A lecture series organised by a premier history body today saw its member secretary being interrupted by a few in the audience as he sought to differ on some of the views expressed by an American scholar who strongly advocated extensive vedic study in India.
Gopinath Ravindran, member secretary of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) was told to cut short his speech as he expressed his reservations over some of the views of David Frawley at the foundation day lecture.
Frawley said there was a need for extensive new vedic study and research in India including considering the 'mantric' and 'yogic' dimensions of vedic knowledge.
"Above all, a new timeline of ancient India should be created in which both the outer evidence and vedic literary evidence are adequately considered," he said.
"Stop it and wind up," yelled some of them to Ravindran.
Ravindran differed from Frawley's observation that ancient Indian history is not taught extensively and that 'Bharatiyam' traces its origins to the vedas.
Noted archaeologist Dilip K Chakrabarti, member of the newly-constituted ICHR had earlier objected to Frawley being invited for the lecture, contending that he was not an academician to deliver an academic lecture.
Frawley, an American vedic teacher, has expertise on yoga, ayurveda, vedanta, vedic astrology and the vedic texts.
He is the director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies and would be conferred the Padma Bhushan for 2015.
Delivering his lecture, Frawley said vedas are the greatest pyramids of ancient mind and should be honoured like the pyramids of Egypt.
"Vedas are not religious dogma, they are teachings about life, nature, consciousness. They have great transformational power," he said adding, it can be promoted through educational model partly through yoga and meditations in schools.
He said vedic literature has not been properly analysed in its own right and has largely been filtered through modern discipline that are "peripheral" and "interpretative" in nature.
