and the linguistic prehistory of South Asia.[5] He is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS)[6] and the Harvard Oriental Series.[7] He has been president of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory (ASLIP) since 1999,[8] as well as of the new International Association for Comparative Mythology (2006-).[9] He was 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).[10] such as the Katha Aranyaka.[11] Recently, he has begun, together with T. Goto et al. a new translation of the Rigveda into German (Books I-II, 2007, Books III-V due 2009) [12]

He studied at length the various Vedic recensions (śākhā)[13] and their importance for the geographical spread of Vedic culture across North India and beyond.[14] This resulted in book-length investigations of Vedic dialects (1989), the development of the Vedic canon (1997),[15] and of Old India as such (2003).

Shorter papers provide analyses of important religious (2004) and literary concepts of the period,[16] and its Central Asian antecedents [17] as well as 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),[18] the Milky Way (1984),[19] the asterism of the Seven Rsis (1995,[20] 1999), the sage Yajnavalkya (2003), the persistence of some Vedic beliefs,[21][22] in modern Hinduism (1989[23] 2002, with S. Farmer and J.B. Henderson), as well as some modern Indocentric tendencies (2001-).[24][25]

Other work (1976-) deals with the traditions of medieval and modern India and Nepal, [26] [27] [28] including its linguistic history,[29] Brahmins,[30] [31]. rituals, and kingship (1987) and present day culture [32], as well as with Old Iran and the Avesta (1972-), including its homeland (2000).[33]

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 such as R. Meadow, with whom he has also co-taught. 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[34] has been explored in a number of papers (1993,[29] 1999,[35] 2000, 2001) dealing with the pre-Vedic substrate languages of Northern India.[36] 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). [37]

In recent years, he has explored the links between old Indian, Eurasian and other mythologies (1990,[38] 2001, 2004-6), resulting in a new scheme of historical comparative mythology[39] that covers most of Eurasia and the Americas ("Laurasia", cf. the related Harvard, Kyoto, Beijing, Edinburgh, Ravenstein (Netherlands) and Tokyo conferences, 1999-2009).[40] This approach has been pursued in a number of papers.[41] [42] [43][44][45] [46] [47] [48]. A book to be published in 2010 [49] will deal with the newly proposed method of historical comparative mythology at length. [50]

Recently, he has also published (2001-) [51] articles criticizing what he calls "spurious interpretations" of Vedic texts[52] and decipherments of Indus inscriptions such as that of N.S. Rajaram.[53] [54] [55] [56]

He has questioned the linguistic nature of the so-called Indus Script (Farmer, Sproat, Witzel 2004).[57]. Earlier, he had suggested that a substrate related to, but not identical with the Austroasiatic Munda languages, which he therefore calls para-Munda, might have been the language of (part of) the Indus population.[58] [59]

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) [16] [17] and, since 2005, conferences on comparative mythology (Kyoto, Beijing, Edinburgh, Ravenstein (Netherlands), Tokyo [60] [61] [62] [63] At the Beijing conference he founded the International Association for Comparative Mythology. [64]

Criticism

The archeologist B. B. Lal, at the 19th International Conference on South Asian Archaeology, held at University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy 2007, repeated an older criticism of K. Elst (1999) that has frequently been promulgated on internet since. He re-asserted that Witzel had mistranslated one sentence in a Vedic text to suit the so-called Aryan invasion theory[65], referring to the translation from the "Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra" in Witzel's 1995 paper "Rigvedic history: poets, chieftains and polities". However, Witzel, responding to Elst (1999) in his 2001 paper (EJVS 7-3, notes 45-46) [18], clarified that it was a case of misplaced parenthesis and that he had given repeated on-line clarifications and general apologies over the years. George Cardona, an Indologist and linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, however, says: "It is beyond dispute that the interpretation Witzel gives to this passage does not accord with its syntax," while clearly taking note of the typical Vedic, etymologically based nature of Witzel's interpretation of the sentence.[66]

Cardona also discusses Witzel's Para-Munda substratum theory. While acknowledging the clear limitations given by Witzel himself for this question, and though admitting not being "competent to judge the details" he nevertheless says: "he does not, so far as I see, give examples of entire words demonstrably borrowed from Munda (sic!) and which could have served as basis for abstracting [Para-Munda] prefixes"[67]. However, Witzel has quoted words like (jar-)tila and (śa-)kunti(ka/la), (Mund. kon-the'd) and (ku-sur-)binda/Bainda in his 1999 and later papers.

Asko Parpola, a professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland, criticises the paper "The collapse of the Indus script thesis: The myth of a literate Harappan Civilization" by Farmer, Sproat and Witzel. He claims it to be inconclusive and opines that none of the points in the paper could prove the thesis proposed by them that the Indus script is not writing but only nonlinguistic symbols[68] [69].

Some other authors, such as David Frawley have criticized Witzel's approach to Vedic texts and history.[70] (See, however, Witzel's discussions at [19])These critics reject the account of the 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.

California textbook controversy over Hindu history

Main article: California textbook controversy over Hindu history

In 2005, 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.[71][72] He was appointed to an expert panel set up to review the changes[73] and helped draft the compromise edits that were later adopted.[71]

Witzel's efforts received the support of academics and some South Asian community groups,[71][74][75][76] but attracted severe criticism from those supporting the original changes, who questioned his expertise on the subject[72]and his appointment to the expert panel.[71]

Witzel was issued a subpoena by the California Parents for Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM), a group founded specifically for the schoolbook case, in November 2006 to support their law case against the California authorities' decisions in the textbook case.[77] However, he twice successfully objected in Massachusetts courts against CAPEEM's "overly broad" subpoena (2007,[78] 2008, case No. 07-2286). [79]

Witzel was also accused of being biased against Hinduism, an allegation he denies. [80][81] [82] Rejecting criticism that he was a 'Hindu hater', Witzel said, "I hate people who misrepresent history."[73] [83] [84]

References

  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. ^ [1] (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. ^ http://www.compmyth.org/
  10. ^ Michael Witzel's list of publications, accessed 13 September 2007.
  11. ^ Katha Âranyaka. Critical edition with a translation into German and an introduction. Cambridge: Harvard Oriental Series 65. 2004 [pp. lxxix, XXVI, 220, with color facsimiles of the Kashmir bhûrja MS]
  12. ^ Rig-Veda. Das heilige Wissen. Erster und zweiter Liederkreis. Aus dem vedischen Sanskrit übersetzt und herausgegeben von Michael Witzel und Toshifumi Goto unter Mitarbeit von Eijiro Doyama und Mislav Jezic. Frankfurt: Verlag der Weltreligionen. [2] 2007, pp. 1-889; first complete translation of the Rgveda into a western language since Geldner's of 1929/1951). [3]
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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 (www.forsten.nl)
  18. ^ [4] (not accessible as of 13 September 2007).
  19. ^ Michael Witzel, Sur le chemin du ciel, Bulletin des Etudes indiennes 2 (1984): 213-279, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  20. ^ Michael Witzel, Looking for the Heavenly Casket, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 1-2 (1999), accessed 13 September 2007.
  21. ^ Michael Witzel, On Magical Thought in the Veda, inaugural lecture, Leiden, Universitaire Pers, 1979, pdf, accessed 13 September 2007.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ [5] (page not available as of 13 September 2007)
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ Das Alte Indien [History of Old India]. München: C.H. Beck [C.H. Beck Wissen in der Beck'schen Reihe] 2003
  27. ^ 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
  28. ^ Michael Witzel, On Indian Historical Writing: The Role of the Vamsavalis 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 Vedic Tradition in Nepal, Vasudha vol. XV, no. 12, Kathmandu 1976, pp. 17-24, 35-39, pdf, accessed 21 September 2007.
  29. ^ a b 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.
  30. ^ [6] Page unavailable as of 21 September 2007.
  31. ^ Kashmri Brahmins. In: The Valley of Kashmir. The making and unmaking of a composite culture? Edited by Aparna Rao, with a foreword and introductory essay by T.N.Madan. New Delhi: Manohar 2008: 37-93
  32. ^ http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Swadharma.htm
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ 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
  35. ^ 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.
  36. ^ [7] page not available as of 21 September 2007.
  37. ^ Linguistic Evidence for Cultural Exchange in Prehistoric Western Central Asia. Philadelphia: Sino-Platonic Papers 129, Dec. 2003
  38. ^ Michael Witzel, Kumano.kara Woruga.made ("From Kumano to the Volga"), Zinbun 36, Kyoto 1990, pp. 4-5, in Japanese, accessed 21 September 2007.
  39. ^ http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Comp_Myth.pdf
  40. ^ Harvard Round Tables on the Ethnogenesis of (South and Central) Asia
  41. ^ Vala and Iwato. The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan and beyond EJVS 12-1, (March 1, 2005), 1-69
  42. ^ 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: 284-318
  43. ^ Out of Africa: the Journey of the Oldest Tales of Humankind. In: Generalized Science of Humanity Series, Vol. I. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa 2006: 21-65
  44. ^ Myths and Consequences. Review of Stefan Arvidsson, Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science. (Chicago University Press 2006). Science, vol. 317, 28 September 2007, 1868-1869 (Manuscript Number: 1141619). http://www. sciencemag.org
  45. ^ http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/317/5846/1868?ijkey=vNHCuWdIhTviU&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
  46. ^ http://www.iacm.bravehost.com/
  47. ^ http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/RT2008.htm
  48. ^ “Slaying the dragon across Eurasia”. In: Bengtson, John D. (ed.) In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory. Essays in the four fields of anthropology. In honor of Harold Crane Fleming. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin’s Publishing Company 2008: 263-286
  49. ^ The Origins of the World's Mythologies. Oxford University Press, Spring 2010
  50. ^ [8]
  51. ^ Michael Witzel publications list Harvard Univ. website
  52. ^ Autochthonous Aryans-corr.doc
  53. ^ [9], pdf [10]
  54. ^ 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 -- Discussion by Colin Renfrew
  55. ^ 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
  56. ^ Hindutva View of History. Rewriting Textsbook in India and the United States. (with K. Visvesvaran, Nandini Majrekar, Dipta Bhog, and Uma Chakravarti). Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. 10th Anniversary edition. Winter/Spring 2009, 101-112
  57. ^ [11] (PDF), [12]
  58. ^ page 9 of the pdf http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~fsouth/LASAcontents.pdf
  59. ^ Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts. EJVS, May 2001
  60. ^ International Conference on Comparative Mythology (Beijing 2006)
  61. ^ [13]
  62. ^ http://www.iacm.bravehost.com/ Index page Second Annual Conference International Association for Comparative Mythology (Ravenstein, Netherlands, 19-21 August 2008)]
  63. ^ [14]
  64. ^ http://www.compmyth.org/
  65. ^ Lal 2007
  66. ^ George Cardona, in the book "The Indo-Aryan languages" published in 2003 by Routledge Language Family Series, p. 33 sqq.
  67. ^ George Cardona, in the book "The Indo-Aryan languages" published in 2003 by Routledge Language Family Series
  68. ^ Is the Indus script indeed not a writing system?” Airavati 2008
  69. ^ http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2009050350010100.htm&date=2009/05/03/&prd=mag
  70. ^ 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
  71. ^ a b c d Swapan, Ashfaque (March 3, 2006). "Compromise Reached on California Textbook Controversy About Hinduism". Pacific News Service. http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=6d7fd82d03a4981040f985cc4f279604. .
  72. ^ a b NALINI TANEJA, A saffron assault abroad, Frontline (magazine), Volume 23 - Issue 01, Jan. 14 - 27, 2006
  73. ^ a b Rediff.com interview
  74. ^ Suman Guha Mozumder (March 19, 2006). "Hindu groups sue California Board of Education". Rediff News. http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/19edu.htm. 
  75. ^ MEENAKSHI GANJOO (January 17, 2006). "Re-written history raises intellectual temper in California". Outlook (magazine). http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=349007. 
  76. ^ "Indian history books raise storm in California". Times of India. 17 January 2006. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/The_United_States/Indian_history_books_raise_storm_in_California/articleshow/msid-1374564,curpg-1.cms. 
  77. ^ http://www.capeem.org/legal.php
  78. ^ http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-madce/case_no-1:2007mc10128/case_id-109376/
  79. ^ [15]
  80. ^ Hindu history ignites brawl over textbooks
  81. ^ Battling the Past
  82. ^ "Multiculturalism and "American" Religion: The Case of Hindu Indian Americans", Social Forces, Volume 85; Issue 2
  83. ^ Hindutva View of History. Rewriting Textsbook in India and the United States. (with K. Visvesvaran, Nandini Majrekar, Dipta Bhog, and Uma Chakravarti). Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. 10th Anniversary edition. Winter/Spring 2009, 101-112
  84. ^ http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Swadharma.htm

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: Department Oriëntalistiek 1987 173-213 [20], maps at: [21], [22]
  • 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. [23]
  • 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. [24]
  • 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 [25]
  • 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 [26]
Later Indian History
  • Michael Witzel, Das Alte Indien [History of Old India]. München: C.H. Beck 2003 [27]
  • 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
  • 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, On Indian historical writing: The case of the Vamsavalis. Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, No. 2, 1990, p.1-57 [28]
  • Kashmiri Brahmins. In: The Valley of Kashmir. The making and unmaking of a composite culture? Edited by Aparna Rao, with a foreword and introductory essay by T.N.Madan. New Delhi: Manohar 2008: 37-93
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 [29]
  • Michael Witzel, "Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Rgvedic, Middle and Late Vedic), EJVS Vol. 5,1, Aug. 1999, 1-67 [30]
  • 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 [31] )
  • 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 [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 persistent 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 [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
  • 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
Comparative mythology
  • Michael Witzel, "Comparison and Reconstruction : Language and Mythology." Mother Tongue VI, 2001, 45- 62 [32]
  • Michael Witzel, "Vala and Iwato. The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan and beyond." EJVS 12-1, 2005, 1-69 [33]
  • 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
  • Out of Africa: the Journey of the Oldest Tales of Humankind. In: Generalized Science of Humanity Series, Vol. I. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa 2006: 21-65.
  • Myths and Consequences. Review of Stefan Arvidsson, Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science, Chicago University Press 2006. Science, vol. 317, 28 September 2007, 1868-1869.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/317/5846/1868?ijkey=vNHCuWdIhTviU&keytype=ref&siteid=sci

  • Witzel, Michael, 2008. “Slaying the dragon across Eurasia”. In: Bengtson, John D. (ed.) In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory. Essays in the four fields of anthropology. In honor of Harold Crane Fleming. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin’s Publishing Company 2008: 263-286.
Hindutva & Indus Inscriptions
  • M. Witzel and S. Farmer, "Horseplay in Harappa" Frontline, Oct. 10, 2000. [34]
  • 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) [35]
  • 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
  • Vedic Hinduism by S. W. Jamison and M. Witzel (1992)
  • Hindutva View of History. Rewriting Textsbook in India and the United States. (with K. Visvesvaran, Nandini Majrekar, Dipta Bhog, and Uma Chakravarti). Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. 10th Anniversary edition. Winter/Spring 2009, 101-112

External links

v • d • e
Central Asian Studies at Harvard1

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