Manuscript Reading Workshop of Western Scholars
Somerset, New Jersey
August 6-12, 2005

The EH "Manuscript Reading Workshop" organized in Somerset, New Jersey was in response to the requests of the scholars of Hinduism in the West (both North American and Indian-American). The objective of the workshop was to make sure that the EH articles are objectively valid, methodologically sound, linguistically lucid and fresh, and meaningful and easily understandable to the Western reader.

Participant scholars were given an orientation by Dr.Rao in the procedures of EH manuscript reading and the necessary steps to be taken in this direction. The purpose was: to check the articles for consistency in matters of style, spelling, idiomatic usage of language, etc; to remove distortions and wrong interpretations of Hindu concepts and practices; to present objectively and constructively sociological, historical, chronological and gender related matters; and to make sure that translations of terms of Sanskrit and regional languages are given for easy reading.

Seventeen distinguished scholars of Hinduism participated in the conference (listed at the end of this report). They worked in the meeting hall (third floor) of the Clarion Suites. All of them stayed in the same motel. Boarding, lodging and transportation to and from the airport were all most graciously and efficiently taken care of by Sri Chandubhai Patel and Sri Jyotindrabhai Patel, Harshadbhai, Manharbhai and Hasubai.

Most of the scholars worked week-long; some could make it for three or four days only. Each scholar read and worked daily on the articles (in his/her area of specialization as well as on some general articles) from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and again from 3:00pm to 7:00pm. In all, they went through 1500 articles.

Bhagwatiji made printouts of the articles available for those who worked on hard copies. Those who had brought their own laptops worked on their computers with the articles emailed to them. A staff of volunteer computer operators entered the changes from the hard copies made by the scholars. Srimati Saroj Patel headed up the computer team which included Vaishali Patel, Vrinda Patel, Vijaya Patel and Arati Shah. These ladies worked long hours late into the night to put all the changes onto the computer, they are to be thanked immensely.

The manuscript reading of 1500 articles covered in the New Jersey workshop consisted of: i) articles read in Chennai, ii) articles read in Rishikesh, and iii) articles that were not read in either of the previous workshops. They included long substantive articles as well as short descriptive category articles.

Many articles were signed off by the scholars; some others were marginally touched up and then signed off. Some articles had to be revised and a few were rejected. Scholars agreed to take those articles with them that were to be revised or re-written. Deadlines, by which time the revised or re-written articles must be returned, were agreed to. Bhagwatiji will prepare and share with us all the statistics on the number of articles in each of these categories.

There was a question-answer session on the last day, which was moderated by Pujya Swamiji. He expressed his appreciation to the participant scholars for their time and commitment. He mentioned two guiding principles for their work: i) quality and ii) speed. Between the two principles, quality is the most important and speed can be adjusted slightly, although there is a demand from all the supporters of the project that EH should be published soon.

I shall mention here a few of the important comments made by participants: H.H. Bodhinath Veylan Swami pointed out the serious need to correct the widely prevalent distortions and misinformation in Western societies regarding Hinduism. He suggested that the EH should present to the public a clear over-all picture of the tradition. Professors Venkatacharya, V.V. Raman, Bhishan Agnihotri, Sundararajan, etc. said that most of the articles they read were ready for the press, but the manuscript as a whole is still to be worked on. Even if a small number of articles are not up to the standard, they will adversely affect the name of the whole project. Hal French states, "While many articles are substantially solid, stylistic matters required considerable attention". He also said that Western scholars should review the remaining articles. Subhash Kak wanted that the EH should present the integrity of the Hindu tradition as a whole, and that aesthetic integrity of each article is to be ensured. V.V.Raman said that each article should be checked for logical, coherent, and systematic presentation. Dr.Rama Rao Pappu suggested that special teams of scholars in each subject area should validate all the articles in their respective subject areas. Kusumita Pederson suggested that steps should be taken for the general evaluation of quality of the EH. It was suggested that an Arts Committee should approve the selected illustrations for their quality and the matching of each one of them with the appropriate article(s). Scholars at the conference wanted to check the glossary and index lists, but they were not available; but it was suggested that this should be done before the manuscript goes to the press.

One of the important outcomes of the workshop has been the spirit of dedication and commitment it has fostered among scholars to do whatever is needed to produce a qualitatively excellent EH for the present and future generations of students members of the Hindu and the world community.

The Chief Editor expresses deep appreciation and thanks to the Chairman, President, managing Editor and members of the Board of Trustees of IHRF. He extends grateful appreciation to the following scholars who participated in this conference.