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Biography
Vishal Agarwal (born 1970) is an American author, engineer and scholar.
His work focuses on Indian philosophy and Indian history. He also wrote for the The Wall Street Journal, Minnesota Star, Baltimore Sun, and in academic journals like the Journal of Indo-European Studies and the Journal of the Indian Archaeological Society. Vishal Agarwal's work was analyzed and criticized by Martha Nussbaum in her work "The Clash Within". Nussbaum wrote that Vishal Agarawal has written an informed attack on Paul Courtright, and that he engaged "in detail with specific passages in the book, and its tone, though influenced by Malhtora's, is more courteous". In July 2006, Vishal Agarwal received the 'Praachavidyaa-paarangata' award by the World Association of Vedic Studies.
Selected publications
- The New Stereotypes Of Hindus In Western Indology [1]
- Awakening Latent Spirituality, Nurturing Children in the Hindu Tradition. pp. 19–32 in Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality, ed. by Karen M Yust et al., Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc (Chicago); 2006
- Invading the Sacred, 2007 (Chapter 17 is a rebuttal to Courtright’s writing on Ganesha by Vishal Agrawal and Kalavai Venkat.)
- The Rgveda Samhita as Known to AV-Par. 46 (M. Witzel)- A Review, Indo-Iranian Journal vol. 25: 1983, pg. 238-239 The Rgveda Samhita as Known to AV-Par. 46 (M. Witzel)- A Review
- On Perceiving Aryan Migrations in Vedic Ritual Texts. In 'Puratattva' (Journal of the Indian Archaeological Society), vol. 36 (2005-2006), pp. 155–165
- A Reply to Michael Witzel’s ‘Ein Fremdling im Rgveda’, (2003/2005). (Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 31, No.1-2: pp. 107–185, 2003). In Puratattva, Vol. 35 (2004-2005)
- Is there Vedic Evidence for the Indo-Aryan Immigration to India? Dialogue (Journal of Astha Bharati), Vol 8, No. 1 (July- September 2006); pp. 122–145
- What is the Aryan Migration Theory; Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Summer 2005); pp. 1–46
- A case study in Eminent Historiography, In: India's Only Communalist, ed. by Koenraad Elst, Voice of India: New Delhi (2005)
- The Aryan Migration Theory: Fabricating Literary Evidence [2]
- Misrepresentation of Ancient India in American School Textbooks. History Today, Vol 7 (2006-2007); pp. 72–89
- Misrepresentation and Stereotyping of Hindu Dharma in History Textbooks in India In "History Today", vol. 5, 2004-05:61-76