STATE OF EH PROJECT
Chief Editor's Report on India Trip
January - April, 2004

This is my brief assessment on the state of the EH project on the basis of what I have seen, heard and the information that I have gathered in the last two and half months. I spent more than 10 weeks in India (January 19, 2004-April 5, 2004). I returned to Columbia on April 6, 2004.

I took the opportunity to meet a number of scholars who have been involved with the EH for long, including Dr. Kireet Joshi, Dr Vidya Niwas Mishra, Prof.S.P. Singh Dr.L.M.Singhvi, Dr. Madhu Khanna, Dr. Indranath Choudary, Dr. Michelle Danino etc.in Delhi on January 23-25,04. We compared notes on the speed and progress of EH work, and the work that remains to be done.

Some of the scholars expressed problems and frustrations. It seems that the work being done under the guidance of Mr.Mahalingum is not always up to the standards we had hoped for and exected when we first engaged him. We are working with him to try and improve the situation

1) Prof. Vidya Niwas Mishra has agreed to write on "Spirit of Hinduism" as part of General Introduction. He will share responsibilities on the Project with Dr.Rao as an Editor-in-Chief. He will come and stay in Rishikesh and do this work.

2) Arrangements have been made to finalise articles in subject area 10, "Spiritual Disciplines", under the guidance of Swami Vedabharati and Anne Glazier. I have worked with them in their ashram (Sadhakaragram) for over 10 days. These article are being finalised with the help of Yoga experts and medical doctors.

3) I have talked with Dr. Subbarayappa in Bangalore; arrangements are made with him for the checking and the authentication of all articles in the subject area 08, " Religion and Science".

4) Dr. Satish Kapoor has been entrusted the task of finalising all articles in the subject area 03, "History, Geography, Fauna and Flora" and subject area 09 "Social institutions and Movements".

6) I have asked Dr. Rambachan to be responsible for the subject area 02 (Hinduism in Global Context).

7) I went to Ahmedabad, Limdi and Rajkot and met scholars in Gujarat and especially Swami Jitatmananda. Swamiji will touch up and authenticate all the articles connected with Ramakrishna Mission and the write-ups on Swamies of Ramakrishna Order. He will also write an article on Swami Ranganathananda.

8) I met Dr. Sonal Mansingh in Delhi. She will write on i) Natya (Dance) as celebration and communication of deeper values of life; ii)Odissi Dance , Evolution and Ethos; iii) Adi Sakti ( Prime ordeal power); iv)Adivasi Sanskriti (culture of the adivasis and Vanavasis). She has also asked for special and handsome payments for these articles. She said that the rate of our payments for articles is ridiculously low.

9) One of the things that I noticed in Rishikesh was the non-availability of adequate library resources to check and revise articles in matters of historical, philosophocal and socio-anthropological materials, facts and figures. I have gone and checked Paramarthniketan Library. While it is helpful in some fields, it leaves much to be desired in respect of others. We need an office in Delhi to coordinate and go through all the Indian edited articles to see if they meet international standards.

10) Pujya Swamiji appreciated this concern, and has agreed that we should have an EH Coordinating office in Delhi, with Prof. Satkari Mukhopadhyaya, as Coordinator and Manuscript Editor. We have identified a group of excellent and committed authors to work with him; they can complete the remaining work in 12 months. Prof.Lalit Lal, who is the director of Management Institute, Pujya Swamiji's disciple, prepared a budget, and that too was discussed. He will make the necessary arrangements for the office in Delhi with the necessary infrastructure for scholars to work there.

11) Dr. Mukhopadhyaya is intent on getting entries written quickly and articles collected. Scholars have been enlisted to work with Satkari Mukhopadaya i) to get unwritten articles written by competent scholars, ii) to do the final editing of all the articles and bringing them to a publishable form. iii) to keep in touch with other manuscript editors and arranging meetings with them in Rishikesh/ Delhi for mutual orientation and discussion as per the advice of the CE. Writing and editing will be done as per the guidelines prepared by Columbia, and care will be taken to prevent misuse of copyright articles. Mr Lalit Lal will help Satkarji in administration. He will also work out the financial implications of this plan.

A silver lining in the clouds: Dr. E Shrikumar of Delhi, Founder and Chairman of Sri Saktivilas Mission and Ayurvedic doctor, who is well known to Pujya Swamiji, is prepared to extend his institution's cooperation with IHFR in finalising the completion of the manuscript and the publication of the EH. He has offices in New York, Singapore, Chennai and Delhi. He showed us adequate office space in prime location in Safdarjang enclave in Delhi, where half a dozen scholars of EH could easily sit and work: it has also, necessary infrastructure: furniture, computers, telephone links, etc. After discussions with Mr. Lalit Lal and me, he drove to Rishikesh and met Pujya Swamiji on April 3, '04. I was also present at that meeting. He told that he would finance the project to finish the manuscript upto $ 250,000. This includes the expenses in Delhi, Columbia and Rishikesh offices. Prof Lalit Lal is to prepare a draft covering the terms and the conditions of this cooperation. I hope that this will be done soon so that we can complete the project as per our timeline.

Finally I wish to express my appreciation and thanks to Pujya Swamiji, Bhagwatiji, and to Mr. Hasu Shah and to all those hosts in Gujarat and Bangalore who made this trip fruitful and meaningful.