David Frawley: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''David Frawley''' (or ''Vāmadeva Śāstrī'' वामदेव शास्त्री) is an author on [[Hinduism]], [[Yoga]] and [[Ayurveda]], founder and director of the "American Institute for Vedic Studies" in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], [[New Mexico]]. Through thehis institute, he offers courses on Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and [[Hindu astrology]].

==Biography==

Frawley was born 1950 into a [[Catholic]] family in [[La Crosse, Wisconsin]], [[United States]]. He was the second of ten children: the first and he and another were boys, the rest girls. He attended a Catholic [[school]] until he was about ten years old. After that he and his family moved to [[Denver, Colorado]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}}

In 2000, he published ahis memoirmemoirs, ''How I Became a Hindu'', in which he details his own spiritual journey from his earlier Catholic upbringing to finally embracing Hinduism as his religion.

==Notable works==

In books like ''"The Mythmyth of the Aryan Invasion of India''", Frawleyhe criticizescriticized obsolete 19th century [[Racial groups in India (historical definitions)|racial interpretations of Indian prehistory]], such as the theory of a conflict between invading [[Aryan race|caucasoid Aryans]] and Dravidians.<ref>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.</ref> InWith histhe book '''In Search of the Cradle of Civilization''', Frawley attacks such historical scenarios of "[[Aryan Invasion Theory|Aryan Invasion]]", stating:

:"There is no racial evidence of any such Indo-Aryan invasion of India but only of a continuity of the same group of people who traditionally considered themselves to be Aryans."<ref>Frawley, David. http://www.stephen-knapp.com/solid_evidence_debunking_aryan_invasion.htm </ref>

==Criticism==

An editorial by [[Michael E. J. Witzel]], a professor of Sanskrit at Harvard, is critical of David Frawley on account of Frawley's weak knowledge of Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite web

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| accessdate = 2007-05-29 }}</ref>

[[Martha Nussbaum]], an [[Persecution of Hindus|anti-Hindu]] academic<ref>http://www.newstodaynet.com/2007sud/jul07/190707.htm</ref>, notes that:

{{quote|"Even David Frawley, the most determined opponent of the "Aryan Migration" theory, does not contest the linguists' most basic claims."<ref>Nussbaum, p. 369, note 8.</ref>}}