Work done to date:

• Identification of entries to be included in the EH and assignment of the same to qualified authors for writing of articles;
• Preparation of comprehensive draft Master List;
• Classification of the panorama of Hinduism into 12 subject areas and 21 sub-areas;
• Guidelines to authors and editors prepared and distributed to responsible parties;
• A working data base system developed and maintained to track the progress of entries written, edited, etc.
• Writing of Scope notes for most entries; allotment of words as per the significance of each entry;
• Active offices set up in Bangalore, Delhi, Madras, Rishikesh, etc.
• Selection of scholars; assignment of entries; preparation of contracts.
• Statistics of articles assigned, written, reviewed and edited (attached).

BLAD articles prepared:

Work Being Done (in India)

1. Assignment and collection of articles
2. Two rounds of editing: Regional and National: includes retouching, revising, recasting, rewriting, or rejecting. Correcting the commissions and omissions of the authors. Visualizing title, text, overview, paragraph, subheading, etc. using simple language; avoiding compound sentences. Hindu ethos and spirit should not be missed.
3. Ensuring balance in regional and linguistic coverage; covering oral traditions and removing gaps. Fine-tuning of master list of entries.
4. Checking bibliographies
5. Copy-editing: Encyclopedia writing is different from writing articles for scholarly journals or dissertation writing. Ensure clarity, brevity, authenticity and lucidity. Uniform spelling and diacritical marks to be followed. Remove too many adjectives. Word and meaning should go together.
6. Setting up of review workshops

Illustrative Materials:

1. Selection of appropriate artistic pictures to illustrate significant aspects of Hindu life and culture. This part of the project work is to be expedited: recently, Mr. P. Lahiri was in Columbia, and has carried a letter from the Chief Editor to be delivered to the appropriate authority in the department of Tourism.
2. We need photos of festivals, rituals, ceremonies, temples, icons dress, ornaments, etc. Photos should be genuine and quality should be excellent.
3. Sources that may be tapped for collection:
1. Tanjore Art Gallery (for South Indian bronzes).
2. Art Gallery in Madras Museum
3. French Institute, Pondichery (Photos of Temples)
4. Film Division, Government of India, Icons, Manuscripts
5. Department of Tourism, Government of India and State governments.
6. Indira Gandhi Center for Arts
7. Indian Airlines (Swagat has excellent photos)
8. Bharat Kala Bhawan
9. Prince of Wales Museum
10. Central and State Archaeological Departments.

Final Editing in Columbia:

1. Seeing the thousands of articles of the manuscript together,
2. Addressing the issues of repetitions and inter-linkages.
3. Ensuring methodological pluralism in the collection and examination of data;
4. Re-examination of certain chronological assumptions; e.g. Dates of Rgveda; colonial view of history; e.g. Aryan migration; foreign invasions; cyclical and linier views of history.
5. Misrepresentations and disinformations to be corrected; Hindu concepts explained clearly.
6. Hindu attitude to life and culture to be brought to the surface. Looking through windows misses the vastness of sight; EH will keep the vastness and wholeness in its perspective.
7. Cross references and Index.
8. Matching photos/sketches to the articles; press cannot do the matching.
9. Copy Editing by native speakers of English to ensure the general public can easily understand each of the articles.

Resources Needed:

In order to accomplish the vast amount of work necessary for the successful completion of this massive EH Project, a large number of competent editorial personnel; proofreaders; computer feeders will be needed.

Chief Editor's Responsibilities:

1. Checking select articles to see if they represent the spirit of Hinduism; checking if the guidelines and polices laid down by the Board of Editors are followed.
2. Providing feedback to authors on articles that need revision and fine-tuning.
3. Sorting out chronological issues;
4. Checking appropriate use of historical socio-anthropological, psychoanalytic, and other methods in the study of the data.
5. Resolving the questions of tradition and modernity.
6. Checking selected substance and copy edited articles.
7. Correspondence with authors, and editors; giving input to Bangalore; Madras, Delhi and Rishikesh Offices
8. Resolving academic problems presented by Dr. Sundararajan and Dr. Ratna Lahiri.
9. Resolving interpersonal relations between scholars and between administrations and scholars

Some Problems to be resolved

Other problems also must be addressed. Western Orientalist interpretation of Hinduism takes an evolutionary view of progress based on Darwin's theory. They assume that what comes later is better; what is earlier is primitive. Because of this perspective, they think that Rgveda represents primitive religion. But they are stumped when they see in it very highly developed ideas are practices. Their theories fail and then; they say that the Vedic religion is inconsistent. That Satyuga or golden age is in the past, and that we are going through Kali age, in which righteousness or dharma have greatly declined, and that after Kaliyuga, the satyuga will once again come is difficult for them to digest. Cyclical view of history is difficult for the West; but it has to be explained.

Many EH articles present just such perplexing dilemmas which must be resolved in the final editing of the manuscript before it can go to publication. It is this great complexity of the work of the EH project that we need to bring home to our supporters around the world. If the work is to be done in an excellent manner with quality and substance, it will require sufficient time and resources. It cannot be done in a hasty or careless way or the results will only bring disrepute to the name of Hinduism in the world. Let us commit ourselves anew to the work of the EH project, for bringing it to a successful conclusion in the new millennium.

Thanks