Michel Danino
Encyclopedia
Michel Danino is a French
‐born Indian
author who has been living in Tamil Nadu
, India
since 1977.
He participated in the translation and publication of the works of Sri Aurobindo
and of The Mother
. Danino also edited India's Rebirth (a selection from Sri Aurobindo's works about India, first published in 1993, translated into nine Indian languages) and India the Mother. He engaged himself also for the preservation of tropical rainforest in the Nilgiri Hills. In 2001, he convened the International Forum for India's Heritage (IFIH), having over 160 eminent founder members, with the mission of promoting the essential values of India's heritage in every field of life.
In The Invasion that Never Was (2000), he has criticized the "Aryan invasion theory
" and its proponents, instead opting for the notion of "Indigenous Aryans
". Danino asserts that Aryans are indigenous to India.
(France) into a Jew
ish family, which had emigrated from Morocco
. He was attracted to India from an early age. Yogi
s of India, Sri Aurobindo
and The Mother
particularly attracted him. In 1977, dissatisfied after four years of higher scientific
studies, he left France for India, where he has since been living.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
‐born Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
author who has been living in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
since 1977.
He participated in the translation and publication of the works of Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
and of The Mother
Mirra Alfassa
-Early life:Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of a Turkish Jewish father, Maurice, and an Egyptian Jewish mother, Mathilde. She had an elder brother named Matteo. The family migrated to France the year before she was born. For the first eight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevard...
. Danino also edited India's Rebirth (a selection from Sri Aurobindo's works about India, first published in 1993, translated into nine Indian languages) and India the Mother. He engaged himself also for the preservation of tropical rainforest in the Nilgiri Hills. In 2001, he convened the International Forum for India's Heritage (IFIH), having over 160 eminent founder members, with the mission of promoting the essential values of India's heritage in every field of life.
In The Invasion that Never Was (2000), he has criticized the "Aryan invasion theory
Aryan invasion theory
The term Aryan invasion theory may refer to*migrational scenarios of prehistorical Indo-Aryan migrations*in 19th and early 20th century racialism:** Historical definitions of races in India** Aryan race*in late 20th century:**Out of India theory...
" and its proponents, instead opting for the notion of "Indigenous Aryans
Indigenous Aryans
The notion of Indigenous Aryans posits that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are "indigenous" to the Indian subcontinent.The "Indigenous Aryans" position may entail an Indian origin of Indo-European languages, and in recent years, the concept has been increasingly conflated with an "Out of India"...
". Danino asserts that Aryans are indigenous to India.
Birth and Early life
Danino was born in 1956 at HonfleurHonfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...
(France) into a Jew
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish family, which had emigrated from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. He was attracted to India from an early age. Yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
s of India, Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
and The Mother
Mirra Alfassa
-Early life:Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of a Turkish Jewish father, Maurice, and an Egyptian Jewish mother, Mathilde. She had an elder brother named Matteo. The family migrated to France the year before she was born. For the first eight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevard...
particularly attracted him. In 1977, dissatisfied after four years of higher scientific
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
studies, he left France for India, where he has since been living.
Works
- Sri Aurobindo and Indian Civilization (1999)
- The Invasion that Never Was (2000)
- The Indian Mind Then and Now (2000)
- Is Indian Culture Obsolete? (2000)
- Kali Yuga or the Age of Confusion (2001)
- L'Inde et l'invasion de nulle part - Le dernier repaire du mythe aryen (2006) Les Belles Lettres. ISBN 2-251-72010-3
- The Lost River - On the trail of the Sarasvati (2010). ISBN 9780143068648.
See also
- David FrawleyDavid FrawleyDavid Frawley is an American Hindu author, publishing on topics such as Hinduism, Yoga and Ayurveda. He is the founder and director of the American Institute for Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which offers courses on Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and Hindu astrology...
- Koenraad ElstKoenraad ElstKoenraad Elst is a Belgian writer and orientalist .He was an editor of the New Right Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992 to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservative and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, t Pallieterke,...
- Francois GautierFrançois GautierFrançois Gautier, born 1959 in Paris, is a writer and journalist based in India. He came to India at the age of 19 and spent his first eight years in the "international city" of Auroville India at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. He has been living in India since the 70's and is married to...
- Alain DanielouAlain DaniélouAlain Daniélou was a French historian, intellectual, musicologist, Indologist, and a noted Western convert to and expert on Shaivite Hinduism.-Life:...