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Koenraad Elst has also written several books on the Aryan invasion debate, Ayodhya temple issue and issues related to Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. Koenraad Elst has also written several books on the Aryan invasion debate, Ayodhya temple issue and issues related to Islam, Christianity and Hinduism.


== Political views, controversies and influences == == Controversies and influences ==
In Belgium, Dr. Koenraad Elst has often been alleged to have sympathies for the extreme right.<ref>see "some more reading matter about Dr. K. Elst" by Prof. R. Zydenbos in </ref> In Belgium, Dr. Koenraad Elst is pointed out for his sympathies to the extreme right.<ref>see "some more reading matter about Dr. K. Elst" by Prof. R. Zydenbos in </ref>


On the ideological side, K. Elst's citations, referred authors and developments take place in the general framework of nationalist and reformist ideologies, which appeared in India in the late XIXth century and in the beginning of the XXth century<ref>For a description of the appearance of reformist ideologies in India see ] "Introduction To The Study Of The Hindu Doctrines", chapter "Vedanta Westernized".</ref>. On the ideological side, K. Elst's citations, referred authors and developments take place in the general framework of nationalist and reformist ideologies, which appeared in India in the late XIXth century and in the beginning of the XXth century<ref>For a description of the appearance of reformist ideologies in India see ] "Introduction To The Study Of The Hindu Doctrines", chapter "Vedanta Westernized".</ref>.

Revision as of 10:44, 31 July 2006

Biography

Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish Catholic family. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven.

During a stay at the Benaras Hindu University, he discovered India’s communal problem and wrote his first book about the budding Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of Belgian and Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about multiculturalism, language policy issues, ancient Chinese history and philosophy, comparative religion, and the Aryan invasion debate. Dr. Elst became a well-known author on Indian politics in the 1990s. He also met the Hindu writer Sita Ram Goel in India, and was influenced by his writings.

He seems not to have changed his religion, for he said: "I am neither a Hindu nor a nationalist. And I don’t need to belong to those or to any specific ideological categories in order to use my eyes and ears. (...) As I said, I am phasing out my involvement with communalism studies. The subject is really very simple, the problem as well as the solution. It isn’t all that challenging and interesting, it only seemed that way because of the artificial obstacles thrown up by the secularists." And he wrote: "However, I do readily admit to being a “fellow-traveller” of Dharmic civilization in its struggle for survival against the ongoing aggression and subversion by well-organized hostile ideologies."

Koenraad Elst has also written several books on the Aryan invasion debate, Ayodhya temple issue and issues related to Islam, Christianity and Hinduism.

Controversies and influences

In Belgium, Dr. Koenraad Elst is pointed out for his sympathies to the extreme right.

On the ideological side, K. Elst's citations, referred authors and developments take place in the general framework of nationalist and reformist ideologies, which appeared in India in the late XIXth century and in the beginning of the XXth century.

Notes

  1. see "some more reading matter about Dr. K. Elst" by Prof. R. Zydenbos in
  2. For a description of the appearance of reformist ideologies in India see René Guénon "Introduction To The Study Of The Hindu Doctrines", chapter "Vedanta Westernized".

Works

Other publications

  • Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory, In Edwin Bryant and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Routledge/Curzon. ISBN 0700714634. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  • Afterword to Daniel Pipes: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (1990), Transaction Publishers, paperback (2003) ISBN 0765809966

See also

External links

Controversies

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