Fwd: Absolutely crucial
Jean-Luc Chevillard
-- jlc (Paris)
........................
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: Absolutely crucial
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Paula Richman
>> To: Paula Richman
>> Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2011 1:50 AM
>> Subject: crucial
>>
>> Dear Friends:
>> If you would like to add your name to the long list of signatures
>> for this letter, drafted by Sheldon Pollock, in protest against
>> OUP's withdrawl of A.K. Ramanujan's writings from its
>> publications, in relation to the Supreme Court Decision about
>> Ramanujan's essay "Many Ramayanas," please email your name, title,
>> and affiliation to Andrew Ollett at this email.
>> <andrew...@gmail.com>
>> Thanks,
>> Paula Richman
>>
>>
>> Subject: Letter to the Chief Executive, OUP, regarding the Ramanujan
>> affair
>>
>> Dear friends,
>>
>> If you are willing to sign the letter below, please send a note with
>> your name, title, and affiliation to
>>
>> Andrew Ollett <andrew...@gmail.com>
>>
>> who will be compiling the list.
>>
>> Please circulate this letter widely (I'm running out of steam!)
>> We'll be collecting signatures until Sunday Nov. 28, in time to
>> deliver the list to colleagues in the UK who are holding a protest
>> meeting in Oxford on Nov. 30.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> shelly
>>
>> * * *
>>
>> Mr. Nigel Portwood
>> Chief Executive
>> Oxford University Press
>> Oxford, UK
>>
>> Dear Mr. Portwood,
>>
>> We have learned with shock and dismay that Oxford University Press
>> India has formally apologized to the individual who brought suit
>> against OUP for publishing A. K. Ramanujan's "Many Ramayanas." OUP
>> India's lawyers have stated in court, "We are instructed to intimate
>> to our client through you and state that our client have long
>> earlier stopped selling the book, "Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of
>> A Narrative Tradition in South Asia", nor have they any plans to
>> reissue/re-publish the book." And further: "Our client further wish
>> to assure your client that as publishers of long standing and
>> repute, it has been their conscious endeavour to respect the
>> plurality of Indian culture in all publishing activities which they
>> undertake and very much regret that the essay in question has
>> inadvertently caused your client distress and concern." In addition,
>> OUP India has, it appears, subsequently withdrawn from the market
>> Ramanujan's Collected Essays, in which "Many Ramayanas" also
>> appears, and has assured Delhi University that it will not keep the
>> book in print, a pledge that enabled the university's vice-
>> chancellor to overrule his own committee who had argued for
>> retaining Ramanujan's essay on the syllabus of the History department.
>>
>> The scholars who have signed this letter to you, many of us former
>> colleagues or students of Ramanujan, but also authors who have
>> published with OUP Oxford, New York, or Delhi, want to express our
>> deep consternation at OUP India's self-abasement in court. We are
>> also fully aware that the Ramanujan case is only the most recent in
>> a series of shocking acts on the part of OUP India--including the
>> suppressing or pre-censoring of scholarly books--that are inimical
>> to the open exchange of ideas, the lifeblood of scholarship.
>>
>> This situation cannot go unchallenged.
>>
>> We ask that OUP withdraw its court apology, publicly state that it
>> is committed to the right of scholars to publish their work without
>> fear of suppression or censorship, and demonstrate this commitment
>> by reprinting at once Ramanujan's Collected Essays.
>>
>> If you unwilling to do these things, and thereby effectively attempt
>> to bury Ramanujan's book, we demand that you publicly relinquish all
>> rights to his work and return them to the original copyright
>> holders, so that this scholarship can be published by another press
>> that understands the importance of freedom of expression, to say
>> nothing of courage in the face of fanaticism.
>>
>> Sincerely yours,
>>
>> --
>> Paula Richman
>> William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions
>> Department of Religion
>> Rice Hall
>> 10 N. Professor St.
>> Oberlin College
>> Oberlin, OH 44074
>>
>> fax: 440-775-6910
>
Jean-Luc Chevillard
I attach to this message a scanned image
of the cover and the table of content
of the 1999 book which has been withdrawn from the market
by OUP
(I am glad to have a copy)
-- jlc (Paris)
****************************
N. Kannan
I agreed to add my name in the list of people who urge the publisher
for freedom of writing in India.
I urge all our MinTamil members to sign this petition. What you need to do is:
email your name, title, and affiliation to Andrew Ollett at this
email. <andrew...@gmail.com>
Subject: Support the continued publication of A.K. Ramanujan's book
entitled "Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of A Narrative Tradition in
South Asia"
This subject is close to Tamil Heritage Foundation as the elder
brother of A.K.R, Mr.A.K.Srinivasan is our treasurer. So let's fight
together with Jean and others for freedom of speech and writing in
India.
Kannan
> --
> "Tamil in Digital Media" group is an activity of Tamil Heritage Foundation.
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--
வெள்ளத்தால் போகாது, வெந்தணலால் வேகாது
கொள்ளத்தான் இயலாது, கொடுத்தாலும் நிறைவொழிய குறைபடாது
கள்வர்க்கோ மிக அரிது, காவலோ மிக எளிது..
Tamil Heritage Foundation - http://www.tamilheritage.org/
Nagarajan Vadivel
While I agree to add my name in the list and to send an email as advised by Kannan, I present and attach the following
with a request to check the individual copy right. My understanding is that OUP has the publishing right which is now relinquished. If you don't mind please furnish the individual copy right and the moral rights of the author for my study and understanding
Nagarajan
Innamburan Innamburan
N. Ganesan
On Nov 24, 10:08 pm, Jean-Luc Chevillard
<jeanluc.chevill...@gmail.com> wrote:
> As additional information,
> I attach to this message a scanned image
> of the cover and the table of content
> of the 1999 book which has been withdrawn from the market
> by OUP
> (I am glad to have a copy)
>
I also do, but haven't opened it for years.
Have you seen Tieken' essay that deals with AKR & Zvelebel
works which he considers as myth building? He sent me
an offprint of the paper.
N. Ganesan
Jean-Luc Chevillard
I have received it.
Did you notice that the bibliography does not contain any primary source
in Tamil?
-- jlc
On 25/11/2011 13:16, N. Ganesan wrote:
>
> On Nov 24, 10:08 pm, Jean-Luc Chevillard
> <jeanluc.chevill...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> As additional information,
>> I attach to this message a scanned image
>> of the cover and the table of content
>> of the 1999 book which has been withdrawn from the market
>> by OUP
>> (I am glad to have a copy)
>>
> I also do, but haven't opened it for years.
>
> Have you seen Tieken' essay that deals with AKR& Zvelebel
Thiruvengada Mani T.K.
--
"Tamil in Digital Media" group is an activity of Tamil Heritage Foundation. Visit our website: http://www.tamilheritage.org; you may like to visit our Muthusom Blogs at: http://www.tamilheritage.org/how2contribute.html To post to this group, send email to minT...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to minTamil-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minTamil
--
Dr.T.K.Thiruvengada Mani
Innamburan Innamburan
Ramanujan essay row: OUP denies ‘censorship'
HASAN SUROOR
‘Commercial considerations' cited for not publishing Three Hundred Ramayanas
The Oxford University Press (OUP) on Tuesday said that its decision to discontinue publishing and selling A.K. Ramanujan's essay, ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas,' was based on “commercial considerations.” It denied acting under pressure from right-wing protesters who had claimed that the essay hurt Hindu sensitivities.
Nigel Portwood, chief executive of OUP UK, also denied that it had stopped printing altogether Ramanujan's Collected Essays , in which ‘300 Ramayanas' appears, but said the book was available only in its “short-run print programme because there was not a sufficient number of back orders to justify a normal reprint.”
Reply to letter
Replying to a letter from American Indologist Sheldon Pollock and several other leading academics, including Paula Richman in whose volume the essay appears, Mr. Portwood rejected allegations of censorship. He insisted that OUP took its “role as a disseminator of the best scholarship in India” seriously.
“The two Ramanujan books at the centre of the current debate — Many Ramayanas and The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan — have not been removed from the market in India through acts of censorship. Prior to 2008, both works had been showing minimal sales triggering the decision not to reprint either title. As I am sure you appreciate, commercial considerations are one of several factors in publishing decisions.”
About the “confusion” over the availability of The Collected Essays , Mr. Portwood said the book was out of stock from 2008 but OUP continued to collect a small number of back orders on its internal systems.
“In early September 2011, we put The Collected Essays into our short-run print programme because there was not a sufficient number of back orders to justify a normal reprint, and it has been listed as available on the OUP India website ever since — some weeks before the current controversy began,” he said.
In their letter, Prof. Pollock and co-signatories had conveyed their “shock and dismay” at OUP India's action which, they said, was compounded by its abject apology in court to a group which had claimed that the essay hurt Hindu sensitivities. They urged the OUP to withdraw its court apology, publicly state that it was committed to the right of scholars to publish their work without fear of suppression or censorship, and demonstrate this commitment by reprinting Ramanujan's The Collected Essays .
OUP denies acting under pressure from right-wing protesters
“ Collected Essays available only in its short-run print programme”
Retrieved on 30 11 2011 fromhttp://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2673004.ece
Copy Right & Thanks: The Hindu
Jean-Luc Chevillard
I forwarded the information provided by you to the Liverpool Indology list
and Dominik Wujastyk, the list owner, provided some additional information:
-- jlc
****************************
SEE:
"http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1111&L=indology&D=1&O=D&F=P&P=12362"
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] OUP denies ‘censorship'
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:49:16 +0100
From: Dominik Wujastyk
To: INDOLOGY
A quick check of the OUP India website today does show that Ramanujan's
/Collected Essays/ volume is currently listed as "available for
immediate purchase". See attached image.
Dominik
--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
On 30 November 2011 09:21, Jean-Luc Chevillard wrote:
FYI
(copied from the MinTamil list)
"http://groups.google.com/__group/mintamil/browse_thread/__thread/50b6f97b6302e209
<http://groups.google.com/group/mintamil/browse_thread/thread/50b6f97b6302e209>"
******************************__************
Flash from the UK via Chennai.
--
"Tamil in Digital Media" group is an activity of Tamil Heritage Foundation. Visit our website: http://www.tamilheritage.org; you may like to visit our Muthusom Blogs at: http://www.tamilheritage.org/how2contribute.html To post to this group, send email to minT...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to minTamil-u...@googlegroups.com
N. Ganesan
wrote:
> Flash from the UK via Chennai.
> Innamburan
> 30 11 2011
>
ஐயா,
அருமையான செய்தி. நரசையா, வெ.சா. போன்றோர்
குறிப்பிடும் ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள் ஹிந்துத்துவாவுக்கு
கிடைத்த தோல்வியைக் கொண்டாடத் தருணம்.
OUP denies ‘censorship' - தலைப்பைப் பார்த்ததும்
சில வாரங்கள் 3 இடங்களில் சென்சார் செய்ய
வெகு முயற்சி எடுத்தது நினைவுக்கு
வருகிறது. அணு, அநங்க என்ற இந்தியாவில்
முக்கியத்துவம் பெற்ற வார்த்தைகள் தொல்தமிழ்
வேர் கொண்டன என்ற கருத்தாக்கம் தெரிவித்த
போது உச்சம் அடைந்தன: ”And associating அணங்கு,
a female form, with அநங்க, a male form, and claiming
the former was the mother of the latter is not less than....”
வருணனும், அதனால் பின்னால் சிவன், அனங்க < அணங்கு-தல்,
ஆண்களுக்கு இருக்கிறதே. என் செய்ய?
http://groups.google.com/group/mintamil/msg/ef7a9d87373172e1
நா. கணேசன்
> *Ramanujan essay row: OUP denies ‘censorship'*
>
> HASAN SUROOR
>
> *
> *
>
> *‘Commercial considerations' cited for not publishing Three Hundred
> Ramayanas*
>
> The Oxford University Press (OUP) on Tuesday said that its decision to
> discontinue publishing and selling A.K. Ramanujan's essay, ‘Three Hundred
> Ramayanas,' was based on “commercial considerations.” It denied acting
> under pressure from right-wing protesters who had claimed that the essay
> hurt Hindu sensitivities.
>
> Nigel Portwood, chief executive of OUP UK, also denied that it had stopped
> printing altogether Ramanujan's *Collected Essays* , in which ‘300
> Ramayanas' appears, but said the book was available only in its “short-run
> print programme because there was not a sufficient number of back orders to
> justify a normal reprint.”
>
> *Reply to letter*
>
> Replying to a letter from American Indologist Sheldon Pollock and several
> other leading academics, including Paula Richman in whose volume the essay
> appears, Mr. Portwood rejected allegations of censorship. He insisted that
> OUP took its “role as a disseminator of the best scholarship in India”
> seriously.
>
> “The two Ramanujan books at the centre of the current debate — *Many
> Ramayanas* and *The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan* — have not been
> removed from the market in India through acts of censorship. Prior to 2008,
> both works had been showing minimal sales triggering the decision not to
> reprint either title. As I am sure you appreciate, commercial
> considerations are one of several factors in publishing decisions.”
>
> About the “confusion” over the availability of *The Collected Essays* , Mr.
> Portwood said the book was out of stock from 2008 but OUP continued to
> collect a small number of back orders on its internal systems.
>
> “In early September 2011, we put *The Collected Essays* into our short-run
> print programme because there was not a sufficient number of back orders to
> justify a normal reprint, and it has been listed as available on the OUP
> India website ever since — some weeks before the current controversy
> began,” he said.
>
> In their letter, Prof. Pollock and co-signatories had conveyed their “shock
> and dismay” at OUP India's action which, they said, was compounded by its
> abject apology in court to a group which had claimed that the essay hurt
> Hindu sensitivities. They urged the OUP to withdraw its court apology,
> publicly state that it was committed to the right of scholars to publish
> their work without fear of suppression or censorship, and demonstrate this
> commitment by reprinting Ramanujan's *The Collected Essays* .
>
> *OUP denies acting under pressure from right-wing protesters*
>
> *“ Collected Essays available only in its short-run print programme”*
>
> **
>
> Retrieved on 30 11 2011 fromhttp://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2673004.ece
>
> Copy Right & Thanks: The Hindu
>
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 11:57 PM, Thiruvengada Mani T.K.
> <tktm...@gmail.com>wrote:
Innamburan Innamburan
Jean-Luc Chevillard
I think that by now you must have received (just like me and several other people on this list,
who gave their signature)
a copy of the impressive list of 453 signatures
as well as a copy of the reply sent to Nigel Portwood,
which reads:
********************************
From: Sheldon Pollock
Date: November 30, 2011 9:19:30 AM EST
To: Nigel Portwood
Cc: ......
Subject: Re: A K Ramanujan's "Three Hundred Ramayanas" and "Collected Essays"
Dear Mr. Portwood,
Thank you for your letter of November 29, 2011. Unfortunately, you have avoided the three principal issues we raised in our letter to you of November 28th: the apology Oxford University Press India issued in court; the assured availability of A. K. Ramanujan’s Collected Essays; and, failing that assurance, the release of all rights to the book, along with the release of the Indian rights to Paula Richman’s Many Ramayanas.
Oxford University Press India has besmirched Ramanujan’s reputation by apologizing in court to those who sought to ban his work. The plaintiff's attorney demanded "an unconditional written apology to the satisfaction of my client" and was satisfied by the statements issued by OUP India's attorney that we cited in our letter.
According to the reports we have received, OUP India's lawyers made it clear in court that they would not reprint the essay. Furthermore, OUP India gave an undertaking to the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor, who asked for one in view of the court case, that they would never reprint the essay. However, the lower court did not definitively establish that either “Three Hundred Ramayanas” or The Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan meets the criteria for “reasonable restrictions” on a citizen’s fundamental right to “freedom of speech and expression” (Indian Constitution, Article 19, and First and Sixteenth Amendments). OUP India therefore needs to immediately issue a full and accurate summary of the court case, its agreement with the plaintiff, and its undertaking with the previous or current administration of Delhi University.
None of OUP India’s actions mentioned above was prompted by the financial considerations you cite in your letter to us of November 29th; those considerations are in fact irrelevant to the issues we raised. Hence, we must reiterate our earlier demands.
We expect a public retraction of the apology OUP India made in court. We ask that OUP India demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression by assuring and publicly announcing the unrestricted availability of The Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan. And, if it is unwilling to offer that assurance, we demand that it relinquish all rights to Ramanujan’s book, along with the Indian rights to Richman’s Many Ramayanas, and return them to the original copyright holders, so that a consortium of other Indian presses may reprint the books, as they are prepared to do.
Sincerely yours,
Sheldon Pollock, Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Columbia University;
Vinay Dharwadker, Professor, Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and General Editor, The Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan;
Paula Richman, William H. Danforth Professor of South Asian Religions, Oberlin College, and Editor, Many Ramayanas.
********************************
Best wishes
-- Jean-Luc
--
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Narayanan Kannan
I got the following quote about Ramayana from an unusual source to
study Hinduism. Yes! an Islamic site. It says:
A. Ramayana:
According to Ramanuja, the great scholar of Ramayana, there are more
than 300 different types of Ramayana: Tulsidas Ramayana, Kumbha
Ramayana. Though the outline of Ramayana is same, the details and
contents differ.
First I thought they refer to Sri.Ramanuja Acharya. But, I think they
refer to A.K.Ramanujan :-) A.K.R is not an authority on Ramayana!
well....
http://www.irf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=145&Itemid=128
It is interesting how authors get popular in cyberspace!
Kannan
Raja sankar
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/article2574398.ece
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/us-india-religion-idUSTRE7A036C20111101
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news-topic/delhi/video-should-delhi-university-have-dropped-ak-ramanujans-essay_bMrmM-N1fRk.html
Seems that he is popular in non cyberspace too. :-)
ராஜசங்கர்