S Bhowmick

July 2016

Welcome to Wikipedia and thank you for your contributions. I am glad to see that you are discussing a topic. However, as a general rule, talk pages such as Talk:Indian giver are for discussion related to improving the article, not general discussion about the topic or unrelated topics. If you have specific questions about certain topics, consider visiting our reference desk and asking them there instead of on article talk pages. The article does not refer to Native Americans as Indians. It simply discusses the phrase "Indian giver", so your comments are not appropriate for this article's talk page. Meters (talk) 00:37, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

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Native Americans are not Indians. One of the unfathomable aspects of history as seen today is not why Columbus mistook America for India but why we continue to use the wrong name for America before the Europeans arrived, and for the natives of the place. India is not only half a world away but an ancient land now being talked of having an 8000-year civilisation through submerged townships discovered off its west coast (references exist). Indians are from that land nestled between the Arabian Sea and the Indian ocean and by the shadow of the Himalayan mountains. Non-westernised Indians, ie, the majority of Indians, don't even notice that native Americans are called 'Indians' by the west and when those that don't know hear that, they are bemused - as they should be.

An example of how it creates confusion is the use of the term 'Indian giver'. In the classical Indian culture gifts have a divinity about them and there is no thought/question/expectation of return let alone taking them back as is misunderstood even when people talk of the native Americans in this context. Indian mythology is replete with boons given as gifts by the gods and the sages. These concepts don't enter the discourse of giving in the American context. So, for the sake of better understanding, let us stop referring to older/native inhabitants of America as Indians. Indians come from India and not from America. This is a small example that history teaching needs to be corrected and we can start with the apolitical.