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April 10, 2026
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"Manfred Bietak pointed out other dangers in dendrochronological dating. It is ‘methodologically wrong to compare different varieties of wood originating from different regions…The ecosystem could be…different. Also different kinds of trees react to climate in different ways. The juniper is from central Anatolia…Far away from one housing cedar…likely to be from a region near the seashore…[thus] we are forced to use the artefacts from the ship as a way of dating.’"
"Manfred Bietack also reminded us, ‘It is a great illusion to believe that sciences are more reliable, at least just now, in obtaining absolute dates especially when the data available is so limited…even more by the subjective selection process of the author’s…Radiocarbon years do not correspond to calendar years due to unsteady cosmic radiation and uneven absorption of carbon 14,’ which is ‘explored by calibration…by taking a series of well dated trees…subjecting to measurements…[which] involves a lot of interpretation’ and ‘which can also vary between different laboratory conditions…fragments of wood are likely to be old and re-used when deposited…contamination and pre-treatment in laboratories can be looked on as yet another complication which has not been sufficiently resolved.’"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.