David Frawley Explained

David Frawley
Other Names:Vamadeva Shastri
Birth Place:Wisconsin, United States
Birth Date:1950 9, mf=yes
Occupation:Writer, ayurvedic practitioner, Hindu astrologer
Spouse:Shambhavi Chopra
Awards:Padma Bhushan (2015)

David Frawley (born September 21, 1950), also known as Vamadeva Shastri, is an American Hindu writer, astrologer, acharya (religious teacher), ayurvedic practitioner, and Hindutva activist.

He has written numerous books on topics spanning the Vedas, Hinduism, yoga, ayurveda and Hindu astrology.[1] His works have been popular among the general public. In 2015 he was honored by the government of India with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.[2]

A prominent ideologue of the Hindutva movement, he has also been accused of practicing historical revisionism.[3]

Early life and education

David Frawley was born to a Catholic family in Wisconsin and had nine siblings.[4] Frawley is largely an autodidact. He studied ayurveda under B. L. Vashta of Mumbai for a span of about a decade, and obtained a "Doctor of Oriental Medicine" degree via a correspondence course from the International Institute of Chinese Medicine, Santa Fe, New Mexico,[5] a school for acupuncture which closed in 2003 due to "administrative and governance irregularities" and financial problems."[6]

Frawley is the founder and the sole instructor at the American Institute of Vedic Studies at Santa Fe, New Mexico[7] [8] and is a former president of the American Council of Vedic Astrology.[9] He also previously taught Chinese herbal medicine and western herbology.[10]

Views and reception

Views

Frawley rejects the Indo-Aryan migration theory in favor of the Indigenous Aryans theory, accusing his opponents of having a “European missionary bias”.[11] [12] In the book In Search of the Cradle of Civilization (1995), Frawley along with Georg Feuerstein and Subhash Kak has rejected the widely supported Indo-Aryan migration, rhetorically calling it the Aryan Invasion Theory, an outdated and inaccurate term, and supported the Indigenous Aryans theory. Frawley also criticizes the 19th-century racial interpretations of Indian prehistory, and went on to reject the theory of a conflict between invading caucasoid Aryans and Dravidians.[13]

In the sphere of market-economics, Frawley opposes socialism, stating that such policies have reduced citizens to beggars.[14] He is a practitioner of Ayurveda,[15] and recommends the practice of ascetic rituals along with moral purification as indispensable parts of the Advaita tradition.[16]

Reception

Popular reception

While being rejected by academia, he has been successful in the popular market; according to Bryant, his works are clearly directed and articulated at such audiences.[17] He's been a prominent voice in the introduction of Ayurvedic medicine and Vedic astrology among a western, nonmedical trained audience.[5] [18] [19] [20] According to Edwin Bryant, he is "well-received" by "the Indian community," noting that a Westerner rejecting the Aryan Migration Theory has an obvious appeal in India and Frawley (along with Koenraad Elst) fits in it, perfectly.[21] Frawley commands a significant following on Twitter, as well.

Academia

Hindutva

He has been described as a prominent figure of the Hindutva movement[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] and numerous scholars have also described him as a Hindutva ideologue and apologist.[27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] He has been widely described as practicing historical revisionism.[3] Martha Nussbaum and others consider him to be the most determined opponent to the theory of Indo-Aryan migrations.[34] [35]

Meera Nanda asserts Frawley to be a member of the Hindu far right, who decries Islam and Christianity as religions for the lower intellects[36] and whose works feature a Hindu Supremacist spin.[37] [38] Sudeshna Guha of Cambridge University notes him to be a sectarian non-scholar and as a proponent of a broader scheme for establishing a nationalist history.[39] Irfan Habib rejected considering Frawley as a scholar, and instead, noted him to be a Hindutva pamphleteer, who "telescoped the past to serve the present" and was not minimally suitable of being defined as a scholar, of any kind.[40] Bryant notes him to be an unambiguously pro-Hindu scholar. Peter Heehs deems of him to be part of a group of reactionary orientalists, who professed an avid dislike for the Oriental-Marxist school of historiography and hence, chose to rewrite the history of India but without any training in relevant disciplines; he also accused Frawley of misappropriating Aurobindo's nuanced stance on the Indigenous Aryans hypothesis.[41]

Bruce Lincoln attributes Frawley's ideas to "parochial nationalism", terming them "exercises in scholarship (= myth + footnotes)", where archaeological data spanning several millennia is selectively invoked, with no textual sources to control the inquiry, in support of the theorists' desired narrative.[42] His proposed equivalence of Ayurveda with vedic healing traditions has been rejected by Indologists and David Hardiman considers Frawley's assertion to be part of a wider Hindu-nationalist quest.[43] Joseph Alter notes that his writings 'play into the politics of nationalism' and remarks of them to be controversial from an academic locus.[44]

Book reviews

In a review of Hymns from the Golden Age: Selected Hymns from the Rig Veda with Yogic Interpretation for the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Richard G. Salomon criticized Frawley's "fanciful" approach to stand in complete contrast to the available linguistic and scholarly evidence, and perpetuated Vedic myths in what seemed to be a bid to attract readers for the recreation of the ancient spiritual kingdom of the Aryans.[45]

A review by M. K. Dhavalikar in Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute called In Search of the Cradle of Civilization a "beautifully printed" contribution that made a strong case for their indigenous theory against the supposed migratory hypotheses but chose to remain silent on certain crucial aspects which need to be convincingly explained.[46]

Notes and References

  1. News: David Frawley is the American hippy who became RSS's favourite western intellectual . ThePrint . 17 November 2018.
  2. News: The unusual story of David Frawley aka Vamadeva Sastri . Deccan Herald . 28 October 2018 . en.
  3. Shrimali. Krishna Mohan. July 2007. Writing India's Ancient Past. Indian Historical Review. 34. 2. 171–188. 10.1177/037698360703400209. 0376-9836. 140268498.
  4. Web site: David Frawley is the American hippy who became RSS's favourite western intellectual. Bamzai. Kaveree. 2018-11-17. ThePrint. en-US. 2019-11-22.
  5. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC. Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms. Wujastyk. Dagmar. Smith. Frederick M.. 2013-09-09. SUNY Press. 978-0-7914-7816-5. 18–20. en. Introduction.
  6. Acupuncture Today – October, 2003, Vol. 04, Issue 10, International Institute of Chinese Medicine Closes
  7. Book: Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. 2001-09-06. Oxford University Press, USA. 9780195137774. 347.
  8. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC. Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms. Wujastyk. Dagmar. Smith. Frederick M.. 2013-09-09. SUNY Press. 978-0-7914-7816-5. 133. en. An Overview of the Education and Practice of Global Ayurveda.
  9. Searle-Chatterjee. Mary. January 2000. 'World religions' and 'ethnic groups': do these paradigms lend themselves to the cause of Hindu nationalism?. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 23. 3. 497–515. 10.1080/014198700328962. 145681756. 0141-9870.
  10. Book: Michael Tierra. Planetary Herbology. Lotus Press. 1988. 978-0941524278. David Frawley. registration.
  11. Ramaswamy. Sumathi. June 2001. Remains of the race: Archaeology, nationalism, and the yearning for civilisation in the Indus valley. The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 38. 2. 105–145. 10.1177/001946460103800201. 145756604. 0019-4646.
  12. Book: Benedict M. Ashley, O. P.. https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/1991533. Way Toward Wisdom, The: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics. 2006. University of Notre Dame Press. 9780268074692. 460. en. Notes.
  13. Arvidsson 2006:298 Arvidsson, Stefan (2006), Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science, translated by Sonia Wichmann, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  14. Book: Pathak, Pathik. The Future of Multicultural Britain: Confronting the Progressive Dilemma. Edinburgh University Press. 2008. 9780748635443. 73–74, 80. Saffron Semantics: The Struggle to Define Hindu Nationalism. 10.3366/j.ctt1r27ks. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/future-of-multicultural-britain/saffron-semantics-the-struggle-to-define-hindu-nationalism/E60A127EE4A481F142D38D34B1A8FBA8.
  15. Warrier. Maya. March 2011. Modern Ayurveda in Transnational Context: Modern Ayurveda in Transnational Context. Religion Compass. 5. 3. 80–93. 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00264.x.
  16. Lucas. Phillip Charles. 2014. Non-Traditional Modern Advaita Gurus in the West and Their Traditional Modern Advaita Critics. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 17. 3. 6–37. 10.1525/nr.2014.17.3.6. 1092-6690. 10.1525/nr.2014.17.3.6.
  17. Book: Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate.. 2001-09-06. Oxford University Press. 9780195169478. 291. 697790495.
  18. Web site: Yoga Journal. 28 August 2007. 12 April 2013. Yoga Journal.
  19. Book: Philip Goldberg. American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. Harmony Books. 2010. 978-0-385-52134-5. 222–224. registration.
  20. News: Anand. Shilpa Nair. Feb 28, 2014. An Enlightened Path. The Hindu.
  21. Book: Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. 2001-09-06. Oxford University Press, USA. 9780195137774. 292.
  22. Book: Gilmartin. David. Beyond Turk and Hindu: rethinking religious identities in Islamicate South Asia. Lawrence. Bruce B. 2002. India Research Press. 9788187943341. New Delhi. en. 52254519.
  23. Lal. Vinay. 1999. The Politics of History on the Internet: Cyber-Diasporic Hinduism and the North American Hindu Diaspora. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies. 8. 2. 137–172. 10.1353/dsp.1999.0000. 1911-1568. 144343833.
  24. Tripathi. Salil. October 2002. The End of Secularism. Index on Censorship. 31. 4. 160–166. 10.1080/03064220208537150. 0306-4220. 146826096.
  25. Chaudhuri. Arun. June 2018. India, America, and the Nationalist Apocalyptic. CrossCurrents. 68. 2. 216–236. 10.1111/cros.12309. 171592481. 0011-1953.
  26. Book: Lal, Vinay. Asian America.Net : Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace. Routledge. 2003. 9780203957349. Lee. Rachel C.. New York. North American Hindus, the Sense of History, and the Politics of Internet Diasporism. Wong. Sau-ling Cynthia. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203957349.
  27. Mukta. Parita. 2000-01-01. The public face of Hindu nationalism. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 23. 3. 442–466. 10.1080/014198700328944. 0141-9870. 144284403.
  28. Book: Koertge.. Scientific Values and Civic Virtues.. 2005-08-04. Oxford University Press. 0195172256. 474649157.
  29. Book: Pathak, Pathik. The Future of Multicultural Britain: Confronting the Progressive Dilemma. 2012. Cambridge University Press. 9780748635467. Cambridge. en. 889952434.
  30. Book: Kuruvachira, Jose. Hindu Nationalists of Modern India: A Critical Study of the Intellectual Genealogy of Hindutva. 2006. Rawat Publications. 9788170339953.
  31. Bhatt. Chetan. 2000-01-01. Dharmo rakshati rakshitah : Hindutva movements in the UK. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 23. 3. 559–593. 10.1080/014198700328999. 0141-9870. 144085595.
  32. Chadha. Ashish. February 2011. Conjuring a river, imagining civilisation. Contributions to Indian Sociology. 45. 1. 55–83. 10.1177/006996671004500103. 0069-9667. 144701033.
  33. Book: Back. Les. Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader. Solomos. John. Solomos. Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science John. 2000. Psychology Press. 9780415156714.
  34. Book: Nussbaum, Martha Craven. The Clash Within : Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future.. Harvard University Press. 2008. 9780674030596. 369. 1006798430.
  35. Dhavalikar. M. K.. 1997. Review of THE MYTH OF INDIA; ARYAN INVASION OF INDIA: THE MYTH AND THE TRUTH. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 78. 1/4. 343–344. 0378-1143. 41694966.
  36. NANDA. MEERA. 2011. Ideological Convergences: Hindutva and the Norway Massacre. Economic and Political Weekly. 46. 53. 61–68. 0012-9976. 23065638.
  37. Nanda. Meera. 2009. Hindu Triumphalism and the Clash of Civilisations. Economic and Political Weekly. 44. 28. 106–114. 0012-9976. 40279263.
  38. Book: Nanda, Meera. The god market : how globalization is making India more Hindu. 2011. Monthly Review Press. 9781583672501. 162. 731901376.
  39. Guha. Sudeshna. 2005. Negotiating Evidence: History, Archaeology and the Indus Civilisation. Modern Asian Studies. 39. 2. 399–426. 10.1017/S0026749X04001611. 0026-749X. 3876625. 145463239.
  40. News: Why Hindutva's foreign-born cheerleaders are so popular - Times of India. 2019-05-31. The Times of India. 11 April 2017 .
  41. Heehs. Peter. May 2003. Shades of Orientalism: Paradoxes and Problems in Indian Historiography. History and Theory. 42. 2. 169–195. 10.1111/1468-2303.00238. 0018-2656.
  42. Book: Bruce Lincoln. Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship. University of Chicago Press. 1999. 978-0-226-48201-9. 215. limited.
  43. Hardiman. David. 2009. Indian Medical Indigeneity: From Nationalist Assertion to the Global Market. Social History. 34. 3. 263–283. 10.1080/03071020902975131. 0307-1022. 25594366. 144288544.
  44. Book: Alter, Joseph S.. Asian Medicine and Globalization. 2011. University of Pennsylvania Press. 9780812205251. 156. en. Notes. https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/795513.
  45. Salomon. Richard. 1989. Review of Hymns from the Golden Age: Selected Hymns from the Rig Veda with Yogic Interpretation; Pinnacles of India's Past: Selections from the Rgveda. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 109. 3. 456–457. 10.2307/604160. 0003-0279. 604160.
  46. Book: Kurien, Prema A.. A place at the multicultural table the development of an American Hinduism. 2007. Rutgers University Press. 9780813540559. 242. 703221465. limited.
  47. Habib. Irfan. 2001. Imaging River Sarasvati: A Defence of Commonsense. Social Scientist. 29. 1/2. 46–74. 10.2307/3518272. 0970-0293. 3518272.
  48. Web site: Suresh Prabhu gets SIES award for national eminence. Economic Times. 27 Dec 2015.
  49. Web site: Padma Awards 2015. Press Information Bureau. https://web.archive.org/web/20150128022143/http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=114952. 28 January 2015. dead. 25 January 2015.
  50. Book: Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga. Wiley. 2005. 978-0471736271. 200. Deepak Chopra . David Simon.
  51. Book: Shiva, the Lord of Yoga. Lotus Press. 2015. 978-0-9406-7629-9. 283. David Frawley.
  52. M. K. Dhavalikar. Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar. 1996. Untitled [review of In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India, by Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak, & David Frawley]|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|publisher=Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=77|issue=1/4|pages=326–327|issn=0378-1143|jstor=41702199}} Prema Kurien noted that the book sought to distinguish expatriate Hindu Americans from other minority groups by demonstrating their superior racial and cultural ties with the Europeans.[46]

    Dhavalikar also reviewed The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India and found it to be unsupported by archaeological evidence. Irfan Habib criticized Frawley's invoking the Sarasvati River in the book as an assault against common sense.[47]

    Honors and influences

    In 2015, the South Indian Education Society (SIES) in Mumbai, India, an affiliate of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, conferred upon him their special "National Eminence Award" as an “international expert in the fields of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedic Astrology.”[48] On 26 January 2015, the Indian Government honored Frawley with the Padma Bhushan award.[49]

    Referring to his book Yoga and Ayurveda, Frawley is mentioned as one of the main yoga teachers of Deepak Chopra and David Simon in their book, the Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga (2005).[50] In 2015, Chopra said of Frawley's book, Shiva, the Lord of Yoga, "Vamadeva Shastri has been a spiritual guide and mentor of mine for several decades. For anyone who is serious about the journey to higher divine consciousness, this book is yet another jewel from him."[51]

    Selected publications

    Hinduism and Indology

    1. Hymns from the Golden Age: Selected Hymns from the Rig Veda With Yogic Interpretation. Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 1986. .
    2. Wisdom of the Ancient Seers: Mantras of the Rig Veda. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (Pvt. Ltd), 1999. .
    3. Arise Arjuna: Hinduism Resurgent in a New Century. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018. .
    4. Awaken Bharata: A Call for India’s Rebirth. Bloomsbury India, 2018. .
    5. What Is Hinduism?. Bloomsbury India, 2018. .

    Yoga, Vedanta and Ayurveda

    1. Ayurvedic Healing. Passage Press, 1989. .
    2. Ayurveda and the Mind: The Healing of Consciousness. Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 2005. .

    Co-authored

    1. The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine. Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 2004. .

    See also

    External links

    .

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