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April 10, 2026
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"There are, as yet, no convincing reports of horse remains from archaeological sites in South Asia before the end of the second millennium BC. Many claims have been made but few have been documented with sufficient measurements, drawings, and photographs to permit other analysts to judge for themselves."
"The destruction of the Indus cities by invading tribes of Aryans... has long since been discounted by serious scholars."
"This picture represents one man’s view of the past informed by 23 years of archaeological and ethnographic research in Pakistan and India and by 18 years of growing up in India. But the paints, often applied with a broad brush necessarily in an impressionist manner, are tempered by Western academic skepticism. Thus we do not see those wild flights of fancy or long leaps of faith that characterize some literature of the region. What flights and leaps are there do not require a suspension of disbelief to entertain."
"Referring to a discussion that Meadow and Patel had with Bökönyi before the latter’s death, they write (1997: 308): “We went through each point that we had raised and in some cases agreed to disagree. He (i.e. Bökönyi) remained firmly convinced that there are the bones of true horse (Equus Caballus) in the Surkotada collection, and we remain skeptical.”"
"“… in the end that [Bökönyi’s identification of horse remains at Surkotada] may be a matter of emphasis and opinion.”"
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.