Koenraad Elst
Dr. Koenraad Elst was born in
Leuven,
Belgium, on
7 August 1959, into a
Flemish Catholic family. He graduated in
Philosophy,
Chinese Studies and
Indo-Iranian Studies at the
Catholic University of Leuven.
During a stay at the
Benaras Hindu University, he discovered India's communal problem and wrote his first book about the budding
Ayodhya conflict. While establishing himself as a columnist for a number of
Belgian and
Indian papers, he frequently returned to India to study various aspects of its ethno-religio-political configuration and interview Hindu and other leaders and thinkers. His research on the ideological development of
Hindu revivalism earned him his Ph.D. in Leuven in 1998. He has also published about
multiculturalism,
language policy issues, ancient
Chinese history and
philosophy,
comparative religion, and the
Aryan invasion debate. Dr. Elst became a well-known author on Indian politics in the 1990s. He also met the Hindu writer
Sita Ram Goel in India, and was influenced by his writings.
Koenraad Elst has also written several books on the Aryan invasion debate, Ayodhya temple issue and issues related to Islam, Christianity and Hinduism.
He seems not to have changed his religion, for he said:
"I am neither a Hindu nor a nationalist. And I don't need to belong to those or to any specific ideological categories in order to use my eyes and ears. (...) As I said, I am phasing out my involvement with communalism studies. The subject is really very simple, the problem as well as the solution. It isn't all that challenging and interesting, it only seemed that way because of the artificial obstacles thrown up by the secularists." [
1] And he wrote:
"However, I do readily admit to being a "fellow-traveller" of Dharmic civilization in its struggle for survival against the ongoing aggression and subversion by well-organized hostile ideologies." [
2]
Elst is a member of the Christian-Democratic trade-union.[
3] He described himself as "a secular humanist with an active interest in religions, particularly
Taoism and
Hinduism, and keeping a close watch on the variegated
Pagan revival in Europe."[
4]
Elst has also contributed to the conservative magazine
Nucleus [
5], along with other interventions described as emanating from right-wing circles in Belgium
[See "some more reading matter about Dr. K. Elst" by Prof. R. Zydenbos in [6].]. Koenraad Elst is also a contributor to the "conservative-libertarian" internet magazine
The Brussels Journal[
7]. He also wrote a postcript to a book written by the neoconservative
Daniel Pipes ("The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West").
On the ideological side, it was claimed that K. Elst's citations, referred authors and developments take place in the general framework of nationalist and reformist ideologies, which appeared in India in the late XIXth century and in the beginning of the XXth century
[For a description of the rising of reformist ideologies in India see René Guénon "Introduction To The Study Of The Hindu Doctrines", chapter "Vedanta Westernized".].
Ayodhya, The Finale - Science versus Secularism the Excavations Debate (2003) ISBN 8185990778
Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple (2002) ISBN 81-85990-75-1
Ayodhya and After: Issues Before Hindu Society (1991) [
8]
*
BJP vis-à-vis Hindu Resurgence (1997) ISBN 81-85990-47-6
Decolonizing the Hindu Mind - Ideological Development of Hindu Revivalism Rupa, Delhi (2001) ISBN 8171675190
*
The Demographic Siege (1997) ISBN 8185990506
Dr. Ambedkar - A True Aryan (1993)
Gandhi and Godse - A review and a critique ISBN 81-85990-71-9
Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 8185990018
*
Psychology of Prophetism - A Secular Look at the Bible (1993) ISBN 81-85990-00-X
The Saffron Swastika - The Notion of Hindu Fascism. (2001) ISBN 8185990697
Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate (1999) ISBN 81-86471-77-4
Who is a Hindu? (2001) [
9] ISBN 81-85990-74-4
Other publications
*Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory, In
*Postcript to
Daniel Pipes: The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (1990), Transaction Publishers, paperback (2003) ISBN 0765809966
*India`s Only Communalist: In Commemoration of Sita Ram Goel (edited by Koenraad Elst, 2005) ISBN 8185990786
*
Sita Ram Goel*
Ram Swarup*
Francois Gautier*
Michel Danino*
Articles and Books by Dr. Elst*
Review of Koenraad Elst's Ayodhya and after*
Review of "Decolonizing the Hindu Mind*
An Interview With Koenraad ElstControversies*
Mail exchanges between K. Elst and Prof. R. Zydenbos about the '"Aryan Invasion Theory"**
A case study in AIT polemic About Robert J. Zydenbos article "An obscurantist argument"
*
Criticism and review of Elst's positions on 'revivalism'. "Koenraad Elst--Sangh Parivar's Apologist" by A. Khan**
A reply to A. Khan by K. Elst
