Patricia Sauthoff & Nalanda's rebirth

Patricia Sauthoff is a PhD candidate at SOAS who taught briefly at Nalanda International University.

She writes in the Scroll (my comments are in bold)
'From the very beginning I knew that government interference into the curriculum at Nalanda University was a very real possibility. Nearly a year before I moved to Bihar to teach a course in the History and Politics of Yoga at the university’s School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions, its founding chancellor, Amartya Sen, published a piece in the New York Review of Books describing his resignation as chancellor amid government interference of academic leadership throughout India.

Sen said there was Government interference in Nalanda.  He was removed from his post as Chancellor, despite being an Indian citizen and a Nobel laureate, for political reasons by a new Administration whom he had expressed grave misgivings about.

Not the possibility of interference, but actual interference, according to Sen, had already taken place. Patricia didn't believe Sen- few do- but, surely, she must have asked herself why a BJP Government would want anti-BJP academics to flourish at an institution whose bills were paid by the Centre? If the Govt. could sack an Indian Nobel Laureate from the Chancellorship, what hope had a foreign faculty member who doesn't even have a PhD?

However, by the time I arrived at Nalanda in late July 2016, George Yeo of Singapore had been named as chancellor, which led me to believe that the spirit of academic independence would remain strong and that the university would thrive to be an academic powerhouse in Asia.
Challenges at Nalanda.

Yeo is from Singapore- a place where student protest is not tolerated in the slightest.  Did Patricia really think a failed Singaporean politician was in any position to defend academic independence in India when that commodity is notoriously absent in his own country? He was only appointed because Singapore had promised to build a big library. He was gotten rid off because Singapore had not stumped a single red cent. Govt. of India decided that 'if you don't pay, you don't play'.

The challenges of starting a new university in a poor and rural part of India with inadequate transportation links was clear from the outset. Healthcare was non-existent, food quality poor, and living conditions for faculty and students unhealthy due to mould and damp, as well as the lack of basics such as access to cooking facilities.

What? Did Amartya Sen really preside over an institution which failed to meet elementary Health and Safety standards? Why did he do nothing about it? What about George Yeo? Why was he silent? What is wrong with these people? In what manner have their discharged their duty of care to Nalanda's students?
Students were asked to persevere, and they and the faculty worked together to try to bring these issues to the attention of the administration and offer solutions. We expected these growing pains and tolerated them because we had academic freedom and believed in what we were doing. We were told that we had autonomy.

Who told them they had autonomy? Not Sen, he wrote an article saying it did not exist. Perhaps it was Yeo. But Yeo resigned. It must have been Gopa Sabharwal,  the saheli of the former P.M's daughter. But the writing was already on the wall for her.
Last November, at the end of my first term at the university, the government chose not to extend Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal’s contract and dissolved the governing board, which led to the resignation of Yeo, who accused the government of failing to maintain the autonomy he was promised. It appeared Hindutva was about to knock at my own front door. I believed there would be no better time to discuss the history of yoga with my students than this one.

So, Patricia believed 'Hindutva was knocking at her door'- i.e. she was about to be sacked. She had nothing to lose. Thus there could be 'no better time to discuss the history of Yoga' because she was about to be sacked and might as well do something to deserve it.

The 15-week History and Politics of Yoga course began as many yoga studies do, with the Yoga Sutras. I believe it is important to read the source material for oneself as well as to examine the various contexts in which such materials are interpreted over time. 

In what language is the source material written? English. Her course says that you don't need to read any Sanskrit or do any Yoga for the purposes of the course.

David Gordon White’s biography of the text demonstrates that even today, academics and yoga practitioners read the text in very different ways.

Mallinson who has comprehensively rubbished White's work. But neither Mallinson nor White have any salience in India, for Indian students, when it comes to Yoga which is entirely indigenous. 

 Through this lens my class was able to discuss the text in terms of its influence on Indian philosophy, the response of British colonial translators, and the teachings of thinkers such as Swami Vivekananda.

Mallinson says the lens in question is cracked and spotted with dirt. Nothing can be studied through it because if obscures, not clarifies.

Already we began to find politics. British translations helped to spread yogic knowledge throughout the West.

What? You only 'begin to find politics' when 'British translations' come into the picture? Why? Did Yoga have no political dimension previously? 

 These translators, able to access yoga teachings because of British rule, helped to shape yoga going forward. 

British Translators helped access Russian thinking without there being any British rule in Russia. China was able to access Indian teaching on Yoga without any Chinese rule in India. The same goes for Japan and Korea and so forth. Indeed, ancient Nalanda was a place where 'translators' gained access to, among other things, Yoga teachings. 

Britain ruled many parts of the globe. Sometimes administrators translated certain texts or recorded certain customs. In most cases, this sparked no interest in the West and nothing came of it. There were places Britian did not rule- e.g. Japan- which had 'teachings' which became popular in the West- e.g. Jiu Jitsu. 

No British translator 'shaped Yoga going forward'. Why? They would have been laughed at just as I would be laughed at if I returned to Kumbakonam and set up an 'Englis Gentilman Traning Colidge' in which I demonstrate the proper way to wear a top hat while sipping rasam from the palm of one's hand.

For example, in the documentary West Meets East (or Mystical Journey: Kumbh Mela as it was called in America), Sanskrit and yoga scholar Sir James Mallinson (note: Mallinson is one of my academic supervisors) states that the British were wary of gatherings such as the Kumbh Mela because of the risk of the spread of disease, and because such gatherings were often a platform for insurrection and nationalist propaganda. Its practitioners responded by developing the myth of the four kumbhs, which reinterpreted and expanded upon an ancient myth, to protect the mela.

Mallinson may be a supervisor of some PhD candidates in Britain, but he is a joke figure- an Old Etonian Baronet who smoked too much hash on his Gap year and thinks he can be a Hindu ascetic without, as his wife points out, being either Hindu or ascetic. He is an eccentric and not taken seriously. Obviously, it makes for a nice sound bite for an English aristocrat who thinks he's a Hindu Sadhu to magnify the role of his ancestors. Similarly, some Indian Eng Lit Professors- like Gauri Vishvanathan and Gayatri Spivak- magnify the impact of English language instruction in India under the Raj upon the literature of the home country. This is just stupidity and silliness characteristic of Soft Subject pedagogues with barely a brain cell between them.

Though the myth is now taken as ancient it does not appear in any pre-colonial texts. Learning this history does not undermine the belief in the story but merely adds context to how beliefs develop over time.

The myth is ancient because it is based on an oral tradition which however is supported by 'pre-colonial texts' in Chinese and Arabic. To say that Indians invented something purely to subvert British authority is a myth because that authority was always fragile.

Media outlets around the world, from Foreign Affairs and Forbes in the United States, Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, and The Indian Express have described Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to spread yoga throughout the world as “yoga diplomacy”. Events such as International Yoga Day (June 21) are a prime example of the use of soft power to influence the behaviour and beliefs of others. By projecting yoga as, in the words of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev to the United Nations, “India’s gift to the world,” yoga is defined as Indian first but accessible to all. 

Okay, India is asserting intellectual property rights- fair enough. Maybe, there is some 'soft power' involved- if you teach a 'soft subject' and are soft in the head.

This gives the impression that yoga is open to interpretation and leads the way for such innovation as Christian yoga, aerial yoga, nude yoga, and so on.

What?! Does Patricia really believe that what Modi is doing is spreading the impression that there could be a 'Netflix Yoga' or 'Beer Pong Yoga' which would have all the moral and spiritual and physiological benefits as the type of Yoga he himself practices?

 I asked my students to think about these forms of yoga, how they grew from yoga practice in India and whether we could define them as authentic experiences of yoga. We also discussed the implications of myself, an American of non-Indian descent, teaching such a course.

This is quite mad. A foreigner who is a teacher of Yoga is simply described as being the reincarnation of a Yogi. In the past, there could have been some prejudice regarding the caste, or gender, of an indigenous Yogi- but the RSS is putting paid to such prejudices. Modi may be an 'OBC'- so what? Who cares? 'By their fruit, shall ye know them'.

That politicians such as Modi work to encourage the spread of yoga outside of India makes it inherently political. 

How? Why? The C.M of Tamil Nadu will always work to promote Tamil in foreign countries. So what? This isn't political in the least. It is a bi-partisan issue.  The P.M of India promotes Indian culture abroad. Once again, this is a wholly bi-partisan issue.

Further, during the course of the semester Modi appointed Yogi Adityanath, the chief priest of the Gorakhnath temple, as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. Adityanath’s appointment ties yoga and politics together in no uncertain terms. His asceticism is as much a part of his image as his politics. Though academia often takes time to keep up with current events, we acknowledged Adityanath’s rise in my class and discussed how his role as a priest as well as a politician might have an impact on his tenure as chief minister. 

Patricia is teaching mainly Indian M.A students. They would have to be extraordinarily stupid if they didn't know a great deal more than their teacher about this issue.

For instance, as soon as he took charge he shut down slaughterhouses, a major source of income for Muslims in the state.

Umm... the mahant of the Goraknath Matt shuts down slaughterhouses operating in violation of the law- wow! that's a real head-scratcher! Except, it isn't really. Gorakshanath means 'cow protecting Lord'. The Laws were already on the statute book and the Election result gave the necessary mandate to proceed on the issue.

 His past rhetoric, which we did not discuss in class, has included statements saying that Hindu idols should be installed in every mosque in India, that anyone who opposed surya namaskar (the sun salutation, a yoga sequence) should drown themselves in the sea, and that those who wish to avoid yoga can “leave Hindustan”.

Patricia says she is teaching her students to think critically and to properly interpret texts. Has she properly interpreted what the Yogi said? Let us see- these are his actual words-

'Lord Shankar was the biggest Yogi who started Yoga. Mahadev (another name of Lord Shankar) lives in every particle of this country. So, those who want to avoid Yoga and Lord Shankar can leave Hindustan.” He also criticised different groups for opposing Surya Namaskar. He said that sun is the source of all energy in the world and Surya Namaskar is part of the Yogic act.
“My humble request to those who see communalism in even Sun God would be to drown themselves in the sea or live in a dark room for the rest of their lives,” he said while arguing that more than 43 countries will celebrate June 21 as Yoga day across the world.

If Patricia is right a Court, or the Election Commission, could find the Yogi guilty of hate speech. But, Patricia isn't right. She is either being stupid or is telling malicious lies. What the Yogi has said is 'My God is in every particle of India- if you wish to avoid my God then leave the country.' Moreover 'there is no place which is not dependent on the Sun's energy. If you dislike this dependence you can only hide in a dark room or under the sea'. There is no threat here. I am welcome to say that my God pervades the Universe and that people of other sects only gain spiritual benefit from their worship because such is His will. If I believe that a statute of Ganesha endows auspiciousness, I am expressing my love, not hate, for others if I express the wish that their homes and offices and places of worship should all possess such statues.

Not only does it seem that yoga is for everyone who wants it but also, at least within India, those who might not. 

To whom does this 'seem' to be the case? Does Patricia herself really believe this? Why would she want to remain in a foreign country which forces people to do Yoga? 

I cannot help but wonder if those critical of my discussion of yoga and politics would cheer if instead I had taught a course on the History and Politics of Islam during the Mughal empire.

Why would they cheer? Is it because a course on the 'History and Politics of Islam' would necessarily show that Religion and  its adherents in a bad light? Is this woman an Islamophobe?

Similarly, one of India’s most prominent yogis, Baba Ramdev, involves himself in politics regularly, appearing frequently onstage with Modi. Ramdev not only supported Modi’s decision to demonetise old high-denomination currency notes overnight in November, he claims he had himself been calling for such a move for years. As a businessman, he has been hugely effective. He owns the Patanjali brand and his face is ubiquitous in much of North India.

So what? This might be news to Patricia but her Indian students grew up with Ramdev on TV. What value is she adding exactly? In the next paragraph, Patricia seeks to reassure us that her course wasn't wholly bogus.

Selective controversy

Of course, the history of yoga is also the development of practice, innovation in the understandings of supernatural powers, new medical regimes, and a rich textual and visual tradition that reinterprets the tenets of beliefs and explanations of the world. While these often have political implications, to only focus on that would have been a disservice to my students and insulting to the rich ideas practitioners of yoga have developed over the course of hundreds of years. Much more of our time was spent discussing the fine points of kaivalya (perfect isolation or absolute unity), various meditative practices, and how texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika came into being.

At the Post Grad level, this can't be done through the English medium and without actually practicing Yoga. Students have to work with original texts- otherwise they might just as well just watch a couple of You Tube videos and get Credit for 'likes' or 're-tweets'.

Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding my course ignores the history part of the syllabus and focuses only on the political.

What history is Patricia talking about? White & Mallinson? That's history? 

 That I am a foreigner adds fuel to the fire as this allows those who object to the course to let their imaginations regarding my background and intentions run wild. However, the biggest issue is not that I, a non-Indian, taught Sanskrit and Yoga at Nalanda. It is that the academic freedom of the institution has been trampled. Nalanda’s current vice-chancellor Sunaina Singh told The Telegraph newspaper that, “the very title of the course is problematic”.

The problem is not that Patricia is a foreigner. It is that she is an ignorant foreigner without an Indian qualification in an Indic subject. She may well be a great T.A, but that's as far as it goes. Clearly, she had no supervision at Nalanda. She did the best she could under difficult circumstances but her best was less than Post Graduate students are entitled to expect.

Sunaina Singh, whatever her faults, knows a thing or two about Indian academia and the future prospects of her students. This type of Course may have been all very well twenty years ago. It is useless now.

But no one ever discussed any problems with the course with me before, during, or after I taught it. The course began in January, after Yeo’s resignation and ran till the end of the academic year in May. When I left Rajgir at the end of the term, my contract was set to expire in July. In mid-June I received a letter from the university inquiring about my intention to continue. A week later another letter arrived, rescinding the previous letter, thanking me for my service to the university, and assuring me that I would be paid through the end of my contract.

Okay, so you have a new broom and the grace and favour appointees of the previous administration have been sent packing. These things happen. Why the big boo hoo?

To say that the course had been “abolished”, as BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav claimed in a tweet last week that went viral, is an assault against not only intellectual freedom but puts my students and colleagues in danger.

Nonsense! The new Chancellor is an RSS man and senior to Madhav. He has the clout to protect his students and staff. Better still, the new VC, Sunaina Singh, is considered a tough administrator. She won't tolerate sexual harassment on the grounds that 'Biharis will be Biharis'. Patricia looks quite hefty herself.  I hope she thrashed a couple of Romeos herself while at Rajgir. That is true 'hard core' Nationalism- not tweeting rape threats, but beating the shit out of students or staff who harass women.

 Some of the replies to Madhav’s tweet called for a purge of all foreigners from Indian universities, sexually degrading remarks about me, and calls for investigations into ideas at universities across the country. Recent threats and acts of violence against academics and journalists in India indicate that people are willing to take action against those with whom they disagree. It is not difficult to spot members of the university in Rajgir and I fear Madhav’s tweet could make those in the Nalanda community targets.

Is Patricia's fear well founded or rational? This is the tweet.
FollowRam Madhav
✔@rammadhavbjp


Stunned to hear dat Amartya Sen's Nalanda Univ regime had a course on 'Politics of Yoga' taught by a foreigner. Now course abolished
4:48 AM - Sep 9, 2017
488488 Replies
4,0394,039 Retweets
6,5676,567 likes
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Madhav is saying the course has been abolished. The Sen-apods have been purged. Nalanda is an RSS bastion. This makes its students and staff safe from the Parivar. 

Now let's look at Patricia's tweet-

Follow
Patricia Sauthoff
✔@gitagovinda


Stunned that a high level government official has chosen to spread misinformation about my class. https://twitter.com/rammadhavbjp/status/906363607541092357 …
4:10 AM - Sep 12, 2017
8888 Replies
1,1921,192 Retweets
1,2121,212 likes

Ram Madhav is not a high level government official. He works for a political party, not the Government. Patricia is spreading misinformation.

Either that or she is simply ignorant and has no access to Wikipedia.

This is how she ends her article-Finally, I also wonder what is to become of my students, who have paid tens of thousands of rupees after being promised a world class education, and who instead find their instructors fleeing due to academic interference, and their programme a shell of what it once was?

These are Post Grad students being taught by T.A's who may not even have completed their PhD and who are, on her own evidence, completely unsupervised. This might not matter too much if they were being taught 'American Studies' by a bright American. But that's not what is happening. They are being taught about India by someone who knows very little about that country.

Students aren't stupid. Even when the UPA was in office and Sen was talking grandly of securing 'diplomatic immunity' for staff (including Indian staff!) very few signed up even after the fees were scaled down. Under the firm hand of a RSS technocrat, it might still shape up- more particularly because Nitish is now on side- into something more than a White Elephant or money pit. But for that to happen you have to get good Professors to actually come and live in Rajgir and to provide proper supervision and guidance to enthusiastic young T.As working towards their PhDs in London or Berkeley or wherever.