Abbe DuBois
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de)
Fri, 17 Apr 1998 22:46:51 +0200 (MET DST)
K.V.S. Ramarao gaaru wrote on 15th April 1998:
> For an authentic account of the hindu society at the turn of 18th
> century, please read "Hindu manners, customs, and ceremonies" by J.A.
> Dubois. This is a person who lived for about 20 years among the Indians
> while almost completely avoiding contact with other Europeans.
> Considered the most masterly and detailed work on the social conditions
> of South India of the time, this book clearly demonstrates that
> Tyagaraja was merely reflecting the prejudices of his times.
degressing a bit ....
DuBois' authorship of this oft-cited, well-known work is proven wrong!
I have the pleasure of corresponding with Dr. Sylvia Murr of Paris,
(here my thanks to late BanDi Gopala Reddy who was the first to bring this
news in Telugu press and made me curious to dig into this matter when
I read his article 2.5 years ago!) in her doctoral thesis traced that the
work was written by earlier French Jesuit missionaries, and DuBois ran
away with the credit of authorship.
As far DuBois' avoiding contact with Europeans are concerned the reasons are
elsewhere. Being a Jesuit, and when they were persecuted, he literally went
hiding even changing his Jesuit beliefs. More on DuBois when I find time.
BTW, its thru his work CP Brown first heard of VEmana and got interested in
(rather got deepn into) Telugu studies.
Regards, --Sreenivas
--
E-Mail: sreeni@ktp.uni-paderborn.de
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