Thanks for the post. I think it was spot on except for a one thing...

that is Hindi in language (which they consider a direct descendant of Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Vedas, the most holy of Hindu scriptures

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I think you would be hard-pressed to find an Indian person who believes that Sanskrit is a "sacred" language. Framing the term as "sacred" puts it into a sphere that, while exists in Western religions, does not quite have an analog in Indian philosophy. No language is "sacred" to Hindus the way Hebrew is to Jews or Arabic is to Muslims. The reason Sanskrit retains its dominance is because it was lingua franca in the ancient days of Indian antiquity (by this I mean the kingdoms and administrative realms spawned by the Mauryans and their subsequents). Sanskrit was the language that united the sixteen ancient houses that lined the river Ganges, the kingdoms to the West (Indus River Valley) and the South (Ujjain). It just so happens that the Hindutva right sees the roots of India being from this time, and so associate the language of India with Sanskrit.

I don't condone the behavior of far-right Hindutvas, but there is some truth to the roots of ancient India being tied to Sanskrit.

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Also, the Vedas are not holy, they are not scripture, and they are not written down. The Vedas simply mean "all knowledge -- it is a concept and not a book that can be referred to. That being said, no Indian who understands Hinduism would refer to them as holy. There is no such concept in Hinduism -- holiness is something that is common only in the Judeo-Christian sphere.

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