PLAINTIFF HAS A LEGITIMATE CASE AGAINST WENDY AND PENGUIN GROUP - READ FOR YOURSELF IF IN DOUBT, IT IS NOT ABOUT WNDY'S ACADEMIC FREEDOM BUT ACADEMIC FRAUD, RACISM, AND SPREADING HINDU-PHOBIA CREATING DISHARMONY IN A PEACEFUL COUNTRY.

Wendy porno trial. Sections of IPC and excerpts from complaint in Court

Background

( Courtesy: Kalyan07, spelling errors and grammar not corrected )

Indian Penal Code is the criminal code of India. which was Act 45 of 1860 and came into force in 1862 during the British Raj. Most of the sections have virtually remained intact and some have been amended and some commented on by various Law Commissions of Independent India. No concerted effort has been made in Swarajya India to review the contents of the Sections in the context of a uniform code and for consistency with traditions of various communities, some governd by the Hindu Law, some by the Shariat. A Directive Principle of State Policy positing a Uniform code continues to defy the State functionaries even 67 years after India achieved Independence on Aug. 15, 1947. The British relic lives on as the criminal law of the land.


Section 153, 153A, 295A, 298, 505(2) of Indian Penal Code

153. Want only giving provocation with intent to cause riot-- if rioting be committed: if not committed.- Whoever malignantly, or wantonly by doing anything which is illegal, gives provocation to any person intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause the offence of rioting to be committed, shall, if the offence of rioting be committed in consequence of such provocation, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both, and if the offence of rioting be not committed, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

153A. 1[ Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.--
(1) Whoever-
(a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill- will between different religious, racials, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or
(b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity, 2[ or]
(c) 2[ organizes any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or participates in such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, against any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community and such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community,] shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
(2) Offence committed in place of worship, etc.-- Whoever commits an offence specified in sub- section (1) in any place of worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.]

295A. 5[ Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.-- Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of 6[ citizens of India], 7[ by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise] insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 8[ three years], or with fine, or with both.]

298. Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings.-- Whoever, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person or makes any gesture in the sight of that person or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

505. 1[ Statements conducing public mischief.-- 2[...
(2) 2[ Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill- will between classes.-- Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill- will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Excerpts from Complaint in Court

Monika Arora                               337, Lawyers Chambers,      Advocate               Delhi High Court,
Supreme Court of India                New Delhi.


                                                        
Ref No.254/LN/0310                                  Dated: 03.3.2010

                                           Regd. A.D. 

1. Wendy Doniger, 
Author,
The Hindus: An Alternative History.
………………………………………….

2. Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 
375 Hudson Street,
New York-110014,
USA


3. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd.,
11 Community Centre,
Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi-110017,
India  

LEGAL/DEMAND NOTICE

Under instructions from, for and on behalf of my client Sh. Dina Nath Batra, Convener of Shiksha Bacho Andolan office at ……… Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, aged 58 years, I serve upon you this legal notice for the following reasons and purposes: 

1. That my client is an educationist and is associated with many religious, educational and social institutions and organizations and institutions. 

2. That my client came across the book namely “The Hindus: An Alternative History” authored by YOU NOTICEE and published by Noticee No.2 and Noticee No.3 (India). 

3. That my client is also aware of the fact that you have written a number of books on Hinduism namely Siva, the Erotic Ascetic, The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology, Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India and have done Translations of The Rig Veda, The Laws of Manu and Kamasutra.

4. That my client has read the book authored by you namely the Hindus: An Alternative History. That after reading the book my client found it to be a shallow, distorted and non serious presentation of Hinduism. That it is a haphazard presentation riddled with heresies and factual inaccuracies.    

5. That after reading the said book my client is of the opinion my client states that the aforesaid book is written with a Christian Missionary Zeal and hidden agenda to denigrate Hindus and show their religion in poor light.

6. That the entire list of the books authored by YOU NOTICEE shows that YOU NOTICEE concentrate, focus and write on the negative aspects and evil practices prevalent in Hinduism. That the words used by YOU NOTICEE for referring to various Hindu Gods are highly objectionable.  

7. That on the book jacket of the book Lord Krishna is shown sitting on buttocks of a naked woman surrounded by other naked women. That YOU NOTICEE have depicted Lord Krishna in such a vulgar, base perverse manner to outrage religious feelings of Hindus. That YOU NOTICEE and the publisher have done this with the full knowledge that Sri Krishna is revered as a divinity and there are many temples for Sri Krishna where Hindus worship the divinity. The intent is clearly to ridicule, humiliate & defame the Hindus and denigrate the Hindu traditions. 

8. That YOU NOTICEE has herself stated that the said book is based on pick & choose method and has selective quotes. That you further state: 

“Such a luxurious jungle of cultural phenomena, truly an embarrassment of riches, necessitates a drastic selectivity. I have therefore provided not detailed histories of specific moments but one or two significant episodes.”

9. That YOU NOTICEE has yourself stated at page 15 that your focus in approaching Hindu scriptures has been sexual. 

“The Sanskrit texts [cited in my lecture] were written at a time of glorious sexual openness and insight, and I have focused precisely those parts of the texts.” So the approach of YOU NOTICEE has been jaundiced, your approach is that of a woman hungry of sex. 

10. That YOU NOTICEE should be aware that in Hinduism linga is an abstract symbol of God [shiva] with no sexual connotations but YOU NOTICEE emphasizes only those texts which portray linga as erect male sexual organ [page 22]. This shows your shallow knowledge of the Great Hindu religion and also your perverse mindset.

11. That YOU NOTICEE at page 25, incorrectly state that “there is no Hindu canon”. That YOU NOTICEE should know the basic fundamentals of Hindu Religion which hold Vedas to be the Hindu canon as these are revered & respected by all Hindus as divine revelations. 

12. That YOU NOTICEE at page 40 has written: 

“If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’.” This shows the malice and contempt YOU NOTICEE have for Hinduism.

13. That YOU NOTICEE do not inform your readers in your voluminous 779 page book the most basic principle that for all Hindus Vedas are the supreme scripture and supersede anything and everything which is in conflict with Vedas. In Mahabharata [1-V-4] it is stated: 

“Whenever there is conflict between what is declared in the Vedas and provisions in any of the Smritis, Puranas etc. what is declared in the Vedas shall prevail.” 

14. That YOU NOTICEE should be aware that as all books on Christianity cannot be treated at par with the Bible similarly all Sanskrit texts cannot be equated with Vedas. That YOU NOTICEE have committed a basic blunder to treat all books written in Sanskrit by all and sundry as sacred scriptures at par with the Vedas, and, without applying mind YOU NOTICEE have liberally quoted one against another just to belittle and distort the Hinduism in eyes of readers. In this process YOU NOTICEE have ended up confusing your readers about Hinduism. That YOU NOTICEE is lost in what you yourself call ‘cultural jungle’ as you have not fully grasped Hinduism yourself.

15. That YOU NOTICEE at many places has made factually incorrect assertions about Hinduism. Such as at page 680, YOU NOTICEE inform in the present tense that: 

“To this day horses are worshipped all over India by people who do not have horses……..” 

In fact no Hindu worships horses. Terra cotta horses are made for some deities so that they can symbolically mount horses. My client further states that everyone loves his animals, cars, yatches but that does not mean that one worships all of them.
  
16. That YOU NOTICEE at page 79 claims that the “Great Bath in the citadel of Mohenjo Daro resembles the ritual bathing tanks of Hindu temples that began to appear in the subcontinent in the first few centuries CE and because such a tank reflects a concern with ritual purification through water, an important idea in Hinduism. Four thousand years later, indeed, every temple has its tank.” That my client further states that you should be aware of the simple fact that not all Hindu temples have tanks for example the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Sankat Mochan Temple of Varanasi, UP do not have tanks. 

17. That YOU NOTICEE show your shallow understanding of India when you assert that RSS is the militant branch/wing of the Bhartiya Janata Party [pages 14 and 663]. That it is a factually incorrect assertion. RSS was created many decades before the BJP was set up in 1980. That YOU NOTICEE claim to be a scholar and yet you do not know or care to verify the facts before including them in your book.

18. That YOU NOTICEE has at many places made incorrect political statements aimed at creating disharmony and promoting enmity among various religious sections of Indian people making yourself and your publisher vulnerable u/s 153A of the IPC. At pages 14 YOU NOTICEE allege that Hindu fundamentalists are against Muslims, Christians and wrong sort of Hindus. That YOU NOTICEE name RSS, BJP, VHP and ABVP in this context. 

  
19. That YOU NOTICEE at page 31 has asserted: 
“Yet Hindu nationalists have used the geographical implications of the word [Hindu] to equate Hinduism with India and therefore exclude from the right to thrive in India such people as Muslims and Christians: in 1922, VD Savarkar coined the term “Hindutva” to express this equation.” 

20. That YOU NOTICEE at page 667 have denigrated Ramayana too and have stated  that political use of Ramayana is to make India free of Muslims and Christians and any Others. That YOU NOTICEE have further written that:  

“Repressive telling of the myth use the mythological moment of Ram-raj [Rama’s reign] as an imagined India that is free of Muslims and Christians and any others, in the hope of restoring India to the Edenic moment of the Ramayana.”


21. That YOU NOTICEE has hurt the religious feelings of millions of Hindus by declaring that Ramayana is a fiction. 

“Placing the Ramayan in its historical contexts demonstrates that it is a work of fiction, created by human authors, who lived at various times……….” (P.662) 

This breaches section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

22. That YOU NOTICEE has rightly stated [page 106] that text of Vedas did not undergo any change or corruption during thousands of years. When text remains the same it is obvious that its meaning & message have remained the same. Therefore the core principles of Hinduism have remained the same as enunciated in Vedas. In other words core principles of Hinduism are eternal [sanatan]. Distortions and deviations do not constitute the core of any religion. That YOU NOTICEE has made basic blunder of equating and mixing core principles of Hinduism with stray distortions.

23. That YOU NOTICEE has used stray & obscure distortions to hit the pillars of Hindu beliefs. That YOU NOTICEE have written about sex between Sita and Laxman which is pure and total blasphemy attracting penalties under section 295[A] of the Indian Penal Code. 

24. That YOU NOTICEE at page 669 quote a version of Ramayana in which Rama asks Laxman “do you love Sita?” in sexual sense. That YOU NOTICEE attributed this version to tribal people known as the Rajnengi Pardhan at Patangarh, Mandla district and claim that it was published in 1950. Before quoting such a distortion you and the publisher ought to have examined whether this was spread by tribals converted into Christianity as Christian missionaries are known to smear other religions. 

25. That YOU NOTICEE at page 14 has cited a passage from Valmiki’s Ramayan in which Sita accuses Laxman of wanting her for himself but has not mentioned that very passage from Valmiki Ramayana in your book.

26. That YOU NOTICEE at page 36 has written: 
“The women were forbidden to study the most ancient sacred text, the Vedas.” It is another totally false statement as there are at least 29 women risikas whose compositions are there in Rig Veda. Atharva Veda [XI.5.18] expressly sanctions study of Vedas by female. Details may be seen in book ‘Vedic Equality & Hinduism.’[ISBN: 81-7822-285-x]. 

27. That YOU NOTICEE have devoted one full chapter [No. 22] on Suttee but have not informed your readers that it has no sanction in Vedas and no sanction even in Manusmriti. That this shows & proves that YOU NOTICEE by the said book aim at giving a distorted and perverted view of Hinduism.

28. That YOU NOTICEE at page 82, confirm your anti-Hindu bias where you have talked about the ‘perceived need’ to follow a pre-determined line. YOU NOTICEE have written: “The fascination with IVC comes in part from the intrinsic appeal of its artifacts but also from a perceived need to find non-Vedic, indeed pre-Vedic source for most of Hinduism—for Shiva and goddess worship and all the rest of Hinduism that is not attested in the Vedas.”

29. That YOU NOTICEE at page 112, hold the flag of cow slaughter and beef eating in ancient India write:

 “One verse states that cows were not to be killed [aghanya: 7.87.4] but another says that a cow should be slaughtered on the occasion of marriage [RV 10.85.13]” But in her own book ‘The Rig Veda’ [Penguin Classics] translation for [10.85.13] at page 268 is: “When sun is in the Agha they kill a cattle”. In other words no cow is slaughtered in [10.85.13] your own book ‘The Rig Veda’ but there is cow slaughter under the same verse in the book of YOU NOTICEE under challenge. The point is that a cattle is not necessarily a cow, it could be goat, buffalo, deer etc. That YOU NOTICEE is confused between cattle and cow. Self contradiction in translation of RV[10.85.13] shows your deliberate, malicious and conscious intention to outrage religious feelings of millions of Hindus which calls for action against you and your publisher u/s295A IPC.

30. That YOU NOTICEE on the question of eating beef, have written that Gandhi was also ambivalent (page 625) but has not given any proof of Gandhi’s alleged ambivalence.

31. That YOU NOTICEE at page 44 have shown your confused thinking. That YOU NOTICEE has written that a Hindu bride will often bring into the home a religion different from that of her husband’s. Hindu brides do not bring any different religion but may bring different customs or different rituals.

32. That YOU NOTICEE has written in the said book that in Hinduism, Gods have no castes. But at page 130 insinuates that Hindu gods are caste specific. “And most of the gods are closely associated with particular social classes: Agni is the Brahmin, Varuna the Brahminical sovereign, Indra the warrior, and the Ashwins the Vaishyas. There are no Shudra gods in the Vedas.” At page 684 YOU NOTICEE say that Krishna and Shiva are gods of the upper caste Hindus. But Krishna was born in yadava family and was dark skinned.

33. That YOU NOTICEE has written that Kunti was raped by sun god Surya. “But Kunti had already had one son, secretly, out of wedlock. When she was still a young girl, she had decided to try out her mantra, just fooling around. The sun god, Surya, took her seriously; despite her vigorous protests and entreaties, he raped her and afterward restored her virginity. She gave birth to Karna, whom she abandoned in shame.” (p.295).

That YOU NOTICEE also know that in Christianity too Jesus is believed to be born to Virgin Mary by blessings of God. Do YOU NOTICEE suggest/admit that God raped Mary? In the Bible it is said that Elizabeth was barren but was bestowed with a son [Luke 1.7, 1.13]. Does it mean Elizabeth was raped by God? Test tube babies are born without any rape.

34. That YOU NOTICEE presenting divine blessings for birth of children again and again as rape by gods in Hinduism attracts penalty under section 295A.

35. That my client has got the following information from Santiarts- a Computer Graphics Company which is cited as the source for the jacket painting of your book. That this painting is not from Puri, Orissa as is falsely claimed by your book. 

Raasa Leela 
Serigraphed in 13 Colours 
Size 29” x 21” 
Code: APP 251 (included in the attached catalog received from santiarts.com). 

That this is a painting horizontally flipped and used on the book jacket by YOU NOTICEE. 

That the Publishers through the author seem to have acquired the serigraph without verifying the source. 

That my client states that if the abovesaid is true, then YOU NOTICEE and the Publisher i.e. Penguin Group have used a plagiarized version, selectively chosen, chosen with deliberate intent to cause religious tension between Hindus and non-Hindus, invading the sacredness attached to Sri Krishna as an Avatara, a divinity worshipped in temples. That the abovestated act of YOU NOTICEE alongwith your Publisher is liable to attract penalty under section 153A and 295A of IPC.

That the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Veerabadram Chettiar - vs - V. Ramaswami Naicker & Ors. Reported in A.I.R. 1958 S.C. 1032 at page 1035, paragraph 7 has also held that: 

“Any object however trivial or destitute of real value in itself, if regarded as sacred by any class of persons would come within the meaning of the penal section. The section has been intended to respect the religious susceptibilities of persons of different religious persuasions or creeds. Courts have got to be very circumspect in such matters and to pay due regard to the feelings and religious emotions of different class of persons with different beliefs, irrespective of the consideration whether or not they share those beliefs, or whether they are rational or otherwise, in the opinion of the Court.”    

36. That YOU NOTICEE at page 687, chapter 25 has given a quote from a book ‘We, Our Nationhood Defined’ [48-49] by MS Golwalkar. Attributing this quote to Golwalkar is factually incorrect and academic dishonesty as Golwalkar only translated this work which was originally written in Marathi by Balarao Savarkar. It does not necessarily mean that Golwalkar, as the translator, endorsed or espoused all the ideas presented by Balarao Savarkar.

37. That YOU NOTICEE incorrectly inform your readers that RSS was responsible for assassination of MK Gandhi. In fact years ago a judicial Commission has exonerated RSS of any complicity in murder of Gandhi. That YOU NOTICEE by misrepresentation of facts and by giving false facts has also exposed yourself to defamation proceedings both civil and criminal under Indian Laws.
38. That YOU NOTICEE- the author, the University and the Publisher (Penguin, USA and Penguin, India) should be concerned that they are creating and spreading pornographic and hate literature while defaming the Hindus and Hinduism.

39. That the University of Chicago should be aware and cautions in allowing an author to spread pornography and hate literature in the University. The author, University and the Publisher alike are accountable to the law as well as to the Society. This book is a disgrace on the academic reputation of the University of Chicago.

40. That my client states that everybody has a right to profess, practice and propagate religion of one’s own choice but nobody has a right to insult and repudiate other religions.

41. That YOU NOTICEEs being the author and Publisher of the aforesaid offending book have intentionally, deliberately and maliciously hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu Community.

42. That YOU NOTICEEs have wantonly indulged in unlawful act by showing photograph of Hindu God sitting on the lap of a naked woman & surrounded by naked women and thereby have tried to provoke people intending and knowing that it is likely to cause the offence of rioting.  

43. That both YOU NOTICEEs have published the said photograph to increase the readership of your book by creating and promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion and thus have done an act prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony.

44. That your aforesaid book has deliberately and maliciously intended to outrage religious feelings of Hindus by insulting their God and wounding their religious belief. 

45. That YOU NOTICEEs by the aforesaid book have intended to cause fear and alarm among the Hindus that their religion and religious beliefs are not safe any more and can be trampled with and denigrated, distorted & insulted and hence  you have intended to induce and incite them to commit offences against the State and against Public Tranquility.  

46. That the above said acts of YOU NOTICEEs are offence publishable under the provisions of Section 153, 153A, 295A, 298, 505(2) of Indian Penal Code and for the commission of this offence all of you can be imprisoned for a term which may extend to 3 years and with fine.
47. That my clients and many other social and religious activists have already sent their representations to you with the request to immediately tender an unconditional apology to the people of India and to the millions of Hindus all around the world; to withdraw the said objectionable parts from your book and to undertake not to offend the religious sentiments of the Hindus in future. 

Kindly note that if you do not comply with the demand of my client within clear 30 days of the receipt / first tender of this legal notice failing which legal action would be taken against all of you under the provisions of Section 153, 153A, 295A, 298, 505(2) of Indian Penal Code without any further notice to you all in this regard. That my client being an educationist and convener of Shiksha Bacho Andolan may also consider meeting like minded people and building a consensus to boycott the books published by Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. and by Penguin Group worldwide for spreading hate literature defaming Hinduism.  

Therefore, YOU NOTICEEs are hereby advised/directed to tender an unconditional apology to my client and also to Hindus worldwide; withdraw the said objectionable portions from the said book and to undertake not to offend religious sentiments of Hindus in future failing which I have clear instructions from my client to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against all of you at your own risk, cost and consequences. 
                                                                                   
Copy of this legal notice has been kept for record.
                                               
                                 (Monika Arora)                                                                                                Advocate 

Draft (6 Feb. 2010) S. Kalyanaraman kalyan97@gmail.com 
Wendy Doniger and Penguin Publishers defame Hindu dharma
US Edition: Wendy Doniger THE HINDUS An alternative history 779pp. Penguin. £25 (US $35).ISBN 978 1 59420 205 6 
Indian Edition: The Hindus: An alternative history by Wendy Doniger, Penguin Books India, Published on 15 Sept. 2009; Imprint: Viking ISBN 9780670083541; Hardback; Royal format; Extent: 800 Classification: Non-fiction; Rights: Indian subcontinent only. http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Bookdetail.aspx?bookId=3667
Flipkart.com sells the book at a list price of Rs. 699 after a discount of Rs. 300 (Net Rs. 399). http://www.flipkart.com/hindus-wendy-doniger-alternative-history/0670083542-k3w3f9vq2b
This is a brief on how Wendy Doniger and the Publishers, in a banal, offensive and scurrilous account published as a 779 page book, defame the Hindu -- with malicious intent and sexist perversion. Her imagined history of the Hindus is presented as an academic account using selective texts to present a distorted picture, indulging in suppressio veri and suggestion falsi. It is clearly an exercise in careless, misleading and half-baked research and does not match the claim made about her eminence as a foremost scholar of Hindu studies. Fiction and fantasies indulged in by Wendy are sought to be misrepresented as fact.
With a perverted view of Hindu history and indulging in sexism, the University as well as the book publishers have a responsibility to contribute to knowledge and not to promote perversity and misrepresentations of a great faith called Hindu Dharma. Using selective quotations she indulges in suggestio falsi and suppressio veri and portrays the Hindu dharma practiced by about a billion people world over, in an abhorrent light.
Is it too much to expect such a respect for the Hindus whose work guided by dharma, accounted for about 33% of the world GDP in the eighteenth century as computed by the British economic historian, Angus Maddison? The World Economy: Historical Statistics (OECD website) http://www.ggdc.net/Maddison/
The main purpose of The Hindus, accordingly, is to provide a narrative account of alternative people who do not figure in the Brahmin-generated history—people who are alternative in the sense of otherness, people of other religions, or cultures, or castes, or species (animals)(p.1)
Under the guise of providing an alternative history, the real agenda of The Hindus is to drive a wedge between Hindus and non-Hindus in India and elsewhere. In order to show how Hindus are so utterly unlike others Doniger engages in denigrating, distorting, and demeaning all Hindus (low or high caste, men or women) and what is worse, ‘defrocking’ (both theologically and sexually) their gods and goddesses.
Selectively picking mythic episodes from the Purana and the Tantra texts Doniger provides titillating details of liaisons between gods and gods, between gods and goddesses, between goddesses and animals. Here, a god beheads another god; there a goddess ‘hooks up’ with a buffalo [demon] and so on (see chapter 14, ‘Goddesses and Gods in the Early Puranas’ and chapter 15 ‘Sects and Sex in the Tantric Puranas and the Tantras’).
The bogus account of Hindu traditions runs counter to Chicago Police (Department of Justice) who have brought out an empathetic video about the Hindus in America to sensitize the Police force about the Hindu American community. http://www.archive.org/details/gov.doj.ncj.212664.v1.7 (Hinduism 2000).
Dharma in the Hindu view, is an inexorable order of cosmos and nature including human nature.  There is divinity in every one us. Let us cherish this message from Hindu history. Wendy Doniger’s is a travesty, a grotesque misrepresentation intended only to hurt and defame.
Dharma, the foundation of the culture of Hindus, represents the pinnacle of freedom and is a global ethic to promote welfare of people and self-realization. Do not allow pseudo-scholars like Wendy to distort this true history of Hindus. She ain't no scholar of Hindu dharma as the blurb on the book tends to portray her as a book-promotional effort; she has come out as a psychopath indulging in fantasies, far removed from fact. 
What is held sacred among the Hindus should not become a subject matter of psychoanalysis or sexual explanations. Many Hindus feel enraged that some scholars like Prof. Doniger consistently indulge in making disparaging statements about the traditions or about the aatman who are considered to be divine incarnations.
Hindu dharma is an ancient and still living religious tradition sacred to millions.
We owe it to Dharma, the global ethic and righteous human conduct, not to recognize or reward perverted narratives but to promote  true scholarship and literary merit which contributes to the advancement of human knowledge and human welfare. This will be true to the vision of millions of Hindus and practitioners of dharma (including non-Hindu) the world over: dharmo rakshati rakshitah (dharma protects those who protect dharma). Dharma in the Hindu view, is an inexorable order of cosmos and nature including human nature. Let not NBCC be part of perversions of human nature and human consciousness, which are held sacred in the Hindu historical tradition. We are all aatman, sparks from the anvil of the paramaatman, the supreme divine. There is divinity in every one us. Let us cherish this message from Hindu history.
The issue is about striking a balance between academic freedom and academic accountability to the practitioners of a faith, in this case the Hindu faith of over 800 million people the world over. An author owes an ethical and moral responsibility to respect a faith which considers Sri Rama and Sri Krishna as avatara purusha (divine incarnate), while attempting to psychoanalyse the anecdotes related in the itihasa of Ramayana and Mahabharata and in a derisive and abusive tone.
Academic freedom cannot become a cloak for a disparaging account of a faith cherished by a billion people and for millennia, in an extraordinary continuum celebrating dharma, the global ethic. Freedom ends as the recipient of an author’s diatribes gets hurt and feels insulted. This becomes an even more serious issue when it affects a community whose civil rights are protected under the Establishmen clause of the US constitution and similar clauses in the Indian and other constitutions of democratic republics of the world. Academic freedom without responsibility is tyranny, pure and simple, intended only to poison the young minds of students for whom an academic should function as a trustee of truth and honesty.
From an academic perspective, the book is bogus. Sexual titillation, sexual perversion is no scholarship. Her work has been criticized as being inaccurate and perverse by Sanskritists and scholars, both Western and Indian.
The work is a gross misrepresentation because one has to only see the millions who congregate at the Kumbh Mela or who go on pilgrimages to the temples in many tirthasthanas or those who simply worship the Hindu divinities with deep devotion both privately and publicly.
University of Chicago should also be answerable unless they disassociate themselves from the book and reprimand her for unethical conduct unbecoming of the status of tenure chair that she occupies, since Wendy has published the book citing her academic credentials and association with the University. In a revealing expression of self-praise, the blurb on the book also refers to her as ‘one of the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism’. Such a claim, if true, makes it all the more abhorrent that the book should be allowed to poison the minds of young and impressionable minds of students who are supposed to be guided by a University academic.
It is instructive that another publisher, Random House, decided in 2009, to doscontinue the publication of "Jewel of Medina" by Sherry Jones – a work of fiction since it outraged the Islamist community.
This is about a book intended to hurt the feelings and insult the practices and beliefs and religious faith of millions of Hindus the world over.
This is also about the way Wendy Doniger has made it a career to defame the Hindu and to indulge in sexual fantasies while claiming to present academic scholarship in non-fictional accounts of Hindu history and traditions.
Wendy Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School; and also in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on Social Thought, and the College. http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/news/2009/02/15/wendy-doniger-on-hindu-tolerance-and-misogyny/ A person holding a tenure position in the University of Chicago should have evidenced a sense of responsibility and follow the ethical standards expected of her from an institution which is accountable to the community which it serves. Hindu Americans rightfully feel a sense of outrage at the blatant abuse of tenure position. She even claimed in an interview (publishd in Outlook) that she can’t be fired from the University job.
In an article in the Times of India, she wrote: “Both fertility and eroticism have continued to play a central role throughout Indian history.The joyous depiction, in poetry and painting, of the love-play of Krishna with the gopis, the exuberant sexuality of the sculptures at Khajuraho and Konark, the voluptuous statues of goddesses, are evidence of the celebration of women both as mothers and as lovers, in art, and, sometimes, real life. But we also find in the Upanishads the first seeds of a renunciant movement that rejects the desire to have children, wealth, and women, warning that sexuality must be controlled, primarily by controlling women. Some Hindu texts by male authors remove from men entirely the responsibility for the conflict between sexuality and chastity and project it onto women. […] The pluralism and tolerance of most Hindus allowed them to accept these tensions as part of a unified world.”  (Title of article: ‘If the wife is not radiant she does not stimulate the man’ Wendy Doniger, 8 February 2009; as a pre-publication promotion of her forthcoming book titled “The Hindus: an alternative history” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_TOI/Special_Report/If_the_wife_is_not_radiant_she_does_not_stimulate_the_man/articleshow/4093614.cms The intention is obvious. It is to promote sexist fantasizing as Hindu history.
This is how a promotional review from Toronto reads about her: “A self-described “recovering Orientalist” who knows her Latin and Greek rather than Urdu and Tamil, she stands accused of being a sex-obsessed Westerner who defames the faith. At the London lecture, where she dodged the egg, she had the temerity to suggest that Sita, the heroine of the epic poem Ramayana, was lusted after by her brother-in-law.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-hindus-an-alternative-history-by-wendy-doniger/article1173253/
She claims that she is no historian, yet calls her book an alternative history, to mislead the readers, with sloppy accounts and misrepresentions selectively culled from secondary sources, only to present the Hindu in derogatory, lop-sided, unfounded and tendentious terms. To put it simply, the work is a gross mis-representation of Hindu faith and Hindu civilizational values and shows little empathy towards a culture alien to the author.
She has nothing to say about millions of Hindus practicing outside India and does not even mention the work of French epigraphist, George Coedes who referred to the Hinduised states of Southeast Asia and describes the remarkable spread of Hindu thought and principles of the organization of the state to create a national identity in regions such as Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand who cherish an abiding tradition of Bauddham and Hindu dharma (which Gautama the Buddha called esha dhammo sanantano). There are also Hindus in Mauritius, Trinidad and Fiji.
This is not a book review about scholarship but an account of the malicious intent to defame Hindu dharma, under the smokescreen of academic interpretation, distorting and misinterpreting the sacred texts of practising Hindus and millennia-old Hindu traditions.
Wendy’s Freudian interpretations of traditional (Hindu) symbols are obsessive, offensive, and baseless. Her clear, deliberate intent is to defame. She makes such perverted statements again and again. Her motive is to create antagonism among the Hindu and non-Hindu.
The tone, tenor and content of the book is derogatory and defamatory of the Hindu civilization and Hindu faith. Wendy is obsessed with sex and sexual meanings in everything related to Hindu tradition.
Referring to Rigveda, the most revered ancient text of Hindu dharma, she refers to it as poems Yajna which is an abiding Hindu religious tradition is described in sexist terms:  “sacrifice is about death and sex. Rituals tend to tame those dangers (associated with sex and death) … and to make them public, to make them safe for the sacrificer (p. 160).”
Without citing any authoritative text of the Hindu tradition, she presents a bizarre, invented,  reason for the reincarnation concept,  is to account for the fact that the heavens are not overcrowded with the souls of the dead (p. 170).
With a clear motivation to paint the Hindu dharma through colored lens, she fantasizes: “Hinduism was violent not only in its sensuality but in its reaction against that sensuality – violent, that is, both in its addictions and in the measures that it took to curb those addictions… p. 194).”
On the role of Hindu women, she pontificates about dharma as a set ofnicely-formulated rules; “these rules were not meant to apply to women, whose only sva-dharma was to obey their husbands, and their only sacrament, marriage (p. 210).”  This is a bogus argument and pays little attention to the fact that for millennia, women were worshipped and continue to be worshipped as divinities, a practice unparalleled in civilizational history. This is an instance of indulging in suggestio falsi and suppressio veri, a trait unbecoming of an academic work of non-fiction. She refers to Manu as “the flag bearer for the Hindu oppression of women (p. 327). ”She reads the message of Ramayana as Sita walking out on Rama in the end when she returns to her earth mother - "an extraordinary move for a Hindu wife."  She depicts Sita, as more sexual than she appears to be and insultingly, pervertedly offensively insinuates that Sita’s feelings for her brother-in-law, Lakshmana, might well be more than sisterly. This obnoxious hint of extramarital desire of Sita is abhorrent and repulsive to Hindus who worship her in temples as a divinity incarnate. 
There is no reference to the fact that Sri Rama and Sita Devi  are venerated as divinities; that Sri Rama and Sri Krishna are revered as avatara purushas worshipped by many Hindus in temples built for them. 
She introduces the concept of a ‘sex-addict’ into Valmiki Ramayana by Lakshmana calling Darasht kama-sakta which she absurdly defines as ‘hopelessly attached to lust’. No such reference exists in the sacred text which is read daily by many devout Hindus. Such a term does not exist in the critical edition of the text: G.H. Bhatt et al, The Valmiki Ramayana, Baroda, 1960-1975.
Many Hindu critics have pointed out that her psychoanalytical approach to studying ancient texts is a bizarre and perverted way of understanding a faith held by millions of Hindus. Such an approach becomes all the more repulsive when some absurd statements are also made by her without any basis; for example, allegation that 
*Kunti was raped by Surya divinity
*She interprets the union of Brahma (the divinity promulgating Vedas, the knowledge in the form of Sound) and Saraswati (the divinity of Speech) as ‘incest’. To cite an example from Physics: The products of a nuclear fission reaction are routinely described as daughter products and some of them actually recombine later. To insist on a Freudian incestual relation among nuclei does not merit a recognition as contributing to the understanding of nuclear phenomena.
*She has brought down the Hindu gods and the goddesses sacred to millions of Hindus all over the world to the level of ordinary men and women. She even goes to the extent of comparing the sacred goddess Kali with some Greek female dog from the Greek mythology.

The Vedas are the most sacred to Hindus as they are the World's and the whole humanity's first literature. She calls the Vedic Mantras as " poems " !  She does not care for the fact that the Vedas are the Maheshwara Paramaatman's word revealed in their meditations to the few ancient Rishis who living a simple, pure and spiritual life spent years in solitude discovering the Spiritual Truth. In the Hindu tradition, Vedas are seen by mantradrashta rishis, are apaurusheya, divine and beyond the mundane.

Wendy’s work is a vicious attempt at invading what is considered sacred in Hindu religious practices and traditions.
Doniger is prone to make baseless comments such as the following:

“Holi, the spring carnival, when members of all castes mingle and let down their hair, sprinkling one another with cascades of red powder and liquid, symbolic of the blood that was probably used in past centuries.” (from Doniger’s article about Hinduism in the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia—Microsoft Encarta subsequently removed her entry in 2004)

"Myth scholar Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago was on hand earlier this month to lecture on the Gita. “The Bhagavad Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think, God in the Destruction of the Human Race.” “Throughout the Mahabharata, the enormous Hindu epic of which the Gita is a small part, Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviors such as war in order to relieve "mother Earth" of its burdensome human populationand the many demons disguised as humans … The Gita is a dishonest book; it justifies war,” (Article in Philadelphia Inquirer, dated November 19, 2000)

Hindus regard Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata as sacred texts, they are elucidations of dharma in action and guides for ethical conduct. 

Many personages of these two epics are worshipped as divinities in many parts of India. Sri Rama and Sri Krishna are considered avataara purushas, divinity incarnate
The overall impression created by the book is that it Hindu tradition is all about women, animals and violence, totally disregarding the principle of ahimsa which is a center-piece of Hindu piety and tolerance while affirming the inviolability of Sanatana dharma, the eternal global ethic, an organizing principle of cosmos and consciousness alike. She characterizes ahimsa as “an ideal propped up against the cultural reality of violence” which is a distorted and perverted representation of Hindu history.
Narrating the episode of Kannappar, she pontificates: “Kanappar does not understand metaphor (p. 358).
On the great epic which is held in Hindu tradition to be an itihasa, she distorts the message: “The Mahabharata sees a vice behind every virtue, a snake behind every horse, and a doomsday behind every victory (p. 276). In the Hindu tradition, the epic constitutes the elucidation of dharma in action – an elaboration of the global ethic which should govern every action and thought. It is sickening to read her account assigning perverted, aberrant sexual meaning in every episode. Indulging in sarcasm, she lists vahanas of the Puranic divinities, which are offensive to practicing Hindus. Insultingly and insinuating against the ancient social organization of castes as artisan guilds and division of labor in society, she refers to dog as a ‘pariah’ animal. She pays scant regard to the reality of Brahman seen in every atman of every living being, animal or man or woman.
Dogs (along with horses and cows) loom large in Doniger’s latest work. The index contains a dozen or so entries under the main heading of dogs for instance. The 779 pages book is officially entitled, “The Hindus: An Alternative History (New York: The Penguin Press, 2009; hereafter The Hindus). In Doniger’s ‘alternative history’ (in reality it is more like a work of fiction) unfolding India and Hinduism, dogs represent high caste Hindu males who have oppressed and repressed everybody else in India since the ancient Vedic times.  In Doniger’s reckoning, the traditional history of India (a product of Brahmin imagination), religious minorities and social outcastes are reduced to a status of a ‘scape-dog’ (p. 145) (these include Muslims who ruled India for most of the last millennium.
She trivializes the Tantra traditions and indulges in gender politicking which is her forte, stating that  “for the most part the (Tantric) rituals were designed to benefit people who had lingas, not yonis (p. 433).”
Her account of the shastras that they “spelled out the dominant paradigm with regard to women, animals, and castes (p. 305) is a direct assault on the bhakti tradition which was initiated by these ancient texts held sacred by millions of practicing Hindus.
Elsewhere Doniger does betray an awareness that Hindu views of animals are far more complex to capture by words like “sacred” or “impure.” Other people’s zoological taxonomies look bizarre only to people who view them through their own rather ethnocentric lenses (p. 659). The fact is; Doniger continues to look at all Hindu taxonomies through her unique ethnocentric lens.
Her account of the mediaeval barbarism of islamists is presented as a parody claiming that Hindu nationalists refer to ‘the Horrid Things Those Bad Muslims Did’. This is a distortion of history and an attempt to whitewash the fact that thousands of temples were desecrated by the invaders. Her account of the muslim rulers in India bristles with factual errors, frivolous speculations and historically untenable statements.
She claims that Emperor Akbar was saved by Hindus from a Muslim rival. In relity, it was his father Humayun who was saved by the Hindu King of Umerkot (p.534). She claims that Emperor Aurangazeb started persecuting Hindus, Sikhs and Shiite Muslims in 1687. In reality, he started doing this several decades earlier destroying numerous Hindu temples while he was the Governor of South India (before he became ruler in 1658) and getting the Sikh teacher Guru Tegh Bahadur beheaded (for his refusal to convert to Islam) more than a decade earlier. Is it ‘alternative history’ to indulge in suppression of significant historic events?
 About modern history, she claims that there is a  controversy as to whether Mahatma Gandhi uttered 'Ram Ram'  or 'Ram Rahim' when he fell to his ssassin's bullets (p.446). In  reality, the controversy is totally artificial (and largely  non-existent) and is mainly encountered in agenda driven  atheist websites. His last words are said to have been "Hey  Ram" and the same are inscribed on his 'Samadhi' (his  memorial) in New Delhi. His followers sometimes say that he  uttered 'Ram Ram'. Or her laughable claim (page 194n) that  Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture)  was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (=The Science of Deep attachment -  she even explains the word ungrammatically!) when in fact  the title of Gandhi's work was 'Anasakti Yoga' (= Science of  Non-Attachment). Surely this cannot pass for an 'alternative  history' because this is just bogus fiction.

Her account of the Hindus in America (Chapter 23) makes no mention of the role of Indian professionals in America and their contribution to American enterprise and culture. She will do well to learn from the account on Hindus prepared by the Chicago Police to educate the police force about the Hindu traditions, practices and culture.
Annex
Aditi Banerji’s comment Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262511
Misrepresentations of Valmiki Ramayana and about Sri Rama revered by millions of Hindus as vigrahavaan dharmah (dharma incarnate)
Apart from unfairly stereotyping and insulting her critics, most of the rest of the interview of Doniger with Outlook India magazine (as a promotional effort for her book), concerns Doniger's take on the Valmiki Ramayana.

The "Interpolation" of Ravana's Curse
According to Doniger:

Things were added on in Ramayana's first and seventh book later on. For instance, in the seventh book we have a story long before the story of Rama and Sita about how Ravana raped one of the great apsaras, Rambha ... [Her husband] curses Ravana that if he ever touches a woman against her will, his head will shatter into a thousand pieces. So that story is then told in the Ramayana to explain why Ravana didn't force himself on Sita despite keeping her in his house all those years. In the earlier Ramayana, there's nothing about this ... This is a later idea that creeps in."

It is incorrect for Doniger to say that the curse upon Ravana was a "later idea that [crept in]" to explain Ravana's unwillingness to rape Sita.  The relevant incident is found in Book 6 (Yuddha Kanda), almost universally recognized as part of the original Valmiki Ramayana.  (It is the first part of Book 1 (Bala Kanda) and all of Book 7 (Uttara Kanda) that are, debatably, later interpolations.) 

The account is given by Ravana in Sarga (Canto) 13 of Book 6 (Yuddha Kanda):  
Once I beheld (a celestial nymph) Punjikasthala (by name) ... She was stripped of her garment and ravished by me.  She then reached the abode of Brahma ... Highly enraged, the creator forthwith addressed the following words to me: "If you (happen to) violate any other woman hence forward, your head will be forthwith split into a hundred pieces; there is no doubt about it."  Hence, afraid (as I am) of his curse, I do not violently put Sita, a princess of the Videha territory, on my charming bed by force.
There is an account of Ravana's rape of Rambha in Book 7 (Uttara Kanda)-but it is the incident recounted in Book 6 (accepted as part of the original Valmiki Ramayana) that is explicitly offered as the reason why Ravana did not rape Sita.  The effect of the rape of Rambha is more generic:  "[Ravana] felt inclined no more to copulate with women who were unwilling to approach him."    

This is not mere nitpicking-the citation of the rape of Punjikasthala in Book 6 discredits Doniger's contention that the curse on Ravana was a later interpolation interjected to conveniently explain why Ravana never raped Sita.  
Rama as a "Sex-Addict"
 According to Doniger, the concept of a "sex-addict" is introduced into the Valmiki Ramayana by Lakshmana calling Dasaratha kama-sakta, which she defines as "hopelessly attached to lust."

It is not clear where Doniger picks up the term 'kama-sakta'-the term does not appear upon a search of the text of the Valmiki Ramayana as given in the Titus online database, which is based on the following version of the text: G.H. Bhatt e.a., The Valmiki Ramayana, (Baroda 1960-1975), prepared by Muneo Tokunaga, March 12, 1993 (adaptations by John D. Smith, Cambridge, 1995.)

Further, neither the term nor its variants appear in the most logical place where Lakshmana would have used the words to describe Dasaratha, the passage in Book 2 (Ayodhya Kanda) when Lakshmana disparages the character of Dasaratha for banishing Rama.  The relevant phrases that Lakshmana uses here are the following: nripah vipariitasheha (king with perverted mind), pradharshhitaH vishhayaiH (who is outraged by sensual enjoyments) and samanimadhaH (who is possessed of passion).   None of these terms translates even remotely as "sex addict / addiction".  Addiction is something more than just being overcome by lust: addiction is a "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance...characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal."      

However, for the sake of argument, I will give the benefit of the doubt to Doniger and assume that the term kama-sakta has been used by Lakshmana to describe Dasaratha in the Valmiki-Ramayana.  That in and of itself does not imply that Dasaratha was "hopelessly addicted to lust."  Kama-sakta simply means an attachment (sakta) to desire (kama). Kama does not itself necessarily refer to sexual desire, or even erotic or romantic desire.  Dasaratha's reluctance to allow Rama to serve as guard over Vishwamitra's yajna, for example, or Lakshmana's unwillingness to be parted from Rama, could equally be characterized as kama-sakta.  To assume it to mean "attachment to lust" is another in a pattern of Doniger's ex-cathedra translations in variance with traditional Sanskrit nirukta (etymology) for which she has been repudiated before. 

It has been brought to my attention that, subsequent to the original interview, as published in print and on this website, Doniger's statements were corrected to carry the following version of Doniger's quote on October 20: "Lakshman is the one who actually says it.   He says the king is hopelessly attached to sensual objects.  But Rama himself says (at 2.47.8) that the king is kama-atma, entirely consumed by kama."  The deletion of the term kama-sakta and the addition of the new reference is not explained, other than as a "typo".

To offer Doniger leeway that she almost never offers her critics, I will accept the "corrected" statement-but her argument still fails.  The relevant reference-found in Sarga 53 of the Gita Press, Gorakhpur version and in Sarga 47 of the Titus database version (mentioned above)-is part of a scene where Rama reminisces about his father to Lakshmana during the first night of his banishment from Ayodhya.  Here is the exact reference:
anaathaH caiva vRiddhaH ca mayaa caiva vinaakRitaH | kim kariSyati kaama aatmaa kaikeyyaa vasham aagataH ||

vRiddhascha (aged); anaathashcha ((and therefore) helpless); mayaarinaacha (deprived of my presence); kim karishhyati (what will he do); kRitaH (dominated as he is); kaamaatmaa (by his passion (for Kaikeyi)); aagataH (and who has fallen); kaikeyiivasham (into clutches of Kaikeyi). 

 "Aged and (therefore) helpless, deprived of my presence, what will he do, dominated as he is by his passion for Kaikeyi and who has fallen into the clutches of Kaikeyi."
As with the phrases described above (uttered by Lakshmana in anger), Kama-atma does not necessarily mean "entirely consumed by kama."  For example, the illustrious commentary on the Ramayana by Sivasahaya, Raamayana Siromani, gives the following example of using the term kama-atma in a non-sexual context:  kaama aathmaa:  kaama - abhishEka vishayiNi ichchhaa (desiring the matter of crowning) aathmaa - aathmani manasyEva yasya sah (one who had this in mind)-i.e., "the king who desired in his mind the crowning [of Rama]." 

Falling prey to love (Rama's description) or being overcome by lust (Lakshmana's description) does not make one a sex addict; if it did, then any of us could be accused of the same!  Sex was explicitly discussed and celebrated in ancient Indian / Hindu texts, as an accepted integral part of life-discussions of being overcome by desire, therefore, do not automatically translate into one being characterized or condemned as a sex-addict.  These epithets were uttered in anger and anguish by Dasaratha's sons at the time of their separation from their family and kingdom-the epithets are indicative of their pain and anger and are not meant to be psychoanalytical judgements of Dasaratha's character, particularly in a socio-cultural context where intense sexual enjoyment was not viewed as a vice-c.f., the accounts of Karadama rishi and Devahuti in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Yayati and Sarmishta in the Mahabharata, and Kacha and Devyani in the Mahabharata, where long periods of intense sexual union were described without any condemnation or sense of shame.   

In any case, it is not necessary to get entangled into the technicality of semantics to challenge Doniger's central thesis, which is summarized in the following excerpt from the interview: 
You also suggest that because Rama is afraid of turning into a sex addict like his father, he throws Sita out after enjoying sex with her?
You have a chapter in Valmiki's Ramayana where Rama was so happy with Sita, they drank wine together, they were alone, enjoying themselves in every way, indulging in various ways, not just the sexual act. And in the very next chapter he says I've got to throw you out.  So I'm suggesting: what is the connection between those two things?  And what does it mean that Rama knows that Dasaratha, his father, disgraced himself because of his attachment to his young and beautiful wife.  So I'm taking pieces of the Ramayana and putting them together and saying these are not disconnected.
So you are saying his fear of following in his father's footsteps is making him betray his own sexuality?

Yes, I am. Or even of being perceived that way.
Note the internal contradiction in Doniger's position-her  characterization of Rama hinges on a passage found in Book 7 (Uttara Kanda), and she has elsewhere in the interview dismissed that same Book 7 as a later interpolation! 

In any event, the passage describing Rama and Sita's "indulgence" is from Sarga 42 of Book 7 (Uttara Kanda), where Rama and Sita are enjoying their reunion after Sita's abduction.  As described therein, during this period of two winters (i.e., two years, although in some versions, an additional half-shloka is included providing that this interlude lasted 10,000 years), Rama and Sita would spend the second half of every day together in Rama's Ashoka-grove, enjoying heavenly music and dance and partaking of gourmet food and intoxicating drinks.  Rama and Sita are compared to other divine couples:
Taking in his hand the pure nectar of flowers as intoxicating as the Maireyaka wine, Sri Rama ... made Sri Sita drink it, just as Indra does Sachi ... Seated in the company of the celebrated Sita, [Rama] shone with splendour like Vasishta seated along with Arundhati.  Sri Rama, steeped in joy like gods, afforded delight thus day after day to ... Sita, who resembled a divine damsel. 

Doniger conveniently leaves out the fact that it is in this chapter that Rama discovers that Sita is pregnant.  Delighted at this revelation, Rama asks her to tell him which desire of hers he should fulfil.  This is Sita's response: "O Raghava!  I wish to visit the holy penance-groves and to stay, O Lord!, at the feet of sages ... living on the banks of the Ganga ... This is my greatest wish that I should stay even for one night in the penance-grove of those who live only on fruits and (edible) roots."   Rama readily acquiesces to this wish, promising that she will be taken for a visit there the very next day.

Doniger claims that "in the very next chapter [Rama] says [to Sita] I've got to throw you out."  This is another totally false statement by Doniger.  It is in Sarga 45 (after two intervening sargas / chapters, wherein Rama learns of the negative gossip surrounding Sita and thus decides to banish her) that Rama orders Lakshmana to take Sita to the forest and leave her there.  This is just one more instance of Doniger's casual disregard of the facts, unbecoming of a distinguished professor with a named chair at the University of Chicago.

Of course, it is the two sargas / chapters that Doniger skips over in her "alternative" narrative that provide the reason for Rama banishing Sita: Rama is informed that he is being rebuked by the people of Ayodhya as follows: "Why does not Sri Rama censure [Sita], who formerly had been forcibly carried away by Ravana? ... Such conduct of our wives shall have to be suffered by us also, since whatever a king does, the subjects follow."   The pernicious rumours are about Sita's chastity / purity, not about Rama's excessive lust. 

When this gossip is confirmed by others, Rama summons his brothers to him, and informs them of his decision to leave Sita, providing the following explanation for his decision: "As long as the word of infamy circulates, so long one does fall in the lower regions (hell).  Infamy is censured even by the gods and fame gains credence in the world."   It is the fear of losing his good name (as the result of the infamy surrounding Sita's chastity by the gossip-mongers of Ayodhya) that impels Rama, not fear of being chastised as a sex-addict.

Nowhere is it mentioned that Rama feared he might fall victim to the "vice" of sex and that he therefore abandoned Sita - this again appears to be an example of the kind of fanciful creation for which Doniger and many of her students, now academicians at leading American universities, have become well-known.  There is no connotation of illicit or excessive indulgence in the description of Rama and Sita's blissful interlude together in Sarga 42-to the contrary, Rama and Sita are depicted as a divine couple with the dignity and radiance of Indra and Sachi, Vasishta and Arundhati.  Rama is full of tenderness for Sita upon discovering her pregnancy.  It clearly breaks his heart to send Sita away-after giving Lakshmana the command, "[Rama] the noble one with His eyes closed, taking leave of His brothers, entered His own apartment, with his heart agitated by sorrow, deeply sighed as an elephant." 

In Doniger's own words, she is "taking pieces of the Ramayana and putting them together" to come up with this far-fetched explanation.  But, one cannot play connect-the-dots with various scenes from a vast text such as the Valmiki Ramayana, stripping out the proper sequence and removing the contextual background of the critical passages, and then call it a valid textual interpretation.  

Even if Doniger is reading into the text certain psychological motivations she wants to attribute to the characters, her characterization appears to be illogical--if Rama sent Sita away simply because he didn't want to become / be characterized as a sex addict, why did he not make arrangements to claim his future heir(s), whom he knew Sita carried in her womb?  


World Association of Vedic Studies took the initiative to organize a special session during the 8th International Conference to be held in Port of Spain between Aug. 4th to 7th, 2010 on "Portrayal of Hinduism in Western Indology" with emphasis on scholarly critique on Wendy Doniger's Book, The Hindus, An Alternative History. The response of the scholarly community to this special session has been overwhelming as will be evident from the selected articles included in this compendium.
This initiative was a consequence of a petition which was addressed to Penguin Group USA and Penguin Books Pvt. Ltd. India to withdraw a flawed book published by them in 2009 on Hindu history authored by a Chicago Univ. Professor, Wendy  Doniger (O’Flaherty). http://www.petitiononline.com/dharma10/petition.html
The petition was  forwarded on 8 March 2010 conveying the list of signatories (including thousands of scholars and professionals), petition text, and a reference to detailed list of errors/derogatory statements in the Penguin book.  As of 8 June 2010, more than 10,000 readers from around the world have signed the petition.  The list of signatories continues to grow.
New York Times Book Critics Circle members were also informed that the deliberate attempts at blasphemy and motivated denigration of Hindus or Hinduism shall NOT go unchallenged. NBCC who had short-listed Wendy’s book for a non-fiction award would appear to have realized that the work was indeed fictional and decided against commending the book for any award by New York Times.
The lessons to be learned by the followers of the Vedic tradition is that the responsibility of the students and researchers involved in Vedic Studies have to make special efforts to counter motivated, bigoted distortions while endeavoring to propate the true message of the Vedic texts and traditions. 
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side: “Aa No Bhadraah Kratavo Yantu Vishwatah". But, let the thoughts be governed by the search for the vast right truth: rtam satyam brhat. 
The convocation message of the Vedic tradition is clear: tell the truth, observe dharma, do your duty: satyam vada, dharmam cara, svaadhyaayam maa pramadah. (Taittireeya Upanishad, Shiksha Valli, Anuvak 11, Verses 1&2:)
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Oh, But You Do Get It Wrong!
Wendy Doniger (1) falsely and unfairly brands all of her critics as right-wing Hindutva fundamentalists, and (2) grossly mischaracterizes (and misquotes) the text of the Valmiki Ramayana
ADITI BANERJEE

Wendy Doniger (Mircea Eliade Distinguished Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School and in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago) was recently interviewed in Outlook with reference to her new book, The Hindus: An Alternative History.  In the interview, she (1) falsely and unfairly brands all of her critics as right-wing Hindutva fundamentalists, and (2) grossly mischaracterizes (and misquotes) the text of the Valmiki Ramayana, calling into question her “alternative” version not just of the Ramayana, but also of Hinduism and Hindu history as a whole. 
Doniger’s prominence and clout as a “definitive” authority in the discourse on Indian traditions and history give her views considerable significance.  For, it is Doniger’s (and her colleagues’) versions of Hinduism and Hindu history (which are often at serious variance with traditional Hinduism as practised and understood by Hindus themselves) that form the curriculum of university courses, line the bookshelves of the “Hinduism” sections of bookstores (physical and virtual), and are given play in the Western and Indian mainstream press. 
Accordingly, this latest “alternative” history could easily become known as the “canonical” history of Hinduism, because of the imbalance of power between the Western academy and the traditional institutions for learning about Hinduism (which have been marginalized and largely rendered inaccessible under British colonialism.)
Defamation of Critics
The introduction to the interview begins with a misleading quote:
“[Doniger] has continued to infuriate the Hindutva brigade with her unorthodox views on Hinduism and its sacred texts, earning for herself the epithet: “crude, lewd and very rude in the hallowed portals of Sanskrit academics.”” 
The quote implicitly attributed to the “Hindutva brigade” is actually from the BBC web site: 
Professor Wendy Doniger is known for being rude, crude and very lewd in the hallowed portals of Sanskrit Academics. All her special works have revolved around the subject of sex in Sanskrit texts ranging from Siva: The Erotic Ascetic to Tales of Sex and Violence...Never one to shy away from sex, she threw herself into the job of translating the [Kama Sutra] ... She was particularly interested by the parts that justify adultery and the list of ways to get rid of a man ... When she was translating it (over a period of a few years and numerous Sanskrit classes), she frequently found herself having to take cold showers. [1]
The misleading use of this quote sets the tone for the rest of the interview —heaping blame on a nebulous, undefined, straw man “Hindutva Internet Brigade” for the whole continuum of criticism of Doniger’s work—criticism that has come mostly from moderate and liberal Hindus, secularists, non-Hindu scholars and even one prominent Harvard Indologist who is not known for being friendly towards Hindus.  Rather than confront the actual criticisms, Doniger pretends that her only critics are Hindu extremists, and by rebuking this “enemy” she tries to deflect any criticism of her work.
Just as some politicians resort to picking on their weakest critic to discredit all of their critics, Doniger picks one stray comment on the Amazon web site to characterize all of her critics—when asked to describe the Hindu-American response to her book, Doniger exclaims, “My favourite one on Amazon accuses me of being a Christian fundamentalist and my book a defence of Christianity against Hinduism. And of course, I’m not a Christian, I’m a Jew!”
Doniger ignores the prolific response to her work by the American Hindu community, including dozens of published articles, countless public conferences, repeated calls for debate and dialogue between the academy and the Hindu-American community, and a recently published book analysing the representation of Hinduism in American universities.  It is totally irresponsible for such a prominent professor, whose career is built on writing about Hinduism, to stereotype and vilify the entire Hindu-American community on the basis of the actions of a few. 
Doniger’s refusal to address her critics only worsens as the interview proceeds.  When asked why Hindus object to her writings, she flippantly replies: 
You’ll have to ask them why. It doesn’t seem to me to have much to do with the book. They don’t say, “Look here, you said this on page 200, and that’s a terrible thing to say.” Instead, they say things not related to the book: you hate Hindus, you are sex-obsessed, you don’t know anything about the Hindus, you got it all wrong.
This is a bald lie.  The first Part of the book, Invading the Sacred, documents and refutes dozens of statements by Doniger, as illustrated by the following:
· “Holi, the spring carnival, when members of all castes mingle and let down their hair, sprinkling one another with cascades of red powder and liquid, symbolic of the blood that was probably used in past centuries.”  (from Doniger’s article about Hinduism in the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopaedia—Microsoft Encarta subsequently removed her entry in 2004; while we do not know this for a fact, one can reasonably conclude that Microsoft Encarta came to an internal conclusion about Doniger’s lack of scholarship and objectivity). 
· From a newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, dated November 19, 2000, entitled "Big-screen caddy is Hindu hero in disguise" written by David O'Reilly, Inquirer Staff Writer:
"Myth scholar Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago was on hand earlier this month to lecture on the Gita.  “The Bhagavad Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think,” she said, in a lecture titled “The Complicity of God in the Destruction of the Human Race.”   “Throughout the Mahabharata, the enormous Hindu epic of which the Gita is a small part, Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviors such as war in order to relieve "mother Earth" of its burdensome human population and the many demons disguised as humans … The Gita is a dishonest book; it justifies war,” Doniger told the audience of about 150” (emphasis added). 
Doniger may now claim that she was misquoted, but she has failed to obtain a retraction from the Philadelphia Inquirer.  
· Prof. Michael Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University posted the following remarks about Doniger's translations to a mailing list and called her translations "UNREALIABLE" [sic] and "idiosyncratic:"
· Doniger's “rendering of even the first two paadas [of the Rg Veda] is more of a paraphrase than a translation;” 
· “In this hymn (of 18 stanzas) alone I have counted 43 instances which are wrong or where others would easily disagree.”  
· “Note that all 3 translations are Re-translations. Mistakes of the type mentioned above could easily have been avoided if the work of our 19th century predecessors (and contemporaries!) had been consulted more carefully … Last point: Looking at the various new translations that have appeared in the past decade or so: Why always to Re-translate something done 'several' times over already --- and why not to take up one of the zillion Un-translated Skt. texts?” [2] 
Is that specific enough? 
Nor can Doniger claim ignorance of these examples, having been made aware of them through emails, various conferences, journals and mailing lists by many people, including university professors, fellow scholars, and students.
As a scapegoat tactic to discredit her critics, Doniger plays both the sex card and the race card, without offering any evidence for being discriminated against on the grounds of her gender or her race:
I think I have a double disadvantage among the Hindutva types.  One is that I’m not a Hindu and the other is that I am not a male.  I suppose the third is that I’m not a Brahmin, but I don’t even get there because I’m not a Hindu!  I think it’s considered unseemly in the conservative Hindu view for a woman to talk about sex—that’s something men talk about among themselves (emphasis added).
But her critics have been concerned not with her gender or race but only with the content of her scholarship.  Race and sex bias are the “cards” Doniger uses to distract readers who are unfamiliar with the details of the substance of the critiques against her.  
Hindu society acknowledges and celebrates any genuine scholars of Hinduism, irrespective of their gender, race or caste.  For example, the late Sir John Woodroffe / Arthur Avalon is regarded by even the most traditional and orthodox of Hindu acharyas, including the late Shankaracharya of Sringeri, as one of the great Tantric scholars of modern times—despite his being neither Hindu nor Brahmin-born.  In addition, Dr. Klaus Klostermaier, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba (Canada), is highly respected in Hindu circles.  Linda Johnsen, neither male, Hindu, nor Brahmin-born, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism (2002) among several other books, is also highly regarded for her knowledge about Hinduism.
This respect is not just academic—non-Indian spiritual gurus have been revered by Hindus as well.  Daya Mata (Faye Wright), another female, non-Hindu, non-Brahmin (by birth) of the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) was highly regarded by the most traditional and orthodox of Hindu leaders, including (I have been told) the late Shankaracharya of Sringeri, a great scholar and authority on Hinduism.  Similarly, Sister Nivedita (Margaret Elizabeth Noble), female, non-Hindu, non Brahmin-born, perhaps the most prominent of Swami Vivekananda’s disciples, has been revered as a true Hindu saint by many orthodox Hindus, including Brahmins; so also has Mother (Mira Alfassa), the Frenchwoman closely associated with (and successor to) Sri Aurobindo.  I could go on with a list of lesser known women of foreign birth who are equally acknowledged as true representatives of Hinduism.  I have not even touched upon the scores of Indian women who have been revered by Hindus from the Vedic times to the modern day—e.g., Gargi, whose open debate with the great sage Yajnavalkya is prominently featured in theBrhadaranyaka Upanisad.
Moreover, the idea that “it’s considered unseemly in the conservative Hindu view for a woman to talk about sex--that’s something men talk about among themselves” is another blatantly false stereotype by Doniger.  
Doniger’s contention that traditional Hindu women are not allowed to talk about sex is directly refuted by the celebrated account of the debate between Ubhaya-Bharati and Adi Shankara, one of the great intellects of the world, sage from the 8th Century CE, and father of Advaita Vedanta as known today.  Adi Shankara was challenged to a debate by Mandana Misra, a learned and well-known Purva Mimamsa scholar.  They agreed that Mandana’s wife, Ubhaya-Bharati, a renowned scholar in her own right, would be the referee and that the loser of the debate would become the disciple of the winner.  After debating for many days, Mandana Misra lost and was about to become the disciple of Adi Shankara.  However, Ubhaya-Bharati then challenged Adi Shankara to debate her, on the grounds that since she and her husband were one person upon being married, he would have to defeat both of them in order to win the debate.
 Adi Shankara accepted her challenge.  The debate went well for Adi Shankara until Ubhaya-Bharati began posing intricate questions on the science of erotics (well-accepted, in the appropriate context, as a topic of sacred discourse and knowledge in Hinduism).  If it was “considered unseemly” per traditional Hinduism for women to talk about sex, the official version of the Shankara Digvijaya (accepted as authentic by the Sringeri Shankaracharya Matha) would never have mentioned Ubhaya-Bharati’s questioning of Adi Shankara.  (Adi Shankara ended up satisfactorily answering the questions on eroticism, and Ubhaya-Bharati accepted her defeat.) 
 There is also the celebrated account given in the Yoga Vasistha of Queen Chudalai, an advanced yogini, who initiates her husband, King Sikhidvaja, as her disciple; she tests his renunciation repeatedly and instructs him on the proper attitude towards sexual union and sensual pleasure.  Similarly, the famous Tripura Rahasya narrates Princess Hemalata’s initiation of her husband, Prince Hemachuda, into the secrets of samadhi and moksha.  Finally, the Mahabharata recounts the famous interaction between Arjuna and Urvashi—when Arjuna rejected Urvashi’s frank invitation for sexual union, she pronounced the following curse: “Since thou disregardest a woman come to thy mansion … of her own motion—a woman, besides, who is pierced by the shafts of Kama, therefore, O Partha, thou shalt have to pass thy time among females … destitute of manhood and scorned as a eunuch." 
As these examples show, not only were women allowed to discuss sex, they had the authority and scriptural and social standing to challenge and teach the greatest of sages and the most royal of men with respect to all subject matters, including sex and eroticism.
Of course, it is unfortunate that the puritanical mores of Victorian British rule have corrupted modern Hindu society, restricting the open acceptance of sex and sexuality.  However, the holistic acceptance of sex and sexuality (without gender or orientation bias) inherent to Hinduism is still vibrant and alive in traditional Hinduism.
In a personal context, I can say unequivocally that despite my birth and upbringing as an American and my liberal schooling in Boston and at Yale Law School, my most honest and open discussions of sex have been with the most orthodox and “traditional” of Hindu swamis and acharyas.  They helped me unlearn the associative guilt and sexual repression of Western mores.  They also taught me that sexual desire is, in the appropriate context, an integral part of life and that there is nothing sinful  or shameful about it, and that heightened sexual energies are not antithetical to, but can be an integral part of, spiritual development for people qualified (adhikaris) for those types of sadhana or spiritual practice.
In short, playing this race and sex card may be an attempt by Doniger to elicit sympathy—but this cannot substitute for sound scholarship.  In the traditions of true academic scholarship, Doniger should let her work stand or fall on its own merits and not hide behind false victimhood.        
Misrepresentations of Valmiki Ramayana
Apart from unfairly stereotyping and insulting her critics, most of the rest of the interview concerns Doniger’s take on the Valmiki Ramayana.
The “Interpolation” of Ravana’s Curse
According to Doniger:
Things were added on in Ramayana’s first and seventh book later on. For instance, in the seventh book we have a story long before the story of Rama and Sita about how Ravana raped one of the great apsaras, Rambha ... [Her husband] curses Ravana that if he ever touches a woman against her will, his head will shatter into a thousand pieces. So that story is then told in the Ramayana to explain why Ravana didn’t force himself on Sita despite keeping her in his house all those years. In the earlier Ramayana, there’s nothing about this ... This is a later idea that creeps in.”
It is incorrect for Doniger to say that the curse upon Ravana was a “later idea that [crept in]” to explain Ravana’s unwillingness to rape Sita.  The relevant incident is found in Book 6 (Yuddha Kanda), almost universally recognized as part of the original Valmiki Ramayana.  (It is the first part of Book 1 (Bala Kanda) and all of Book 7 (Uttara Kanda) that are, debatably, later interpolations.) 
The account is given by Ravana in Sarga (Canto) 13 of Book 6 (Yuddha Kanda): 
Once I beheld (a celestial nymph) Punjikasthala (by name) ... She was stripped of her garment and ravished by me.  She then reached the abode of Brahma ... Highly enraged, the creator forthwith addressed the following words to me: “If you (happen to) violate any other woman hence forward, your head will be forthwith split into a hundred pieces; there is no doubt about it.”  Hence, afraid (as I am) of his curse, I do not violently put Sita, a princess of the Videha territory, on my charming bed by force. [3]
There is an account of Ravana’s rape of Rambha in Book 7 (Uttara Kanda)—but it is the incident recounted in Book 6 (accepted as part of the original Valmiki Ramayana) that is explicitly offered as the reason why Ravana did not rape Sita.  The effect of the rape of Rambha is more generic:  “[Ravana] felt inclined no more to copulate with women who were unwilling to approach him." [4]   
This is not mere nitpicking—the citation of the rape of Punjikasthala in Book 6 discredits Doniger’s contention that the curse on Ravana was a later interpolation interjected to conveniently explain why Ravana never raped Sita. 
Rama as a “Sex-Addict”
According to Doniger, the concept of a “sex-addict” is introduced into the Valmiki Ramayanaby Lakshmana calling Dasaratha kama-sakta, which she defines as “hopelessly attached to lust.”
It is not clear where Doniger picks up the term ‘kama-sakta’—the term does not appear upon a search of the text of the Valmiki Ramayana as given in the Titus online database, which is based on the following version of the text: G.H. Bhatt e.a., The Valmiki Ramayana, (Baroda 1960-1975), prepared by Muneo Tokunaga, March 12, 1993 (adaptations by John D. Smith, Cambridge, 1995.)
Further, neither the term nor its variants appear in the most logical place where Lakshmana would have used the words to describe Dasaratha, the passage in Book 2 (Ayodhya Kanda) when Lakshmana disparages the character of Dasaratha for banishing Rama.  The relevant phrases that Lakshmana uses here are the following: nripah vipariitasheha (king with perverted mind), pradharshhitaH vishhayaiH (who is outraged by sensual enjoyments) andsamanimadhaH (who is possessed of passion). [5]  None of these terms translates even remotely as “sex addict / addiction”.  Addiction is something more than just being overcome by lust: addiction is a “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance…characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." [6]     
However, for the sake of argument, I will give the benefit of the doubt to Doniger and assume that the term kama-sakta has been used by Lakshmana to describe Dasaratha in the Valmiki-Ramayana.  That in and of itself does not imply that Dasaratha was “hopelessly addicted to lust.”  Kama-sakta simply means an attachment (sakta) to desire (kama). Kama does not itself necessarily refer to sexual desire, or even erotic or romantic desire.  Dasaratha’s reluctance to allow Rama to serve as guard over Vishwamitra’s yajna, for example, or Lakshmana’s unwillingness to be parted from Rama, could equally be characterized as kama-sakta.  To assume it to mean “attachment to lust” is another in a pattern of Doniger’s ex-cathedra translations in variance with traditional Sanskrit nirukta (etymology) for which she has been repudiated before. 
It has been brought to my attention that, subsequent to the original interview, as published in print and on this website, Doniger’s statements were corrected to carry the following version of Doniger’s quote on October 20: “Lakshman is the one who actually says it.   He says the king is hopelessly attached to sensual objects.  But Rama himself says (at 2.47.8) that the king is kama-atma, entirely consumed by kama.”  The deletion of the term kama-sakta and the addition of the new reference is not explained, other than as a "typo".
To offer Doniger leeway that she almost never offers her critics, I will accept the “corrected” statement—but her argument still fails.  The relevant reference—found in Sarga 53 of the Gita Press, Gorakhpur version and in Sarga 47 of the Titus database version (mentioned above)—is part of a scene where Rama reminisces about his father to Lakshmana during the first night of his banishment from Ayodhya.  Here is the exact reference:
anaathaH caiva vRiddhaH ca mayaa caiva vinaakRitaH | kim kariSyati kaama aatmaa kaikeyyaa vasham aagataH ||
vRiddhascha (aged); anaathashcha ((and therefore) helpless); mayaarinaacha (deprived of my presence); kim karishhyati (what will he do); kRitaH (dominated as he is); kaamaatmaa (by his passion (for Kaikeyi)); aagataH (and who has fallen); kaikeyiivasham (into clutches of Kaikeyi). 
 “Aged and (therefore) helpless, deprived of my presence, what will he do, dominated as he is by his passion for Kaikeyi and who has fallen into the clutches of Kaikeyi.”
As with the phrases described above (uttered by Lakshmana in anger), Kama-atma does not necessarily mean “entirely consumed by kama.”  For example, the illustrious commentary on the Ramayana by Sivasahaya, Raamayana Siromani¸ gives the following example of using the term kama-atma in a non-sexual context:  kaama aathmaa:  kaama - abhishEka vishayiNi ichchhaa (desiring the matter of crowning) aathmaa - aathmani manasyEva yasya sah (one who had this in mind)—i.e., “the king who desired in his mind the crowning [of Rama]." [7]
Falling prey to love (Rama’s description) or being overcome by lust (Lakshmana’s description) does not make one a sex addict; if it did, then any of us could be accused of the same!  Sex was explicitly discussed and celebrated in ancient Indian / Hindu texts, as an accepted integral part of life—discussions of being overcome by desire, therefore, do not automatically translate into one being characterized or condemned as a sex-addict.  These epithets were uttered in anger and anguish by Dasaratha’s sons at the time of their separation from their family and kingdom—the epithets are indicative of their pain and anger and are not meant to be psychoanalytical judgements of Dasaratha’s character, particularly in a socio-cultural context where intense sexual enjoyment was not viewed as a vice—c.f., the accounts of Karadamarishi and Devahuti in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Yayati and Sarmishta in the Mahabharata, and Kacha and Devyani in the Mahabharata, where long periods of intense sexual union were described without any condemnation or sense of shame.   
In any case, it is not necessary to get entangled into the technicality of semantics to challenge Doniger’s central thesis, which is summarized in the following excerpt from the interview:
You also suggest that because Rama is afraid of turning into a sex addict like his father, he throws Sita out after enjoying sex with her?
You have a chapter in Valmiki’s Ramayana where Rama was so happy with Sita, they drank wine together, they were alone, enjoying themselves in every way, indulging in various ways, not just the sexual act. And in the very next chapter he says I’ve got to throw you out.  So I’m suggesting: what is the connection between those two things?  And what does it mean that Rama knows that Dasaratha, his father, disgraced himself because of his attachment to his young and beautiful wife.  So I’m taking pieces of the Ramayana and putting them together and saying these are not disconnected.
So you are saying his fear of following in his father’s footsteps is making him betray his own sexuality?
Yes, I am. Or even of being perceived that way.
Note the internal contradiction in Doniger’s position—her  characterization of Rama hinges on a passage found in Book 7 (Uttara Kanda), and she has elsewhere in the interview dismissed that same Book 7 as a later interpolation! 
In any event, the passage describing Rama and Sita’s “indulgence” is from Sarga 42 of Book 7 (Uttara Kanda), where Rama and Sita are enjoying their reunion after Sita’s abduction.  As described therein, during this period of two winters (i.e., two years, although in some versions, an additional half-shloka is included providing that this interlude lasted 10,000 years), Rama and Sita would spend the second half of every day together in Rama’s Ashoka-grove, enjoying heavenly music and dance and partaking of gourmet food and intoxicating drinks.  Rama and Sita are compared to other divine couples:
Taking in his hand the pure nectar of flowers as intoxicating as the Maireyaka wine, Sri Rama … made Sri Sita drink it, just as Indra does Sachi ... Seated in the company of the celebrated Sita, [Rama] shone with splendour like Vasishta seated along with Arundhati.  Sri Rama, steeped in joy like gods, afforded delight thus day after day to … Sita, who resembled a divine damsel. [8]
Doniger conveniently leaves out the fact that it is in this chapter that Rama discovers that Sita is pregnant.  Delighted at this revelation, Rama asks her to tell him which desire of hers he should fulfil.  This is Sita’s response: “O Raghava!  I wish to visit the holy penance-groves and to stay, O Lord!, at the feet of sages ... living on the banks of the Ganga ... This is my greatest wish that I should stay even for one night in the penance-grove of those who live only on fruits and (edible) roots." [9]  Rama readily acquiesces to this wish, promising that she will be taken for a visit there the very next day.
Doniger claims that “in the very next chapter [Rama] says [to Sita] I’ve got to throw you out.” This is another totally false statement by Doniger.  It is in Sarga 45 (after two interveningsargas / chapters, wherein Rama learns of the negative gossip surrounding Sita and thus decides to banish her) that Rama orders Lakshmana to take Sita to the forest and leave her there.  This is just one more instance of Doniger’s casual disregard of the facts, unbecoming of a distinguished professor with a named chair at the University of Chicago.
Of course, it is the two sargas / chapters that Doniger skips over in her “alternative” narrative that provide the reason for Rama banishing Sita: Rama is informed that he is being rebuked by the people of Ayodhya as follows: “Why does not Sri Rama censure [Sita], who formerly had been forcibly carried away by Ravana? ... Such conduct of our wives shall have to be suffered by us also, since whatever a king does, the subjects follow." [10]  The pernicious rumours are about Sita’s chastity / purity, not about Rama’s excessive lust. 
When this gossip is confirmed by others, Rama summons his brothers to him, and informs them of his decision to leave Sita, providing the following explanation for his decision: “As long as the word of infamy circulates, so long one does fall in the lower regions (hell).  Infamy is censured even by the gods and fame gains credence in the world." [11]  It is the fear of losing his good name (as the result of the infamy surrounding Sita’s chastity by the gossip-mongers of Ayodhya) that impels Rama, not fear of being chastised as a sex-addict.
Nowhere is it mentioned that Rama feared he might fall victim to the “vice” of sex and that he therefore abandoned Sita – this again appears to be an example of the kind of fanciful creation for which Doniger and many of her students, now academicians at leading American universities, have become well-known.  There is no connotation of illicit or excessive indulgence in the description of Rama and Sita’s blissful interlude together in Sarga 42—to the contrary, Rama and Sita are depicted as a divine couple with the dignity and radiance of Indra and Sachi, Vasishta and Arundhati.  Rama is full of tenderness for Sita upon discovering her pregnancy.  It clearly breaks his heart to send Sita away—after giving Lakshmana the command, “[Rama] the noble one with His eyes closed, taking leave of His brothers, entered His own apartment, with his heart agitated by sorrow, deeply sighed as an elephant." [12]
In Doniger’s own words, she is “taking pieces of the Ramayana and putting them together” to come up with this far-fetched explanation.  But, one cannot play connect-the-dots with various scenes from a vast text such as the Valmiki Ramayana, stripping out the proper sequence and removing the contextual background of the critical passages, and then call it a valid textual interpretation.  
Even if Doniger is reading into the text certain psychological motivations she wants to attribute to the characters, her characterization appears to be illogical--if Rama sent Sita away simply because he didn’t want to become / be characterized as a sex addict, why did he not make arrangements to claim his future heir(s), whom he knew Sita carried in her womb? 
Construction of Hindu Temples
Doniger suggests that Hindus did not have a prominent temple-building movement—because building temples requires “a lot of money, land, a whole system of building temples, which the Hindus did not have at first”—until the Bhakti movement gathered momentum “to organize Rama or Shiva worship.”  She makes a superfluous reference to the fact that theKama Sutra does not discuss temple worship—one wonders why the Kama Sutra would be a relevant reference for discussion of temple construction, but then one recalls the BBC quote at the beginning of this note about Doniger’s strange predilection for the Kama Sutra.
This is really the topic for another article, but it is worth quickly noting here that theSathapatha Brahmana portion of the Shukla Yajur Veda, dating back to at least 1500 BCE, describes a special form of tabernacle, distinct from the Agni-shala of the household, for which a special fire-priest, the Agnidhra, was designated.  Through the kindling of the fire, the tabernacle became the dwelling place of the Vishvedevas (all the gods).  This is a prototype for later Hindu temples, where icons replaced the sacred fire as the focus of worship.  In other words, if one wants to be polemical, one can definitely argue that the genesis of formal temple construction vidhis – rules and methods – certainly pre-dates the advent of Buddhism.
Further, details of (at least Vaishnava) temple construction, the consecration of images for worship, and the actual procedures and rituals for temple worship are set forth in the ancientVaikhanasa and Paancharatra Agamas.  The Vaikhanasa Agama dates back to at least the 3rd or 4th century CE, and its Kriyaa Paadha discusses temple construction and image consecration while its Charyaa Padhaa focuses on the associated rituals of worship. 
There are many examples of temples from these ancient times.  A few are quickly identified here: The early phase of Chalukyan temple building began in the last quarter of the 6th century and resulted in many cave temples, including a Vaishnava temple dating back to 578 CE.  The second phase of Chalukyan temple building at Aihole, celebrated as one of the cradles of Indian temple architecture, dates back to approximately 600 CE.  Similarly, the Pallavas constructed rock-cut temples dating from 610–690 AD and structural temples between 690–900 AD, including the rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram, the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram, and the Shore Temple built by Narasimhavarman II.
Doniger’s Larger Narrative about Hinduism
The story Doniger wants to tell about the Ramayana fits into her larger narrative about the character of Hinduism.  Her overarching narrative is captured in her statement: “That’s why Hinduism is such a wonderful religion. It’s because people are allowed to have their own texts … there was no one who said there was only one way to tell the Ramayana ... And no one would say that you got it wrong.”
Of course, there is great diversity in Hinduism—after all, over three hundred versions of theRamayana co-exist peaceably within the pantheon of Hindu literature.  There are no unnecessary battles about which version is the definitive version—Hinduism does not subscribe to the notion of One Book or One Prophet, which is the predominant characteristic of the Semitic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 
It is misleading to say, in a scholarly context, that just because multiple versions of a story exist, “no one [can] say that you got it wrong.” For, there is a significant difference between creating a new version of a story—e.g., Tulsidas retelling the Ramayana in his Sri Ramacharitamanasa, which does not purport to be the “original” or “corrected” version of the Valmiki Ramayana—and offering an academic explanation or interpretation of an existing story (the Valmiki Ramayana) that takes liberties with and/or misquotes the text. It is the difference between artistic interpretation and scholarly rigour. For a scholar, it is not sufficient to demonstrate that a constructed narrative or story is possible by stringing together disparate phrases and passages; rather, a scholar must show why her preferred version is more persuasive than other versions—why it is a more coherent narrative or a more insightful explanation. This is particularly important when the scholar’s preferred version sharply diverges from the canonical traditions of interpretation. This is not fundamentalism—this is what it means to be a scholar! 
The diversity within Hinduism and Hindu society is one of its greatest strengths, but the danger of saying that there is no one Hindu identity is concluding that therefore there isn’t any Hindu identity.  Diversity should not be falsely treated as a lack of unity; to the contrary, e pluribus unum (from many, one).  Actually, in the Hindu framework, it would be from one, many—c.f.,Bhagavad Gita (15:1): “There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.”  In other words, from One Truth flower many expressions of that same truth, from one root of dharma flower the hymns, traditions, philosophical doctrines and sacred lore that comprise the tree of Hinduism.  Or, to give a musical analogy, within one scale or raaga, many variations may be improvised.
In concrete fact, unity underlies every instance of diversity in Hinduism over the eons—that is why, for example, Adi Shankara Bhagavadpada, spiritual titan and amongst the greatest intellects of the world established the four seats of his monastic order on the four corners of India—Jyotirmath / Badrinath in the North, Puri in the East, Dwaraka in the West and Sringeri in the South—he also installed Namboodris from the deep south of Kerala as officiating priests in the Himalayan temple of Badrinath (a practice that continues to this day).
In closing, there does exist an easily recognizable non-fundamentalist Hindu identity, built upon a body of history, sacred texts and philosophical and ritualistic traditions that span several thousands of years.  This Hindu identity is diverse and multidimensional but also internally consistent—a consistent scale, as it were, upon which millions of Hindus improvise their own variations. 

Aditi Banerjee received a B.A. in International Relations, magna cum laude, from Tufts University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She is a practicing attorney in London and also co-editor, Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America (Rupa & Co., June 2007)
Notes:
[1] Interview with Wendy Doniger, March 27, 2002, http://www.bbc.co.uk/asianlife/tv/network_east_late/biogs/wendy_doniger.shtml, available athttp://web.archive.org/web/20020911134952/......biogs/wendy_doniger.shtml.
[2] Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee, eds., Invading The Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America (Rupa & Co., June 2007), p. 66. See also Ailes, Gregory D., Religious Studies: a Global View (Routledge 2007), p. 260.
[3] See Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation), Gita Press, Gorakhpur (Sixth Edition 2001), Book Six, Canto 13, verses 4-15, (Volume 2, pp. 266-267).
[4] Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation), Gita Press, Gorakhpur (Sixth Edition 2001), Book 7, Canto 26, Verse 58 (Volume 2, p. 769).
[5] Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana Book 2, Canto 21, Verse 3.
[6] See the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction.
[7] 'See Sivasahaya,Raamayana Siromani, Parimal Publications, New Delhi, Volume 2, p. 722.
[8] See Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation), Gita Press, Gorakhpur (Sixth Edition 2001), Book 7, Canto 42, Verse 19 and 24, (Volume 2, p. 819).
[9] Id. , Verses 33-34, (Volume 2, p. 820).
[10] Id., Canto 43, (Volume 2, p. 821).
[11] Id., Canto 45, Verse 13 (Volume 2, p. 825).
[12] Id.Canto 45, Verse 24-25 (Volume 2, p. 825).
This article has been prepared with valuable inputs from:
His Holiness Swami Sarvananda Saraswati, Vedantacharya of the Shankara Advaita sampradaya; Chancellor, Bhartishreepeetham University, New Delhi; President, All India Quami Ekta Committee, New Delhi; Board of Directors, OISCA International, Tokyo, Japan; Chairman, Bhajan Sukhsewa Mission, U.S.A., U.K., Canada, France; Devi Upasaka, Sri Vidya authority, and orator.
Swami Sanmayananda Saraswati, sannyasin in the Shankara Advaita tradition, founder of Nallepilly Narayanalayam Ashramam in Kerala, and ardent devotee of Guruvayoor Krishna.
Bhagwat Bhaskara Sri Krishna Chandra Shastri (Thakurji), renowned Vaishnavism and Sanskrit scholar from the Sri Vaishnava (Ramanuja) sampradaya, world-renowned orator on Hinduism regularly featured on Aastha TV with audiences of 10,000 – 100,000 for his public discourses on Hinduism (Bhagwat Saptah)—Sri Thakurji is saddened both at the tone and nature of the contents of Prof. Doniger’s interview and will soon publish a rejoinder in the media. 
Dr. Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan, President, Networked Multimedia Services; retired executive IBM Research; Kaimkarya Ratnam and Sri VaishNav Srinidhi, recognized exponent / authority of Sri Vaishnavism (Ramanuja sampradaya) known for his knowledge of Carnatic music, author of innumerable e-books on Sri Vaishnavism and diverse Hindu spiritual topics.
Nagendra S. Rao, spiritual advisor / counsellor (to many, including me); community resource with a syncretistic Advaita and multicultural perspective; long-time close disciple of the late Shankaracharya of Sringeri, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal; co-founder and former Director of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF); sometime executive consultant on global strategy planning with IBM.
Dr. MG Vasudevan, retired engineer; Sanskrit and Ramayana scholar; freelance writer on the Ramayana, including an e-book on “The Roles of Lakshmana,”—he has provided many of the citations in this paper.
Rajiv Malhotra, renowned intellectual on Hinduism and traditional Indian culture; prolific author of scholarly studies on academic Hinduism programs at leading US universities; founder and president of Infinity Foundation; appointee to the Asian-American Commission for the State of New Jersey, where he serves as the Chairman for the Education Committee.
Dr. Prabhu Shastry, teacher of scriptures and spiritual texts at Bharata Vidya Bhavan, London; freelance Sanskrit teacher in London.
Sri K. Balasubramanian, Devi Upasaka; renowned practitioner / exponent of Sri Vidya & Sri Chakra puja.
Please visit www.invadingthesacred.com to learn more about the larger issues discussed in this note.
Typos fixed with the author's consent on October 29, 10:14 PM

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NOV 07, 2009 06:36 AM
115 Apologies to the Moderator. He or she has not deleted my earlier comments as I thought. I overlooked them. In fact, I see a welcome liberalness in the Moderator's current policy. Debate has to be frank and even contemptuous to be worthwhile.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA    
NOV 07, 2009 04:32 AM
114 AUGUSTUS: 

I wonder how you can believe that, let us say, Christianity, is "non-mystical"? All religions are mythological and mystical. It is unfair to brand only Hinduism with these traits.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 07, 2009 04:29 AM
113 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

All religions change with social and economic changes. 

Christianity today is very far from the versions known in pre-industrial ages. 

Hinduism, too, cannot eternally stand still. Only 
people completely without a sense of history would expect it to. 

Hinduism needs to meet the challenge of far more aggressive religions, organised to take over - Islam and Christianity. Like an army that adopts the superior arms of its enemies to beat them, Hinduism is adopting some of the traits of Islam and Christianity. That does not mean Hinmduism will not continue to differ from these enemies. It will, for instance, remain polytheistic. 

So, don't be surprised by these natural changes.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 06, 2009 08:17 PM
112 As far as intelligent postings go, Ms. Namratha's post is right up at the top of this thread. 

I agree with Ms. Namratha that Banerjee probably didn't read the book. After all, for a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of Doniger's views on Ramayana and Hinduism, reading her book is a logical starting point. However, if the intent were to promote Banerjee's own book then reading Doniger isn't necessary. Consequently, any attempt at substantive criticism of Doniger's idea ends up sounding tinny. 

Ms. Namratha writes, Hinduism "embodies many contradictions, oppositions and paradoxes. This is the beauty of it." While Hinduism's appeal to her seems to be mainly aesthetic, I suspect the Chaddi intuition is probably right. For their grim project, they need something more than aesthetics. They need a comprehensive, solid and internally consistent theology/philosophy that can explain the past, deal with the present and promise a future for all humanity in primarily non-mystical terms. That burden Hinduism cannot bear. So, we are treated to a comical spectacle of history-challenged Chaddis pushing a round peg into a square hole and deforming Hinduism in the process.
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 06, 2009 05:10 AM
111 'firm grip on reality...' blahblahnonsense 

Best to leave the delusional padre wallowing in his own vomit
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 06, 2009 04:34 AM
110 AUGUSTUS 

Sorry about the typos below.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA    
NOV 06, 2009 04:32 AM
109 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

To my amazement the Moderator has removed a message to you that by any standars was moderately put. 

All I said was that the hullaballoo about Doniger's depiction of Hindua compsrable way. deities in ways that many Hindus see as vulgar is understab=dable if we remember that the mainline Indian media rarely gives the same publicity to thoise who depct the heroes of other religions a comparably"shocking" way.... 

That said, Doniger has a right to her views. But so do others about other faiths, who don't get the same exposure.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 06, 2009 03:13 AM
108 >>>>you lose what little credibility you have with such calumnious nonsense.... 

>>Hurts, does it, when you are paid back in your own coin? 

You couldn't payback if you could steal coins... 

>>>>all characterising is done on the substantive basis (or lack of) of the protest itself.... 

>>At least I see no substantive basis for reading Aditi as Hindutva 

like the wailing and moaning on imperialism of western scholarship and blaming the lack of "traditional institutions for learning about Hinduism (which have been marginalized and largely rendered inaccessible under British colonialism)" blah blah blah? If that isn't a tell tale sign of Hindutva response to analysis of Hindu texts, then I don't know what is... 

>>That is exactly the point, that Doniger despite all her avowed claims is actually quite an ignoramus, 

Oooom......beammmmmm.....busssssss....there! you said it and the magical power of your word makes it true! I know kindergartners with a more firm grip on reality... 

>>and thus says the biggest Sanskritist, Michael Witzel 

Witzel's criticism is her translation of Rig Veda is idiosyncratic....but such criticism is lost upon knuckleheads who don't know the difference between vedic sanskirt and classical sanskirt... 

>>>>The problem is the entire book is an angry rant of people who know very little about their own religious texts and resent the fact that others know more about it than they do. 

>>And you say that because you have read the book? 

I was providing you with a synopsis of the review since your basic reading and comprehension skills are quite iffy. 

>>Exactly, but one hasn't seen any substantive rebuttal other than whines and accusations! 

like the first 12,000 words of her 30,000 word sleep inducing ventfest? 

>>>>what holes? 

>>No point trying to converse with one all of whose orifices seem to be filled with horse manure 

predictable response of he whose ass has been handed to him repeatedly on a plethora of issues...
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 06, 2009 12:08 AM
107 To "Namratha" 

>>I have Wendy Doniger's book in entirety, 

Didn't realise the book could be had not in its entirety as well 

>>and after reading Banerjee's piece suspect that she HASN'T EVEN READ Doniger's book, 

Suspect? So the rest of your post can easily be ignored. 

>>and is ONLY responding to the earlier interview outlook published. This isn't fair. If she is going to critcize Doniger's work or research, she should read the work, in question (here it is the THE HINDUS) to draw an informed conclusion. It isn't right or ethical to do otherwise. 

Oh, wow! It's fair for Outlook to publish her interview but not fair for someone to point out the stupidities in what Doniger has to say?! 

>>Page 509 of Doniger's book, The Hindus, talks about the Bharati Madanamishra episode thaat Bannerjee also alludes to. 520 - Queen Chulala and her husband King Shikihidvaja. Bannerjee in this article makes it sound like Doniger is unaware of these examples - in fact she carefully discusses these in her work. 

Irrelevant. In fact, these then disprove Doniger's whines about not being taken seriously because she is a woman! 

>>Doniger's point is that there may be scriptural references to women discussing sex with men, but Doniger's point is that these scriptural refs exist - but do NOT translate into social realities/ socially acceptable norms. 

That is not relevant vis-a-vis the interview, as DOniger is whinining that "Hindutva" crowd doesn't take her seriously because she is a woman blahsobblah 

>>Regarding the 'canonical valmiki Ramayana' and the Rambha-Ravana incident, I have to say that there are MANY manuscripts of even the Valmiki Ramayana out there, with intriguing differences (in one, apparently, in Book 5 (sundara Kanda) Hanuman 'ejaculates' when seeing the beautiful women in Ravana's harem) - is that a scribe's mistake? or an interpolation, perhaps a detail in a folklore/oral Ramayana that crept into the text? 

Let Doniger specify what she is basing her fast and loose remarks on. 

>>It seems like the writer of this article, - an 'american..educated in Boston' is part of the Diaspora. She doesn't live in India, it appears. Lots of people write about hinduism and come to generalizations - and many of them are Hindus who know far less about hinduism than Doniger does. Just because Doniger is not a hindu or an Indian, others attack her work. This isn't fair. The hindu corpus is large enough to defend or attack ANY viewpoint. 

Oh, come off it! What a load of horse manure! 


>>Bannerjee is nitpicking on the sex addict front. I think most of us agree that Dasaratha was consumed with lust for Kaikeyi, and made some rather unwise decisions on that front - so what is the writer's issue with? Simply Doniger's use of the term 'sex addict' in characterizing Dasaratha? Perhaps the epic it self doesn't use the term, but it definately comes close. What issue does Bannerjee have with Dasaratha having negative traits? The epic clearly makes him out to be a flawed character. Why does Bannerjee want to whitewash him and not acknowledge his flaws? 

Oh, but where is Doniger's textual evidence? First she cleverly makes up Kama-sakta. And even there, the clear multi-valence of the word disproves her very thesis! 

>>Ram also ditches Sita in Uttara Kanda - so if anyone has to to talk about Sita's banishment, one is going ot have to cite the Uttara kanda. Doniger isn't arguing about an ur-text, or canonical, original, authentic Ramayana - that isn't the issue in her scholarship at all! So she wouldn't have any issues in pointing out that Uttara Kanda is (and this is accepted by most scholars) is a later addition, while discussing the literary characteristics of the same - she ISN'T contradicting herself, as this reviewer suggests. 

Oh, but she uses it very conveniently! Why does she not recognise that it can be a double-edged sword that can cut her too? 

>>Lastly, Hinduism isn't consistent. It may be so for the diaspora, but for me (and many others) who live in India, it embodies many contradictions, oppositions and paradoxes. This is the beauty of it. For example dualism and non-dualism (dvaita and advaita) schools of thought both exist in Hinduism, but result in very different conceptions of the universe and of the individual's relationship to God - and you can't get more fundamentally different. 

There is no dispute on that! 

>>I am Hindu, raised in India and living in India and I think, even if one doesn't agree with all of Doniger's conclusions one has to respect her knowledge and scholarship - which is immense and far exceeds that of many practicing Hindus, including myself. 

You are welcome to respect her knowledge, whether or not you are a psuedonym for her, or one of her acolytes, but please don't tell us what to do. We'd deal with her on merit.
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 05, 2009 11:58 PM
106 >> Just because Doniger is not a hindu or an Indian, others attack her work. This isn't fair. The hindu corpus is large enough to defend or attack ANY viewpoint. 

>>This is true. Thanks for writing a sensible post on the subject. 

What a sucker and a suck-up!
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 05, 2009 11:57 PM
105 >>you lose what little credibility you have with such calumnious nonsense.... 

Hurts, does it, when you are paid back in your own coin? 

>>all characterising is done on the substantive basis (or lack of) of the protest itself.... 

At least I see no substantive basis for reading Aditi as Hindutva 

>>This is about proper understanding of texts that are a literary treasure and a heritage of human understanding...people who see these texts as more than that are welcome to their views as long as they don't interfere with the intellectual feast they present to others... 


That is exactly the point, that Doniger despite all her avowed claims is actually quite an ignoramus, and thus says the biggest Sanskritist, Michael Witzel (which puts paid to all of "Anwaar"'s effusions as well, since Witzel is no Hindu and far from being a Hindutva supporter) 

>>The problem is the entire book is an angry rant of people who know very little about their own religious texts and resent the fact that others know more about it than they do. 

And you say that because you have read the book? 

>>Nobody argues with Ms. Banerjee's right to her view point. But the moment she shares her viewpoint in public, she invites comment and criticism of her viewpoint. 

Exactly, but one hasn't seen any substantive rebuttal other than whines and accusations! 

>>what holes? 

No point trying to converse with one all of whose orifices seem to be filled with horse manure
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 05, 2009 11:11 PM
104 Namratha, 

>> Just because Doniger is not a hindu or an Indian, others attack her work. This isn't fair. The hindu corpus is large enough to defend or attack ANY viewpoint. 

This is true. Thanks for writing a sensible post on the subject.
ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES  

NOV 05, 2009 08:23 PM
103 "Lastly, Hinduism isn't consistent. It may be so for the diaspora, but for me (and many others) who live in India, it embodies many contradictions, oppositions and paradoxes. This is the beauty of it." 

Modern Hindus, including perhaps NRI's and PIO's most of all, are interested in the devotional, cultural and meditative/contemplative character of Hinduism as a way of giving balance and spirituality to their lives. They are not interested in all these intellectual wranglings about the many versions of the Ramayana or the absolute correct definition of a particular word or phrase in a particular chapter of a certain book.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 05, 2009 08:19 PM
102 " would Vinod Mehta do a piece on the Mallu sleaze movies that Kerala is producing. I heard that Mallus in gulf offer their wives to sheikhs so that they win favors from them..." 

Mommy, look at me, I'm a great secular progressive. I defend Moslems all day long, even going to the extent of defending Pakistani ideology and the Pakistani military's actions in East Pakistan. But I also ridicule South Indians to show off how fair minded and secular I am. 

Good show!
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 05, 2009 07:36 PM
101 I have Wendy Doniger's book in entirety, and after reading Banerjee's piece suspect that she HASN'T EVEN READ Doniger's book, and is ONLY responding to the earlier interview outlook published. This isn't fair. If she is going to critcize Doniger's work or research, she should read the work, in question (here it is the THE HINDUS) to draw an informed conclusion. It isn't right or ethical to do otherwise. 

Page 509 of Doniger's book, The Hindus, talks about the Bharati Madanamishra episode thaat Bannerjee also alludes to. 520 - Queen Chulala and her husband King Shikihidvaja. Bannerjee in this article makes it sound like Doniger is unaware of these examples - in fact she carefully discusses these in her work. 
Doniger's point is that there may be scriptural references to women discussing sex with men, but Doniger's point is that these scriptural refs exist - but do NOT translate into social realities/ socially acceptable norms. 

- Regarding the 'canonical valmiki Ramayana' and the Rambha-Ravana incident, I have to say that there are MANY manuscripts of even the Valmiki Ramayana out there, with intriguing differences (in one, apparently, in Book 5 (sundara Kanda) Hanuman 'ejaculates' when seeing the beautiful women in Ravana's harem) - is that a scribe's mistake? or an interpolation, perhaps a detail in a folklore/oral Ramayana that crept into the text? 

- It seems like the writer of this article, - an 'american..educated in Boston' is part of the Diaspora. She doesn't live in India, it appears. Lots of people write about hinduism and come to generalizations - and many of them are Hindus who know far less about hinduism than Doniger does. Just because Doniger is not a hindu or an Indian, others attack her work. This isn't fair. The hindu corpus is large enough to defend or attack ANY viewpoint. 

- Bannerjee is nitpicking on the sex addict front. I think most of us agree that Dasaratha was consumed with lust for Kaikeyi, and made some rather unwise decisions on that front - so what is the writer's issue with? Simply Doniger's use of the term 'sex addict' in characterizing Dasaratha? Perhaps the epic it self doesn't use the term, but it definately comes close. What issue does Bannerjee have with Dasaratha having negative traits? The epic clearly makes him out to be a flawed character. Why does Bannerjee want to whitewash him and not acknowledge his flaws? 

- Ram also ditches Sita in Uttara Kanda - so if anyone has to to talk about Sita's banishment, one is going ot have to cite the Uttara kanda. Doniger isn't arguing about an ur-text, or canonical, original, authentic Ramayana - that isn't the issue in her scholarship at all! So she wouldn't have any issues in pointing out that Uttara Kanda is (and this is accepted by most scholars) is a later addition, while discussing the literary characteristics of the same - she ISN'T contradicting herself, as this reviewer suggests. 

- Lastly, Hinduism isn't consistent. It may be so for the diaspora, but for me (and many others) who live in India, it embodies many contradictions, oppositions and paradoxes. This is the beauty of it. For example dualism and non-dualism (dvaita and advaita) schools of thought both exist in Hinduism, but result in very different conceptions of the universe and of the individual's relationship to God - and you can't get more fundamentally different. 

I am Hindu, raised in India and living in India and I think, even if one doesn't agree with all of Doniger's conclusions one has to respect her knowledge and scholarship - which is immense and far exceeds that of many practicing Hindus, including myself.
NAMRATHA K
BANGALORE, INDIA  

NOV 05, 2009 04:35 PM
100 AUGUSTUS: 

I mean, would Vinod Mehta be equally ready to give space to Ibn Warraq, a stern critic of Islam and its founder?
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 05, 2009 04:10 PM
99 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

The reql problem is not Doniger, who, as you say, surely has a right to her interpretation of any text, but the imbalance in the Indian media's presentation of her views. 

Her interpretation clearly seems to many Hindus to show disrespect to Hindu deities. That is her business. But the Indian media is ever-ready to publicise such writers. They are on the other hand extremely wary of giving space to those who interpret the founder of Islam in a disrespectful way. 

So you get a marked bias in the way Hinduism and Islam are portrayed in India. Given that India is a country where the two religious communities are often in conflict, and where Hindus are also in conflict with Christian missionaries, this bias provokes anger. 

Hence all this hullaballoo. 

Let the Indian media be more even-handed in its attitudes to the two faiths and things would be calmer.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 05, 2009 10:50 AM
98 >>"Augustus", the defender of paedophile padres on this very site in the past, 

you lose what little credibility you have with such calumnious nonsense.... 

>>shows once again why people like him and Kumar are the biggerst supporters of the 'Hindutvawadis'. 

as proved by the warm hugs and wishes from such quarters! 

>>By characterising all who protest the likes of Doniger as "Hindutva" or "Chaddis" or "saffron" 

all characterising is done on the substantive basis (or lack of) of the protest itself.... 

>>they actually allow the Hindutvawadis to appropriate all such opposition and claim to be the defenders of the faith, about which they actually have not more than a clue. 

This is about proper understanding of texts that are a literary treasure and a heritage of human understanding...people who see these texts as more than that are welcome to their views as long as they don't interfere with the intellectual feast they present to others... 

>>The review in the Hindustan Times was of the same piece. It did not take up any one specific instance from the book to show the problems with it, if any. 

The problem is the entire book is an angry rant of people who know very little about their own religious texts and resent the fact that others know more about it than they do. 

>>On the other hand, this article by Aditi Banerjee actually joins issue with the specifics mentioned by Doniger in her interview. 

Nobody argues with Ms. Banerjee's right to her view point. But the moment she shares her viewpoint in public, she invites comment and criticism of her viewpoint. 

>>Frankly, Doniger comes across as just someone interested in sensationalising things for the sake of selling her book. As a strategy, it has been perfectly executed. 

Her talents extend beyond deep knowledge of ancient texts and a lively style of communicating it... 

>>Her opponents have played right into her hands. At the best, they would get dismissed as "Hindutvawadis" despite having punched big holes in her so-called "scholarship". 

what holes?
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 05, 2009 02:36 AM
97 "Augustus", the defender of paedophile padres on this very site in the past, shows once again why people like him and Kumar are the biggerst supporters of the 'Hindutvawadis'. By characterising all who protest the likes of Doniger as "Hindutva" or "Chaddis" or "saffron" they actually allow the Hindutvawadis to appropriate all such opposition and claim to be the defenders of the faith, about which they actually have not more than a clue. The review in the Hindustan Times was of the same piece. It did not take up any one specific instance from the book to show the problems with it, if any. On the other hand, this article by Aditi Banerjee actually joins issue with the specifics mentioned by Doniger in her interview. Frankly, Doniger comes across as just someone interested in sensationalising things for the sake of selling her book. As a strategy, it has been perfectly executed. Her opponents have played right into her hands. At the best, they would get dismissed as "Hindutvawadis" despite having punched big holes in her so-called "scholarship".
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 04, 2009 10:07 AM
96 Then we should be as quick to label people red, green, white or black, depending on what they say. Pejoratively, of course.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 04, 2009 04:19 AM
95 >>Just because a few people think criticism of Doniger is evidence of 'right wing Hindu saffron etc' , doesn't mean it is. 

Under what objective circumstances would you agree it is 'right wing Hindu saffron"? 

>>Also, since when did 'saffron' become a pejorative term? 

Ever since it was co-opted by those who deserve pejoration...
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 11:48 PM
94 >> since when did 'saffron' become a pejorative term? Saffron is the colour of the Buddhist monks' robes, for one 

It is also the color of some people who believe in violence in the name of religion mixed with politics.
KUMAR
BANGALORE, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 11:34 PM
93 "Second, the link shows others think Banerjee's book is also the work of the "right-wing Hindutva." game, set & match." 

How so? And game, set and match to whom? Just because a few people think criticism of Doniger is evidence of 'right wing Hindu saffron etc' , doesn't mean it is. 

Also, since when did 'saffron' become a pejorative term? Saffron is the colour of the Buddhist monks' robes, for one.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 03, 2009 08:33 PM
92 >>Typical pinko strategy: when they lose an argument, they start name-calling: 

such as "pinko"? 

>>Witness the pathetic review of the book in the Hindustan Times that is nothing other than a string of ad hominem and insinuations. 

And the safro strategy is: claiming ad hominem (surprised at use of such big words) is "some great refutation"! The world awaits with bated breath for your learned safro review. 

>>And now by posting a link to that,'Augustus' and 'Anwaar' insinuate and imply as if that is some major refutation! 

Banerjee claims Doniger "falsely and unfairly brands all of her critics as right-wing Hindutva fundamentalists." First, Doniger never characterized "all of her critics." Second, the link shows others think Banerjee's book is also the work of the "right-wing Hindutva." game, set & match. 

>>What a bunch of immature and prejudiced losers. 

Next to a mature and prejudiced loser like you, I stand in awe.
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 08:16 PM
91 >>but your twisted,crooked words are very clear to read. 

I am afraid I cannot return the complement since your words are very circular and self-serving on those brief occasions they are clear to read.

>>you wrote: 

I didn't write it. Instead, I quoted from a respectable translation to show Banerjee's claim that she quotes from a Canto in Book 6 doesn't appear in the Dutt edition of Ramayana. The quote allegedly goes into great deal of specificity of "Hence, afraid (as I am) of his curse, I do not violently put Sita, a princess of the Videha territory, on my charming bed by force." 

So your own translation of "humiliation" for "outrage" doesn't solve anything. However it is translated, Banerjee shows no evidence that this sloka was part of Book 6 as written by Valmiki with no subsequent redactions and Banerjee's alleged quote doesn't appear in Book 6. 

As for the passage I quoted, as you noted, it was Ravana speaking. And he was speculating (perchance) whether Vedavati was born daughter of Janaka. He doesn't know for sure and neither do we.
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 04:33 PM
90 AUGUSTUS AAA 

YOUR name may not be augustus 
but your twisted,crooked words are very clear to read. 

you wrote: 
“And I was also cursed by Vedavati, who was formerly outraged by me. And she is (perchance) born as the exalted daughter of Janaka. And what had also been uttered by Uma and Nandiswara and Rambha and Varuna’s daughter hath come to pass.” 


Read the following sloka. 

shapto.aham vedavatyaa cha yadaa saa dharSitaa puraa || 
seyam siitaa mahaabhaagaa jaataa janakanandinii | 
6-60-10 

10. aham= I; shaptaH= was cursed; vedavatyaa= by Vedavati; yadaa= when; saa= she; dharSitaa= was humiliated; puraa= before; saa= that; iyam= same Vedavati; jaataa= is born; siitaa= as Seetha; mahaabhaagaa= the highly fortunate one; janakanandinii= and the daughter of Janaka. 

" I (RAVANA) was formerly cursed by Vedavati when she was humiliated by me. The same Vedavati is born as the highly fortunate Seetha the daughter of Janaka." 

the word "humiliation" means insulting . Ravana insulted Vedavati who was conducting a ritual , She was pulled by her hair. She was being harassed by Ravana for some time before. 

She felt terribly bad that Ravana touched her hair , so much that she cuts off her hair and throws it into ritual fire. 
She curses that she would take birth again and in her next birth she would be the cause of his burning city and his death and then jumps in to fire and dies. 
According to puranic story ,Vedavati took birth as Sita. 
But this sloka as I quoted above, is only from the introspection of Ravana as to what might be his most humiliating defeat in the hands of simple man RAMA. 
(ravana spoke that sloka) 
Rakshas Ravan returns from battle field ,terribly bruised,humiliated . But he was also surprised as to how an ordinary man with one arrow ,could defeat him. 
And then he starts remembering many curses and one of that is above sloka.
BOWENPALLE VENURAJA GOPAL RAO.
WARANGAL, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 03:15 PM
89 Typical pinko strategy: when they lose an argument, they start name-calling: 'Chaddi' and 'Sanghi'. Witness the pathetic review of the book in the Hindustan Times that is nothing other than a string of ad hominem and insinuations. And now by posting a link to that,'Augustus' and 'Anwaar' insinuate and imply as if that is some major refutation! What a bunch of immature and prejudiced losers.
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

NOV 03, 2009 11:21 AM
88 Shyamal, whatever the etymology of the word "Hindu", the underlying reality of what the word signifies or represents is in the here and now. And that reality is the representation of the divine as Ram, Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva et al. There's nothing unreal or alien about that. "Vaishnava" and "Saiva" or Saivite are certainly legitimate, as words to describe people who revere God as Vishnu or Shiva, as opposed to Allah or Christ. Thanks.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 03, 2009 05:41 AM
87 Ganapathy Wrote: >> the oft repeated caste and twice born comedies not by birth as again started commencing and can any one say who in history r the lowercastes who became brahmins. is it adisankara/dronacharya/ramanuja or any of the sankaracharyas till date. kindly list the temples were brahmins who were born as dalits but became brahmins or priests.>>>> 
Sandy replied:: Ganapathy, So who was Valmiki who wrote the Ramayana which the Brahmins revere? Was he not from the supposed lower castes? What about Vyasa who was from fishing community, again from one of the supposed lower castes? 

##The Ramayana was copied by Valmiki from Dasharath Jataka of the Buddha, whom the Brahmins made the tenth avataar of Vishnu, just like they had included thousands of other tribal gods into their fold to reap benefit of preisthood confined to thier class. The word Hindu was not a religious word. It was secular in origin. Indeed¤ there is no such word as "hindu" in the entire Vedic literature. The word “hindu” occurs for the first time in the Avesta of the ancient Iranians. To start with¤ the word seems to have been used for provinces and the people in the vicinity of the Sindhu. It is derived from the word Sindhu¤ which is the name of a major river that flows in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. In the southeast asian countries indians were known as "shin-tu". However¤ the word "hindu" was not in vogue among indians until the advent of muslim rule. Until then it was the outsiders¿ word for indians. It was the muslims who first began to use the word both in a descriptive sense and a religious sense. And it was only during the muslim rule indians began to call themselves hindus. Later¤ when the British established their rule¤ they started calling the local religions collectively under the name of Brahminic Hinduism. It is merely a complex and contradictory body of utterances, writings and mythology. The so-called caste system is well doped inside Hinduism as a perfect complex network of interdependent,inter-woven yet separated heriditary, endogamous, occupationally specialized and hierarchically ordered social groups. One neither chek in nor check out, but it gets automatically alloted by birth.Only option is to get rid of Hinduism to get rid of caste. Thats the uniquness of caste mechanism. 
If Hindu belief system expects to emerge as a modern panacea for the ills of Indian society.. it has to make a concerted effort, starting with its so-called pontiffs Sankaracharyas,the conservative Vaishnavite Brahmins and above all,the three spokes of the Trishool: RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal to educate their followers,their devotees to shed their cate appendage, throw away the so-called sacred thread, allow all castes to produce priests who can perform pooja,allow castes to inter-marry.The so-called caste system is well doped inside Hinduism as a perfect complex network of interdependent inter-woven yet separated heriditary¤ endogamous occupationally specialized¤ and hierarchically ordered social groups. 
One neither chek in nor check out¤but it gets automatically alloted by birth.Only option is to get rid of Hinduism to get rid of caste. Thats the uniquness of caste mechanism. 

Wendy Doniger'r earlier books like "The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology" published in 1976 deals with lot of such heady cocktails of sex and perversions in Brahminic Hinduism but her later day publications are more of a compromise, after she was confronted by a lot of Brahminic Hindu lobbies in U.S. and other parts of the world...
SHYAMAL BARUA
KOLKATA, INDIA  

NOV 03, 2009 01:51 AM
86 Criticizing and observing the flaws in an argument, are quite different from 'muzzling'. Muzzling implies attempting strongly to silence, short of using violence, but not always excluding violence, either.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA    
NOV 03, 2009 01:39 AM
85 Varun, 

>> How is Aditi 'muzzling' anybody? Neither she nor Malhotra are associated with the so called Sanghis. 

http://www.hindustan...Article1-235591.aspx
ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES    
NOV 02, 2009 10:43 PM
84 ADITI BANERJEE exposed the pseudo-scholarship of the self-styled Indologist / historian. It is a pity this scholarly rebuttal will not make it to the print edition.
U. NARAYANA DAS
HYDERABAD, INDIA  

NOV 02, 2009 08:57 PM
83 "Muzzling" -what a joke. Just try having this open discussion in Saudi, Iran or Pakistan, and that too with a fraction of the detail( of personages or books) that take place in India. And see how far you get.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 02, 2009 08:42 PM
82 "The trouble is, Western academics looking for a fast buck and academic notoriety think it is safe to insult Hindus, but are extremely careful to flatter Muslims." 

Very astute observation. The Moslems are larger in number, many Moslem majority countries have oil, and at least one Moslem majority country, Pakistan, plays a key role as proxy, arms conduit, arms testing country. Don't look for lofty principles in this grotesque game.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 02, 2009 08:37 PM
81 "this group of 'muzzlers' led by Rajiv Malhotra, Aditi Banerjee and others. It seems that the same war between the JNU scholars and the sanghi writers that is going on in India is being replicated in the U.S." 

How is Aditi 'muzzling' anybody? Neither she nor Malhotra are associated with the so called Sanghis.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

NOV 02, 2009 05:35 PM
80 Thank you, Ms. ADITI. Wish all these Wendy Donigers who masquerade as scholars and researchers were as thorough as you in their homework. More important, wish they had some moral fibre.
RAMANA
HYDERABAD, INDIA  

NOV 02, 2009 02:10 PM
79 Were these books ever meant to be religious scriptures,if so do they meet the standard of being called so? 
Did these books provided any guidlines to bring social changes inthe society and get rid of many of the prevailing evils? 
Take the example of a place Warangal. A village , Wangapad is totally dependent on flesh trade for generations and they do not have a shame for it.Did any social worker worked there to get rid of this evil?
AHMAD PASHA
LONG ISLAND, UNITED STATES  

NOV 02, 2009 10:49 AM
78 >>>>>>>>If foreigners and non-Hindus like Doniger make fast bucks by putting an obscene interpretation on anything Hindu, then only the Hindus are to blame. 
No well-off Hindu family wants to let their son or daughter specialize in Sanskrit studies. 
There is nothing in the least surprising about that. 

Middle class Hindus want Hinduism respected but do not want to make the least sacrifice to ensure that. 

All they are capable of is the throwing of one egg at some elderly Jewish lady. 
Momeen Rashid 
Delhi, India<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 

Mr.Momeen Rashid ,I think you should first come out with your real name. You don't need fictious name because you are speaking truth here, first get rid of fear. 

Now, as I read in TOI ,I have understood that Intelligence agencies are particularly going through these vituperative, scandalous, blasphemy of Gods because Intelligence agencies feel that terrorist gangs are communicating each other through these blogs,chats,comments of blasphemy, in coded sentences or double meaning language. 

Without motive nobody is going to the tiresome work of blasphemy ,since it is not pleasant even to their own conscience. 

First let the Hindus read their own itihasas RAMAYAN and MAHABHARAT in English at least let alone learning Sanskrit. So that at east they will be able to perceive where exactly incidents are misrepresented, quoted out of context , pulled out of a situation and dressed up in an entirely different scenario to boost up their argument. A criminal mind, corrupted to the core , speaks evil language once you feed it with money.
BOWENPALLE VENURAJA GOPAL RAO.
WARANGAL, INDIA    
NOV 02, 2009 09:23 AM
77 >>>>>>You are completely wrong. Ms Doniger refused to have a debate with Rajiv Malhotra. It your high priestess who is turning away from an open forum debate where neither side can censor each other. 

Dear Mr President, Let me first express my warm but belated congratulations to you for getting the Nobel Peace Prize. While many think that you do not deserve it, I think that you deserve it more than several others who got it earlier. I also thank you for celebrating the Indian festival Diwali in the White House as it boosts the morale of many Indian-Hindus living in the United States and other Euro-American countries. 

However, I would have liked it if you had sought the presence of a Dalit Shaivite priest along with a Brahmin Vaishnavaite priest (who was present with three Vaishnava namams on his forehead, a clean shaven head and pattu vastram) to promote race and caste equality. 

Diwali is celebrated in south India as a festival of lamps because a so-called rakshasa, Narakasura, was killed by Krishna’s wife Satyabhama on that day. The Hindus believe that Narakasura represents darkness (even the blacks of America and Dalit-Bahujans of India were believed to have represented darkness historically), his death gets celebrated by lighting lamps. 

Indian environmentalists, many of whom acquired their scientific degrees from the best universities of your country, do not want to study the consequences of Diwali celebrations and firecracker on the health, environment and infrastructure of the nation. They all seem to think that all these firecrackers are meant to destroy Narakasura who, incidentally, happens to be dark-skinned, like you and me. 

http://www.asianage....the-white-house.aspx
B PRABHU
MANGALORE, INDIA    
NOV 02, 2009 02:04 AM
76 If foreigners and non-Hindus like Doniger make fast bucks by putting an obscene interpretation on anything Hindu, then only the Hindus are to blame. 

No well-off Hindu family wants to let their son or daughter specialise in Sanskrit studies. That would only lower their value in the marriage market. No, they want their offspring to go to USA to study medicine or computing. 

Naturally, that means Hindu studies in prestigious universities are monopolised by non-Hindus, who sometimes try to sensationalise their work by claiming Hinduism is all about sex. 

There is nothing in the least surprising about that. 

Middle class Hindus want Hinduism respected but do not want to make the least sacrifice to ensure that. 

All they are capable of is the throwing of one egg at some elderly Jewish lady.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 04:54 PM
75 ". It seems that the same war between the JNU scholars and the sanghi writers that is going on in India is being replicated in the U.S." 
Anwaar 


Windy casts aspersions on Hindu Dieties.So any body criticising Windy is a Sanghi ? Well you profess to be a Secular .
HAPPY RAM AMBALVI
AMBALA CANTT, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 12:59 PM
74 >>>Hare Rama Hare Krishna 
I would have like to post on the main article, but ....to write here about Ramayana. 

Ramayana has all aspects of faith. 

Yoga Vashishta, where Rama goes to Vashishta for sagely advice is the foundation of Advaita. The surrender of Vibhishana is the like Ramanujas call for surrender to Vishnu or the Supreme God. Hanuman's devotion is the true Dvaitic devotion........... 
….... if you have not bathed in Sanskrit language right from childhood. Will write later. 
krishnadas 
Adelaide, Australia<<<<<<<<<<<< 


Your post is one of the good posts I have read here, 

where so much spleen is vented out to satisfy the inferiority complex that one is suffering from being frustrated with one own life. 

You have totally omitted Sita. 

Swami Vivekananda once said as part of a lecture that if human beings are terminated from this earth...... and survived only in some remote island by chance...., even these groups of people would talk about greatness of Sita. 
Such is the intensity of the story of Sita, 
due to her unflinching faith in herself, her stead fastness, her chastity,purity of mind and purpose , her total disinterest in material possessions of life.....". 

Sita has a boon from the God of Fire, 
this can burn anyone who even touches her with lust and if that were against her will. 
But that is not important this boon can prove to be a curse,if her own mind is polluted by thoughts of lust , God of Fire will burn her body to ashes if she touches fire. 

Sita was subjected to extreme torture. 

The first one to try to abduct Sita and run away was 
Rakshasa Viradha. 

Rakshashas are not demons. Though the term "demon" could be used to describe their actions. Rakshas in many cases were well read and were devotees of Shiva and to posses what they want they go to any extent. Simply put they were attracted by women and Gold and hence they were not "demons" exactly. 

In Aranayakanda, in the very first few sargas, Viradha makes an attempt and lifting Sita up ,he runs for some distance. 
When finally overpowered by Rama and Laxmana , he reveals that he was a devotee of Goddess Laxmi in his past birth(he remembers his past life briefly when Rama sets his foot on his throat) and due to curse from Kubera he was now a Rakshas. 
He begs Rama to bury him alive and Rama buries him alive !!! , The boons from Gods, makes Viradha,recover from any wound from any weapon,so he would not die. 

The next attempt is well known because it was Rakshasha King Ravana who lifted Sita in his arms , exactly the way Viradha , did in the beginning of Aranya Kanda. 

Ravana also was cursed in heavens and now a rakshasha Kinng in Lanka. He also suffered from greed , the tendencies from past birth, just as Viradha suffered. 

Just before, death Viradha realized his past birth and explains, how he was very late in attending to a sacrifice for Goddess Laxmi, and ensuing Kubera's curse, which was performing those Vedic rites. 

Now, Ravana knew the powers of Sita, all his ideas were to turn the mind of Sita. 
In his first conversation with Sita on reaching Lanka he was terribly frustrated, finally says " You shall understand, I can cut you in to pieces with my sword and eat you !!! 

He contrives through a best magician in the world, a trick that worked but in the end, only tormented Sita. 

He contrived a beheaded RAMA, put the head of Raman in a box and shows this to Sita, personally (along with magician). 
Sita sees, believes it was the head of RAMA and lets out a heart rending cry. She sobs and sobs without any help from rashasha women surrounding her. 
Then says to Ravan, that now he should kill her also, since she wants to unite with her husband above in the heavens. 
Ravana thus , disappointed goes away. 
But the magic trick disappears the moment Rakshas Ravan goes away from the scene. 

Next Ravana's son Indrajit contrives another plan. 

This time it was a night war. Indrajit lights torches on his chariot. He makes a doll of Sita, uses all his mimicry gift and he himself was a magician, well learnt in the arts. 
He pulls Sita up by her hair, (a doll) in the front part of the chariot, and for Hanuman and other monkeys to see, he stabbed her several times with a long sword. She (doll) cries "Rama ! Rama!! " sobbing her death cries. 
Finally he cuts her from left shoulder to the right side of her abdomen and pushes the dead body, from Chariot. 
Even Hanuman with his extraordinary powers to see objects lost, or sees them from great distances, with a disciplined and controlled mind, lost his cool, breaks down. 
The rumour that Sita was dead , spread fast. It reaches Rama. They searched for the dead body, in the din and dan of battle field. 

This finally leads to weakness of Rama and falls down in the battle unable to withstand the onslought of Indrajit with best weapons supported by hundreds of armoured commendos. 
Rama falls down much before , Laxman fell. 
Both Rama and Laxmana were as good as dead. 

Ravana again tries to change her mind : 

He orders the Rakshas women to take Sita, to battle field, to show RAMA's dead body. 

This time, Ravana ,indeed, believed that Rama was dead. 
In the battle field , early in the morning, 
for Sita's cries and sobs there was no end. 

Her guard Rakshas Trijata, with her ugly face, meant to abuse Sita, also starts weeping. 
It was Trijata , who says that Rama seems to be still alive. She finds that he was still breathing ,though a it was very slow and very low one. 
In Sita's own words, that there was not an inch of space where her husband's body was not pierced by darts,arrows and weapons. 

Thus goes on the story of Sita. 

The fire in to which Sita walked finally at the end of Ramayan, 
after which she comes back, only when God of Fire Agni, himself accompanies her back to her husband, who was weeping over his misfortune. 

The story of Sita, survives across nations ,across cultures in spite of a great difference in the perception of womanhood .
BOWENPALLE VENURAJA GOPAL RAO.
WARANGAL, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 12:12 PM
73 Augustus, 

Thanks for the link to HT's review of the book co-authored by Aditi banerjee. The reviewer says, "You must support academic freedom. Scholarly debate is only enriching; muzzling is dehumanising." She seems to specially single out Wendy Doniger as one of the scholars of Hinduism who is targetted by this group of 'muzzlers' led by Rajiv Malhotra, Aditi Banerjee and others. It seems that the same war between the JNU scholars and the sanghi writers that is going on in India is being replicated in the U.S.
ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES  

NOV 01, 2009 08:42 AM
72 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

Circuses are fun. Much better than Masses. 

By "you all" I meant the rather dreary, pedantic, unimaginative followers of the proseletysing Jewish cults called Christianity and Islam.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 08:22 AM
71 >>No Hindu who copies aspects of other religions will say that WHAT HE IS COPYING is inferior. 

Of course! thus, inferiority is determined by an ex post facto decision to copy as opposed to a coherent theory or merit (or lack of it). 

>>We Hindus are too flexible for you all. 

little too flexible to withstand a stiff breeze; but who is this mysterious "you all"? 

>>That is why it's fun to be a Hindu: the others are always less flexible, always easy to catch out and make fools of. 

I agree flexibility is extremely important...for circus performers!
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 08:04 AM
70 How nice of the British to go to the trouble of inventing Hinduism circa 1850 so that Augustus AAA is completely baffled and frustrated by it in 2009 !!!! 

A big hug for you, O British.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 07:56 AM
69 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

No Hindu who copies aspects of other religions will say that WHAT HE IS COPYING is inferior. 

Pick and choose, baby, pick and mix. 

We Hindus are too flexible for you all. 

That is why it's fun to be a Hindu: the others are always less flexible, always easy to catch out and make fools of. 

Heh heh heh
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 07:44 AM
68 >>Why should Hindus not copy Christianity and Islam if they feel like it? 

Nothing....although copying something inferior seems rather strange.....
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA    
NOV 01, 2009 07:40 AM
67 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

Many thanks for the reference. 

But I do not worry about Hindu nationalists making their case for Hinduism. So what? 

Speaking up for your religion does not make YOU right wing; so why are Hindus rightwing if they defend Hinduism? 

I agree there should be freedom of debate. The trouble is, Western academics looking for a fast buck and academic notoriety think it is safe to insult Hindus, but are extremely careful to flatter Muslims. This is self-interested cowardice. They earn no sympathy from me. 

I see no reason at all why Hindus should not unite and robustly fight to keep India. Christians and Muslims have scores of countries that are officially Christian. 

It's happening whether you like it or not. It's the wave of the future.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA    
NOV 01, 2009 07:22 AM
66 http://www.hindustan...Article1-235591.aspx 

Here's a review of the book this author coedited....
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA    
NOV 01, 2009 06:20 AM
65 AuGUSTUS: 

As for half-educated twits inventing Hinduism,according to Doniger it was the British who invented it. Were they half-wits? 

May I note that Mohammed was illiterate and Jesus' first follwers were fishermen?
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 06:12 AM
64 AUGUSTUS: 

If certain Hindu schools get more following at any one time, then that is the right and business of the Hindus. 

They may claim to be authoritative. The real test is, what sort of following they get. In Hinduism, every school claims authority, but, typically (and maddeningly for Jewish religionists like Muslims and Christians) they all tend to get along with each other, and even make a united front against outside Judaics. 

Even Nehru, suppoosedly an agnostic, recommends the Vedantic ideal to India in 1960.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 06:04 AM
63 AUGUSTUS: 

Why should Hindus not copy Christianity and Islam if they feel like it? It seems very anti-Christian and anti-Islamic to forbid Hindus to copy thise religions. It is what one expects from the likes of Bal Thackeray.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 06:03 AM
62 >>I am not sure what your problem with that is? 
>>So what? 

Nothing...they should be upfront about it rather than have some pretensions to more authoritative and scholarly literary criticism. 

>>>Even if Hinduism started this very day, it will have to be respected as a serious religion when a billion people profess it. 

Regardless how many people follow it, the ideas it contains and their implications and its internal coherence is of intellectual interest to me. 

>>It has many versions, but its follwers accept a unity in diversity. 

If so, claiming to have one authoritative version run counter to history and facts... 

>>Incidentally, what is wrong if Chaddi boys and girls start Hinduism? 

because Hinduism has enough problems on its own...without half educated twits adding more problems to it. 

>>And why should Hindus be "right wing" if they speak for their religion? 

they can speak....and I can point out why they speak nonsense
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 05:55 AM
61 AUGUSTUS: 

The varieties of the Ramayana may bewilder you. So what? 

They are all variants of the same story. 

Hindus have a right to their different stories. The fact that it surprises followers of pedantic Judaic religions is neither here nor there. 

One can question if Americans have the right to call themselves one nation. After all, they are so bewideringly different. 

But they think they are united, and that is their decision. 

The fact that Hindus believing they are united frustrates your missionary hopes of taking over India are neither here nor there. 

Hard luck.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 05:49 AM
60 AUGUSTUS AAA: 

Why should Hindus not be allowed to "stich together an identity" in order to prevent India's takeover by Islam or Christianity? 

I am not sure what your problem with that is? 

So what? 

Even if Hinduism started this very day, it will have to be respected as a serious religion when a billion people profess it. It has many versions, but its follwers accept a unity in diversity. 


Incidentally, what is wrong if Chaddi boys and girls start Hinduism? Who started Chtrstianity? Did they not wear chaddis? Just curious. 

And why should Hindus be "right wing" if they speak for their religion? You defend Christianity. Are you "right wing"? 

What is your gripe?
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

NOV 01, 2009 05:32 AM
59 >>This Aditi bannerjee is an apologist for right wing Hindus 

If true, she's a bad apologist. The first alleged misrepresentation is Doniger’s claim Ravana’s curse in Book 7 was an idea that later crept into Ramayana. The criticism is premised on an unproven assumption that Book 6 as we have it NOW was EXACTLY as Valmiki wrote it with no subsequent redactions AND that there was supposedly a quote in Book 6 relating to Ravana’s curse. Whenever a right wing hindu apologist starts “almost universally recognized as part..,” one’s skeptical antennae should go up. 

First, in the 1893 version edited by Manmatha Nath Dutt (rector, Keshub academy) doesn’t even mention the alleged quote of Book 6. The closest thing is: 

“And I was also cursed by Vedavati, who was formerly outraged by me. And she is (perchance) born as the exalted daughter of Janaka. And what had also been uttered by Uma and Nandiswara and Rambha and Varuna’s daughter hath come to pass.” 

Buried in a footnote, Varuna’s daughter is “Punjikasthala” and respective curses by these women. Banerjee shows no proof that Book 6 we have now is exactly as Valmiki wrote it without any redactions. Based on such weak reasoning, Banerjee claims to uncover a great contradiction when it actually doesn’t even rise to the level of nitpicking.

As for the sex-addict claims, Banerjee disputes existence of the word “kama-sakta.” Assuming it exists, she reads numerous other interpretations into it. Banerjee seems to allow Books 1 and 7 (in their entirety) as interpolations while Doniger claims (in the interview at least) the curse of Ravana was added later to provide a motivation why he may not have molested Sita while she was his guest. 

Here’s an example of Banerjee’s amateurish handling of textual criticism. She quotes the following translation: 

“Aged and (therefore) helpless, deprived of my presence, what will he do, dominated as he is by his passion for Kaikeyi and who has fallen into the clutches of Kaikeyi.” 

Banerjee’s says, “As with the phrases described above (uttered by Lakshmana in anger), Kama-atma does not necessarily mean “entirely consumed by kama.” What about the word right before it? “dominated”? So, Banerjee focuses on a word and chooses an alternative lexicographical meaning without relating the word to a previous word “dominated.” Doesn’t the dictionary definition of “dominated” means being under the control of? 

Then, Banerjee opines, “Falling prey to love (Rama’s description) or being overcome by lust (Lakshmana’s description) does not make one a sex addict; if it did, then any of us could be accused of the same!” If the context of the text were a single lustful incident, then that’s a plausible interpretation. However, the context is a general relationship that Lakshmana’s absence can’t counteract. Given phrases from Book 2 of Lakshmana (who himself was reincarnation of ¼ of Vishnu via Sumitra) that “king with perverted mind,” “who is outraged by sensual enjoyments” and “who is possessed of passion,” a non-clinical description of sex addiction is perfectly defensible. 

Next, her discussion about temple construction is as confused and convoluted as it can get. Doniger was answering the chronological disconnect between when Ramayana was allegedly composed and when temples dedicated to Rama began appearing. Doninger claims, Ramayana became more straight-laced and puritanical with its text being emended to neutralize ayodhyan suspicions and give a plausible reason why Ravana couldn’t have had sex with Sita etc. A more raw description of Sita’s sexuality wouldn’t jibe in a public place like a temple with a deified Rama. 

Next, Banerjee states, “It is misleading to say, in a scholarly context, that just because multiple versions of a story exist, “no one [can] say that you got it wrong.”” She’s relating to historical fact of multiple versions of Ramayana (one version where Sita is Ravana’s daughter!) and there was never an early claim of a definitive and canonical version of Ramayana within Hinduism…..that is until the Chaddi boys and girls came along. 

Finally, Banerjee’s ideological motive is laid bare, “but the danger of saying that there is no one Hindu identity is concluding that therefore there isn’t any Hindu identity.” Avoiding that conclusion seems to be the Hindutva Brigade’s ultimate project…. stitch together a unified Hindu identity (given the bewildering diversity of versions surrounding just Ramayana) for all Hindus since they feel to be at a disadvantage relative to Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

OCT 31, 2009 11:12 PM
58 Please visit Outlook more often, Aditi(if I may call you that)! I am happy now. 

Ganesan, you'll see all her articles in outlook if you search by author. An interesting aspect of the reader responses to one of her articles was the overwhelmingly positive response that she got.
NARASIMHAN M.G
BANGALORE, INDIA  

OCT 31, 2009 10:26 PM
57 As long as we have food to eat, we can indulge in reading the fables of Prof. Doniger and her likes in Indology (who get plenty of food to eat and engage in what they do). As long as we don't know Samskrit to understand the Ramayana or the Gita ourselves (and falsely believe and publicize the fables written by the likes of Dr. Doniger), some of us will become likewise - shivO BhootvA shivam yajEt, except in a Satanic sense! The sage of the Mundaka Upanishad would have laughed off our pitiable Wendy and her likes with this: "avidyaayaamantare vartamaanaaH svayam dhiiraaH panditam manyamaanaaH | janghanyamaanaaH pariyanti mooDaa andhEnaiva niiyamaanaa yathaandhaaH |", viz., "Drowned in the midst of ignorance, but thinking themselves great and learned, the deluded ones, attacked from all sides by decay, disease and death and several other miseries, turn round and round in the wheel of Samsara like blind men guided by blind men (mantra 1-2-8)." Except here the case is that of a really sick Jewish woman steeped in zero knowledge of Samskrit and the purpose of life. We, not knowing much Samskrit or Wendy's childhood, are the real fools to believe in her "scholarship". This indeed is the pity of English "educated" India. And the Outlook is apting displaying this outlook!
LAKSHMITHANAYA
KASARAGODU, INDIA  

OCT 31, 2009 01:11 PM
56 Hare Rama Hare Krishna 
I would have like to post on the main article, but seeing a lesser number of posts here. I would like to write here about Ramayana. 

Ramayana has all aspects of faith. 
Yoga Vashishta, where Rama goes to Vashishta for sagely advice is the foundation of Advaita. The surrender of Vibhishana is the like Ramanujas call for surrender to Vishnu or the Supreme God. Hanuman's devotion is the true Dvaitic devotion. Then for highest form of non-action towards material desires is the conversation between Rishi Ashtavakara and King Janaka , Sita's father. Any seeker will find that Ramayana embodies all aspects of spirituality. 

About translations of Sanskrit to English , you can take people for a ride if you have not bathed in Sanskrit language right from childhood. Will write later.
KRISHNADAS
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA  

OCT 31, 2009 03:21 AM
55 It's a great pity Outlook India is censoring people like Gyatri Devi and Augustus AAA who have kept this website so lively with their forthright comments. 

I too am surprised that ANWAAR is not censored even when he uses the foulest language.
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

OCT 31, 2009 01:17 AM
54 Professor Wendy Doniger, just like a fanatical Pakistani muslim, does not understand Hindu mind and culture. It is unfortunate that she spent her energy and precious time on reinventing Ramayan and other legends.
VEMURI REDDY
ASHLAND, UNITED STATES  

OCT 30, 2009 11:13 PM
53 --------------------------------- 
sandilya 

Your pains taking response on Wendy's not so scholastic work is commendable. I found your write up sounding more scholarly than Wendy's manipulative work. It gave me boundless satisfaction that some one could challenge Wendy's claims authentically. You are aptly named. Your insight is very impressive and you have endeared to me . May God bless you. 
It would be interesting to know what Wndy has to say on your response. 
--------------------------------------- 

** Sarcasm ON ** 

How dare you can call Wendy not so-scholastic.... 

You are a evil yindoo... 
You upper caste blah blah blah ... 
You are fascist to call a Jew not so-scholastic .... 
You are racist to call a Jew not so-scholastic 
You sexist pig... you call the greatest sanskrit expert evenr to set a foot on this earth not so-scholastic... 

You are a hindu fascist right wing sexist ding dong... How dare you? 

You write a note on Internet. You Internet Hindu brigade fascist, sexists, right wing blah blah .... 

** SARCASM MODE OFF ** 

On a serious note, Ms. Banerjee made a great rebuttal. Too smart for lowly scholastic left wing rabid commies.
VIVEK
HYDERABAD, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 08:17 PM
52 "How can a individual or a group debate and win over irrationality and immorality ?" 

Yes, let's make India into just another Philippines or Pakistan with people chanting "Praise da Lawd, only Jesus saves" or "Allah Akbar, Islam in danger". That would be very rational and moral.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

OCT 30, 2009 08:13 PM
51 "just 14% of the votes cast in the recent Maharastra elections - which clearly reflects the decline in the influence of the Hindu religious belief system on the people groups of India." 

But why is this necessarily a good thing? It could be a good thing if those perpetuating it are totally inegalitarian, anti-modern and anti-democratic. Also, the general perception of the RSS is that they are more a political( rightly or wrongly) organisation than a religious one. So why would you associate the 'Hindu belief system' with them. There are lots of people who could represent the belief system.
VARUN SHEKHAR
TORONTO, CANADA  

OCT 30, 2009 05:06 PM
50 @ Seshadriji 

Actually I was expecting you to come up with a great write up to put Wndy in the dock. But I have not seen any worthy post from You yet on this topic.
SANDILYA
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 05:01 PM
49 I deeply appreciate 'Outlook' for publishing this response. Thank you.
SANDILYA
CHENNAI, INDIA    
OCT 30, 2009 05:00 PM
48 Dear Aditi 

Your pains taking response on Wendy's not so scholastic work is commendable. I found your write up sounding more scholarly than Wendy's manipulative work. It gave me boundless satisfaction that some one could challenge Wendy's claims authentically. You are aptly named. Your insight is very impressive and you have endeared to me . May God bless you. 
It would be interesting to know what Wndy has to say on your response.
SANDILYA
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 03:24 PM
47 Ganapathy said: >>DEAR SANDY i was just replying to the lies that anyone can become a brahmin. whatever stage he reached valmiki and vyasa remain in the caste in which they were born.that is my point.my point is caste is determined by accident of birth and all this sugarcoating of anyone can become twiceborn /gayatri mantra chanter etc are pure bakwas.caste is like race and a reality which has to be fought with all available means>> 
I agree that it has to be fought. The current caste system is ugly. It is not what it was meant to be. The system needs to be eradicated.But it can be done without the mudslinging on Hinduism. Since the moderator does not want caste to be discussed here. I will leave it at that.
SANDY
BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM  

OCT 30, 2009 02:32 PM
46 Rama and Sita would spend the second half of every day together in Rama’s Ashoka-grove, enjoying heavenly music and dance and partaking of gourmet food and intoxicating drinks. Rama and Sita are compared to other divine couples: 
aditi banerjee 
thanks aditi for proving karunanidhi right that according to valmiki ramayana ram was a drunkard(drinking intoxicating drinks evry day )
GANAPATHI
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 01:53 PM
45 I had pointed out her infamous misquotes, earlier in my comments to her interview. I gave the actual slokas as spoken by Lakshmana and pointed her lack of understanding, misquote, and her superficial knowledge etc.,. 

Gorakhpur editions of VALMIKI RAMAYAMNA is too big a book to read and many readers have complained about it according to company's own web site. 
And it is not an authoritative edition as it is a commercial enterprise. 
There is a very good research done by Sanskrit scholars and they put RAMAYANA on the internet at 
http://www.valmikiramayan.net 

I pointed out earlier, in response to her interview, along with her mistakes, and her lack of understanding for the word "Kama" with an obvious intention to spread false propaganda and hence I do not want to repeat. 

What I want to point out here is that, "Uttara Rama Charitham" probably written for the first time by BHAVA BHUTI should not be considered as part of Ramayana and the fact that Bhava Bhuti himself explaines that he had taken the characters from Valmiki Ramaya should settle the matter. Bhavabhuti's Utta ramacharitham is available in book shops with English translations. 
I strictly believe that no discussion should have been allowed as Wendy herself made clear that book 7 (Uttarakhanda) were later additions !! and yet she quotes as part of valmiki Ramayana !! what sort of Sanskrit research scholar she is ?? 
and no discussion should have been written by you in your arguments, the fact that he derived his characters from Valmiki Ramayana 
settles the matter. 

Ramayana is "Rama's journey" and it ends with Rama's self realization as "himself" the God. 

The words like "rape" ,Sita etc., are most disgusting to read or discuss simply because the central theme, of Ramayana is not understood by a person like Wendy Doniger. 
It was Ravana who first realised that Sita was Goddess Laxmi and that was the primary motive behind his idea of "stealing" Sita. 
Otherwise there was no reason for Ravana to take such a great risk to his life. The primary motivation for Ravana Brahma was not revenge against Rama or that of his lust or that of Sita's beauty. 
Sundara Kanda makes it clear that Ravana's wife Mandodari also was as much beautiful if not more beautiful than Sita. 
As witnessed by Hanuman inside Ravana's palace, he had plenty of most beautiful women in his palace chambers sleeping semi-naked, after probably drinking wine. 

Ravana ,considered to have written SamaVeda and a Shiva's devotee , wanted to be richest in all the worlds by possessing Laxmi herself , is the central idea of his part of Ramayana. 
That Ravana was a greedy person., his terrible desire for material wealth and possession was the crucial factor dictating his behaviors should be understood, by anyone who diligently reads Ramayana. 

As we read Puranas we become clear that it was NOT for the first time that Vishnu lost his wife, or she was "stolen", and not for first time we read about how he searched for her, in all the three worlds !!!, 
Actually these three worlds are: conscious, sub conscious, super conscious states one's own being;. 
the word for example "thripurantha kaya" does not mean Lord Shiva goes to Tripura in north east of India every time you chant his "Rudram" and destroys it , or you are praying for it. 

The moral of Ravana's failure also tells us that no one can really possess heavenly wealth . 
That is the reason, that "Uttra Rama Charitha" ,which was written some time in 1st century A.D. by Bhavabhuti, who explained that he took the characters from Valmiki Ramayana , should never be considered as part of Valmiki Ramayana and a discussion should never ensue on it,whatever style later scholars injected to suit the style,slokas of Valmiki's RAMAYANA. 

Wendy's misquotes could not be construed as another version of Ramayana. A misquote is a misquote and not a version of Ramayana !!!

So, Wendy Doniger took so many cold baths while reading Kama Sutra??? I do not know that. But what I can with certain accuracy can tell is that she did not understand even Vatsyana's Kama Sutra at all,let alone Ramayana or even Bhagavad Gita . 

Why Kama Sutra survived if it is simply about sex postures ?? since that does not pertain to subject under discussion I do not want to write on Kama Sutra here for the benefit of Wendy.
BOWENPALLE VENURAJA GOPAL RAO.
WARANGAL, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 11:01 AM
44 typo: 
People who read Outlook hardcopy will not be able to see this rebuttal.
KIRAN BAGACHI
MUMBAI, INDIA    
OCT 30, 2009 10:58 AM
43 Akil, 

Don’t rush to thank Outlook so soon. Please note that Wendy's interview was published in the print edition where as the rebuttal is published only on this site. Manu who read Outlook hardcopy will not be able to see this rebuttal.
KIRAN BAGACHI
MUMBAI, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 10:34 AM
42 B Prabhu from Mangalore, India said: 

"I am certain that neither the RSS nor these so called ' illuminaries ' will turn up for this debate. How can a individual or a group debate and win over irrationality and immorality ?" 

You are completely wrong. Ms Doniger refused to have a debate with Rajiv Malhotra. It your high priestess who is turning away from an open forum debate where neither side can censor each other.
MALAVIKA
SAN JOSE, UNITED STATES  

OCT 30, 2009 09:50 AM
41 An excellent and well researched rebuttal by ADITI. Thank YOU OUTLOOK for publishing it. Doniger wouldn't dare to write the way she has written about RAM and SITA, denigrating respected religious figures in CHRISTIANITY or ISLAM, because she would have faced "threat to her life" and streets the world over would have gone up in flames.
AKIL
BANGALORE, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 08:22 AM
40 I strongly believe that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( RSS ) should ask Wendy Doniger to participate in a nationally televised debate on the content of her book . For there is a lot at stake for the RSS in the emerging India - it's political arm the BJP managed to get just 14% of the votes cast in the recent Maharastra elections - which clearly reflects the decline in the influence of the Hindu religious belief system on the people groups of India. The RSS can assemble all the ' illuminaries ' referenced in this article by Aditi Banerjee to participate in this nationally televised debate with the sole Wendy Doniger - to shore up their fortunes by debates and not by communal genocide as happened in Gujarat and in Babri masjid demolition. I am certain that neither the RSS nor these so called ' illuminaries ' will turn up for this debate. How can a individual or a group debate and win over irrationality and immorality ?
B PRABHU
MANGALORE, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 07:57 AM
39 I was particularly dissappointed with Professor's Doniger's statement about the significance of Bhagavad-Gita in Hindu Theology. For the past twenty years, I have been a student of commentaries on Bhagavad Gita by Hindu theologians, and I disagree with her comments on Gita highlighted below: 


"The Gita has always been well-known and well-loved in Hinduism but it is by no means the most important book for most Hindus for most of Hindu history. Most Hindus have other books that were important to them than the Gita like the Upanishads, the Puranas, Tulsidas’s and Kamban’s Ramayana. But the British loved the Gita—it was the first book to be translated from Sanskrit to English. And ever since the British period, many Hindus have believed that the Gita is their most important book. It has become a very important book but it was made central. " 



It is absurd to say that only in recent years (and because of the influence of the British), Hindus have placed Gita as a central piece of theology. Professor Doniger may want to read the introduction by Sri Shankara Charya himself in his commentary on Bhagavad-Gita. Here is a translation of some of the writings of Sri Shankara Charya in the introductory chapter [translated by Swami Gambhirananda] . 



""This scripture called the Gita, which is such, is the collection of the quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedas, and its meaning is difficult to understand." ..... 



"This scripture, viz the Gita, while particularly revealing the twofold dharma having Liberation (Moksha) as its goal and the supreme Reality, Brahman, called Vasudeva, as its subject-matter, comes to have a special purpose (prayojana), relationship (sambhandha) , and subject matter (vishaya). Since from a clear knowledge of its purport all the human ends become fulfilled, therefore an effort being made by me to expound it." ...... 



Moreover, Sri Shakara Charya (historians place him in seventh to eighth century CE) alludes to the fact that he is not the first one to write a commentary on the Gita. 



"Finding that although its words, meanings of words, meanings of sentences and arguments have been expounded by many for the sake of discovering its import, still because of the multiplicity and extreme contradictoriness of the expositions it is not comprehended by people, I shall explain it briefly with a view to determining its meaning distinctly." 



Claiming that Bhagavad-Gita became the central piece of Hindu theology because of some British or European influence is analogous to claiming that Indians took interest in number theory because British brought the western university system to India! 

Mysore N. Prakash, Ph.D., 
Author, "The Courtesan and the Sadhu, A Noveal about Maya, Dharma, and God" 
www.dharmavision.com
MYSORE N. PRAKASH
DALLAS, UNITED STATES  

OCT 30, 2009 07:45 AM
38 It is a very well commented article about how a person can totally mislead student community and put a black-eye on a religion without studying to the depth. These academic studies of religions are undoubtedly done by reading other peoples writing. The knowledge of original scripts and context of the scripts are not understood to the extent of following the steps. Several times, even for head of a Mutt, it gets difficult to explain every aspect of the believes. If someone reads 3rd or 4th translation/interpretation of a religion this is what happens. 

Thanks to Aditi for explaining several controversial statements in the work.
SATHYA
DALLAS, UNITED STATES  

OCT 30, 2009 07:38 AM
37 Aditi deserves more.At least she is clear,precise and transparent in her thoughts and aware of what she is writing.I am not supporting her because she is defending anything but because she has satisfied those who are unwary of the evil designs of the so called Sanskrit scholars like Wendy.
VIJAY
BANGALORE, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 02:59 AM
36 Moderator's Note: Please read the comments policy. Thank you.
GAYATRI DEVI
DELHI, INDIA    
OCT 30, 2009 01:13 AM
35 Moderator's Note: Please refrain from personal attacks and abuse. Please read the comments policy. Thank you.
VIVEK
HYDERABAD, INDIA  

OCT 30, 2009 12:09 AM
34 Moderator's Note: Please refrain from personal attacks and abuse. Please read the comments policy. Thank you.
AUGUSTUS AAA
PUNE, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 10:18 PM
33 Moderator's note: Here's a request: if you really wish to discuss caste, please find the right thread for it. Perhaps this:
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?213165
Please use this thread only for feedback to the article under question. Thank you.
***
DEAR SANDY i was just replying to the lies that anyone can become a brahmin. whatever stage he reached valmiki and vyasa remain in the caste in which they were born.that is my point.my point is caste is determined by accident of birth and all this sugarcoating of anyone can become twiceborn /gayatri mantra chanter etc are pure bakwas.caste is like race and a reality which has to be fought with all available means.
GANAPATHI
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 10:17 PM
32 Moderator's note: Please keep your responses topical. Thank you.
V.SESHADRI
CHENNAI, INDIA    
OCT 29, 2009 08:04 PM
31 Ganapathy, 
Valmiki and Vyasa were above Brahmins. I really don't know how to make you understand the difference between a sage and an ordinary Brahmin. Sages are considered equal to God. Why would Vyasa and Valmiki want to become an ordinary Brahmin? Their writings are revered and used as prayers by ordinary Brahmins. Valmiki and Vyasa are from supposed lower castes. Rama was a Kshatriya, Krishna was from the current OBC community. Siva is sometimes referred as Chandala(considered as Dalit today). We have people from all castes as Sages/ Gods. Do you know that according to the scriptures, Brahmins are not supposed to earn any money? They are supposed to beg for food, that too only from 5 houses in a day. Since Brahmins’ job was to worship God for the whole community, it is considered as their right to beg for food for subsistence. No wonder that our Puranas are full of stories of destitute Brahmins including Krishna’s friend Sudama. Even the Sankaracharya, who was a Brahmin used to follow the same principle. I agree that later, Brahmins used their knowledge of the scriptures to their advantage and started enjoying all privileges. But your hatred towards Brahmins defies all logic
SANDY
BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM  

OCT 29, 2009 07:14 PM
30 It is the fear of losing his good name (as the result of the infamy surrounding Sita’s chastity by the gossip-mongers of Ayodhya) that impels Rama, not fear of being chastised as a sex-addict. 
it sounds like jagdish tytler worried about being implicated in antisikh riots.for me its better if he felt its better to leave his wife as being a ruler he cannot be so much addicted to sita which will result in less time for governance(the pracharaks too dont marry and its no surprise their hero felt the same about sex).we have people who praise kamaraj rule which happened 50 yrs back as great and without faults while in reality it may be different if u research. the same with the saying that bihar was the best administered state till lalu spolied it and it was flowing milk and honey in uttarpradesh under pant and tiwaris and mayawathi has spolied it.we have hundreds of mishras who write mayawathi puranas like a valmiki writing ranmpurana.both has to be taken with a pinch of salt.if mishras views of mayawathi is sacrosanct than one can agree with the pure gold maryada purushottam comedies. 
valmiki was not converted to a brahmin nor vyasa became a brahmin.if becoming brahmins was not by birth than how come they are not brahmins.who r the brahmins in history who were born in lower castes but because of their knowledge and saying gayatri mantra became mantra.was it the same for rajputs too.its surprising that people can be so naive. 
who is the authority on ramayana and if anyone in this forum names someone kindly clarify why.its a interesting story with several authors over thousands of yrs presenting them to the taste of their audiences.
GANAPATHI
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 06:12 PM
29 Thank you for providing such a well-researched follow-up to Ms. Doniger's interview. You have done us all a great favour.
RAVEESH VARMA
GRAND RAPIDS, MI, USA  

OCT 29, 2009 05:10 PM
28 Aditi has written a wonderful response, but at times it tends to be on the personal brigade. I assume she is not patrt of the internet Hindutvadi brigade that keeps rioting on keyboards!! At some point in the article, Aditi too seems to join the internet Hindutva mobsters which plague every discussion forum and every news site!! 
However, all in all a good response. Cheers !!
AMIT
A, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 04:54 PM
27 in my previous post I meant national integration. sorry for the typo.
SANDY
BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM    
OCT 29, 2009 04:52 PM
26 Ganapathy Wrote: >>>>there were arguments that a doctor is needed to treat the patients but making only kerala brahmin doctors fit to work in aiims is nothing but absolute reservation(may be divine reservation).the oft repeated caste and twice born comedies not by birth as again started commencing and can any one say who in history r the lowercastes who became brahmins. is it adisankara/dronacharya/ramanuja or any of the sankaracharyas till date. kindly list the temples were brahmins who were born as dalits but became brahmins r priests.>>>> 
Ganapathy, So who was Valmiki who wrote the Ramayana which the Brahmins revere? Was he not from the supposed lower castes? What about Vyasa who was from fishing community, again from one of the supposed lower castes? What Brahmin unity are you talking about? It is unfortunate that you fail to see national inegration in establishing Mutts in furthest corners of India. According to you Sankaracharya wanted reservation for Brahmins from Kerala all over India? For God's sake, it is a Mutt-a spiritual centre, not the Parliament. As I explained before and given more clarity by V.Sheshadri from Chennai, becoming(not by birth) a Brahmin is mandatory for becoming a Hindu priest. All these allegations will fade away, once the so called Daliths start becoming head priests in main temples. Unfortunately, these sections of the society are injected with so much anti Hindu Venom now a days that few people among them want to learn Vedanta. 

A welcome change is happenning in Kerala though. From the 'Thanthra Vidya Peetam', many people from all sections of Hindus are becoming priests. But then, who would want to become Brahmin now a days? One of my friends who is a Brahmin, was lamenting about how he was struggling to find a match as nobody wanted to marry him since he was a Priest. He has to wake up early morning in 'Brahma muhoortham-3.30 am' start the pooja, which continues till 11.30am. Then again at 3.30pm till 8pm. He goes to bed at 9pm to wake up early. All this for 3000 RS a month! Still, he considers himself lucky as some of his friends are getting less than that.
SANDY
BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM  

OCT 29, 2009 03:49 PM
25 its comical to see aditi using the negative points to defend diversity of hinduism by pointing to the facts that namboodiris from kerala r the chief priests in distant badrinath.this was meant for pure brahmin supremacy and brahmin unity and nothing to do with hindu unity.when it comes to untouchability and orthodoxy namboodiris are unrivalled and by making absolute reservation for them adisankara can be called the father of reservation policy. 
there were arguments that a doctor is needed to treat the patients but making only kerala brahmin doctors fit to work in aiims is nothing but absolute reservation(may be divine reservation).the oft repeated caste and twice born comedies not by birth as again started commencing and can any one say who in history r the lowercastes who became brahmins. is it adisankara/dronacharya/ramanuja or any of the sankaracharyas till date. kindly list the temples were brahmins who were born as dalits but became brahmins r priests. 
this is a very subjective topic and its funny to see concrete denials/rebuttals and i find none in this artcle which strongly denies the points of wendy.i have read some parts of ramayana translations of valmiki ramayana and it says rama had may wives and sita was one among them.its a story which keeps changing with evry author to suit their audiences.the current refined victorian moral vegetarian groups now paint rama was never a sex maniac. tomorrow menaka gandhi will come with sanskrit translation of ramayana quoting rama was a pure vegetarian(she may allow milk was drunk by him because her main audience will be upset if she says its nonvegetarian)and since it suits the b---n lobby it will become authentic supported by all acharyas and any different opinion will be derided.
GANAPATHI
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 01:26 PM
24 upekha = ignore / be indifferent. And, they will die a natural death. 
Gopi Maliwal 
If I am right it is 'Upeksha' not upekha.
SANDILYA
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 01:09 PM
23 Aditi Banerjee- thank you for the rather enlightening rebuttal to Wendy Doniger's rantings. 
One always had a nagging suspicion that the so called experts on religions, based in the universities of the West, have views and opinions that are far fetched and indeed far removed from reality.Your educated remarks about the studies of Hinduism by Wendy Doniger and her ilk have indeed shed light on the absolutely cavalier approach followed by these so called doctors of Divinity.That these dubious writings are actually the foundation for research in religious studies by students and scholars, is an absolute shocker. It was indeed an unfortunate day for India when Wendy doniger and her ilk decided to take up the study of Sanskrit and Vedic texts.Religion and emotion indeed go together and the two play a major role in making the follower a believer.Wendy, by her own admission refers to herself as a Jew - making her a pure translator of text in sofar as her so called expertise in Vedic studies goes.In the way, a person with rich vocabulary does not necessarily become a good writer, mere knowledge of the Sanskrit language and script does not make Wendy an expert in Vedic studies. 
Wendy's superficiality and lack of depth comes through in her especially puerile responses to questions. 
We can only bemoan the strokes of fate that have led to America's rather lethal contributions to the world at large - weapons of mass destruction, the MBA program and the Divity programs.---- the latter two being slow killers.
SHIV ADISESHAN
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 11:52 AM
22 Wendy has used many words to say many things in a hefty book. 
I find it interesting because of the compendium it has become. 
As for her views, as of any other author and scholar, they come to us through a prism of her prejudices and biases. 

Interesting exercise in toto.
BINDU TANDON
MUMBAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 11:27 AM
21 >She is not a Periyar trashing Hinduism nor a Spencer >trashing Islam. In spite of the errors and the >controversies, she is well within the ambit of >academia. 

just because you have a degree and have written a couple of books doesn't make you a scholar. wendy doniger has for long attracted too many criticisms from too many reputable quarters, for her to be really considered a scholar. a sensationalist is more like it.
NANDAKUMAR
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 11:24 AM
20 Only (A)vivekis can accept crap as Ramayan scholarship of someone who does't have even basic knowledge of Sanskrit (another "eminent" expert - Ms Thapr who, according to Madhu Kishwar, can not read any Indian language and still pretends to be THE expert on ancient India)! That reminds me of a comment by sri Aurobindo that why should Hindus not put more weight on Dayanand than translations by some motivated Englishmen. Here, it is not even translation but use of translations! What Hindus should do to the like of WD is follow Patanjali's advice about Apunyas (unvirtuous) - upekha = ignore / be indifferent. And, they will die a natural death.
GOPI MALIWAL
HONG KONG, HONG KONG  

OCT 29, 2009 09:10 AM
19 Sandy:>>” anyone can become Brahmin. It is true that this concept got associated with birth in the later stages of Hinduism. This has changed a lot now. In kerala, at 'Thanthravidyapeetam', Mantras are taught to students by people who were not born as Brahmins. Anyone who learns Vedas and lead a Vedic lifestyle is a Brahmin”. 

I am in agreement with you. The very fact that only those who took gayatri, they alone, thereafter, were called dvijas, twice-born, indicates that all humans were considered only born equally as NBs only in Hinduism, including the off-spring of yagjnopaveetins also. Taking gayatri was only optional, for pursuing a spiritual co-segment in life, useful for enhancing the professional achievements of knowledge-based occupations, like teaching, research, medicine, law, mgmt etc., to benefit by intuitive in-lighten-ments from sun light’s nano-wave contents. True for all castes, creeds, even these days. 

yasmin api mate kaashTe jaato jigjnaasur aastikah 
[whatever the born creed, caste; the knowlgde-seeking god-believers] 
upa-veetas-tu gaayatryaam dvijo braamhaNa ucyate. 
[brought into gayatri chanting, become twice-born god-minded spirituals] 

Strongly vegetarian habits do amplify the realizn of full spiritual benefits from gaayatri-mentations. 
Proclaimed by sage vasishTa, ram’s guru, himself.
V.SESHADRI
CHENNAI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 08:04 AM
18 Gaurav, 

>> re: Hinduism the Jew Wendy Doniger... 

Her Jewishness is not relevant. She has to be accepted as a scholar even if she may have made errors and may be somewhat paranoid about the right-wing Hindutva fundamentalists. Some of her critics may be moderate and sober Hindus, but the vast majority, especially the most vitriolic ones, are Hindutvadis as can be seen from the posts in this forum. She is not a Periyar trashing Hinduism nor a Spencer trashing Islam. In spite of the errors and the controversies, she is well within the ambit of academia.
ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES  

OCT 29, 2009 07:00 AM
17 Moderator's Note: Please refrain from personal attacks and abuse. Please read the comments policy. Thank you.
ARAVINDAN NEELAKANDAN
NAGERCOIL, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 05:43 AM
16 Wendy Doniger is made to look like the filmi Lalita Pawar among scholars.
GAJANAN
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA    
OCT 29, 2009 04:53 AM
15 A well reasoned, hard-hitting response. More than Doniger really deserves but useful nonetheless for many Hindus may not be aware of some of the details. I certainly learned something. 

Well done, Aditi!
SANJAY
BOSTON, USA  

OCT 29, 2009 04:11 AM
14 Undue importance is given to Western scholars by the Indian media. 
Two points should be noted about Wendy Doniger: she does not know Sanskrit; and she is obsessed with sex almost to a pathological degree. Her claim of being a Jew is questionable. she used to call herself O'Flaherty, an Irish Catholic name. It is also irrelevant. What matters is her scholarship which is based entirely on highly whimsical readings of translations and not original texts.
N.S. RAJARAM
BANGALORE, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 04:05 AM
13 the common thread in all these gratuitous insults to non Judeo - Christian religions are the Jews. That was the case for the infamous Danish cartoons ( Flemings Rose is a Jew ) as is the case with these disrectful, throwway "scholarship" re: Hinduism the Jew Wendy Doniger. It is merely an expression of the power they have garnered by exploiting their real and inflated persecution at the hands of Christian Europe and the Nazis. Hindus should take note that Christian America too is sufferinga t the hands of Jew. Most of the Hollywood pornographers, Wall St. scammers and Insurance manipulators are Jews.
GAU_RAV1
NOWHERELAND, JAPAN  

OCT 29, 2009 04:04 AM
12 Instead of 

"...that their representation" 

please read; 

"...that their representation is problematic"
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

OCT 29, 2009 04:02 AM
11 Momeen Rashid, I like the Muslim names you choose in your various avatars, which is fitting enough in a discussion about the various versions of Ramayana. I am afraid Anwaar's reasons for agreeing are only because he is a wuss and he likes to pretend that he is consistent when it comes to Islam as well. He is as regressive as it comes when it comes to representation of religions and will start screaming blue murder if we as much as talk about the right of Danish 
newspapers to publish those cartoons. 

On the more serious question of Dalits, I think they have all the right in the world to protest whichever way they want: that they are not included, that their representation. Also, despite all that this piece argues, the fact remains that our mythologies do have much to upset women and the underprivileged. Sita is not the only one wronged in Ramayana and Mahabharata too has its own share of problems with Eklavya and Krishna's chaalupanti in general. The more interesting point, though, is that our texts actually do provide enough complexity and nuance and scope for reinterpretation for all sorts of peopole to find the meanings they are looking for.
AJIT TENDULKAR
SEATTLE, UNITED STATES  

OCT 29, 2009 03:51 AM
10 I must admit ANWAAR is right for once. I can agree with him that the values of a religion are not what some academics claim they are, but what its believers think they are. 

But what about the Dalits?
MOMEEN RASHID
DELHI, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 03:13 AM
9 Ganapathy, 

I presume the thread you were referring to is Yajnopavitha. The tradition of selecting somebody at a young age and grooming them to be head of the Mutt has many other reasons. In Hindu society Brahmins learn about Mantras and Vedas at a very young age. They have been doing it since ages. Think of it this way. We only let Doctors operate on a patient. Anyone can become a doctor. Similarly, anyone can become Brahmin. It is true that this concept got associated with birth in the later stages of Hinduism. This has changed a lot now. In kerala, at 'Thanthravidyapeetam', Mantras are taught to students by people who were not born as Brahmins. Anyone who learns Vedas and lead a Vedic lifestyle is a Brahmin.
SANDY
BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM  

OCT 29, 2009 01:40 AM
8 Moderator's note: Please note that this is not the space for discussing the print magazine's editorial discretion as to what to publish when. For print magazine related complaints, please send a letter to the editor at letters AT outlookindia DOT com and for website related complaints please send a mail to mail AT outlookindia DOT com instead of derailing the discussion in this area. Thank you.
SELVAN
BOSTON, UNITED STATES  

OCT 29, 2009 01:02 AM
7 Moderator's Note: Message deleted for unnecessarily bringing in repeated irrelevant references to the moderator. Please stay on topic and no post will ever need to be deleted. Please read the Comments Policy carefully. Thank you and have a good day.
SELVAN
BOSTON, UNITED STATES  

OCT 29, 2009 12:59 AM
6 Just because someone alleges that the "sringeri acharyas r selected at a very yuoung age", does not automatically mean that Doniger is correct. Doniger's scholarship - such as it is - has to stand up to detailed scrutiny quite irrespective of irrelevancies like the age of sringeri acharyas, why the pope is always white or even why the half white obama is labeled black. Aditi's carefully reasoned, thoughtful and well presented rebuttal makes a mockery of Doniger's "scholarship".
SANJAY
BOSTON, USA  

OCT 29, 2009 12:48 AM
5 "heaping blame on a nebulous, undefined, straw man “Hindutva Internet Brigade” for the whole continuum of criticism of Doniger’s work—criticism that has come mostly from moderate and liberal Hindus, secularists, non-Hindu scholars and even one prominent Harvard Indologist who is not known for being friendly towards Hindus. Rather than confront the actual criticisms, Doniger pretends that her only critics are Hindu extremists, and by rebuking this “enemy” she tries to deflect any criticism of her work." 

Hindutva Internet Brigade is alive and kicking. One has to follow the threads in this forum. No Matter what is the subject of discussion they keep spewing venom like a struck record. Or for that matter Just visit the Amazon site where this notorious group has taken over and crapped on the review site of this book. Not one of them has read this book. Or you could go to myriad blogs on Internet where you would find them selling silly old ideas. The author has in the beginning of article tried to (in an indirect way) negate that there is anything such as paid Hindutva Internet Brigade. 

Bottom line is that Doniger's book has initiated a debate on a subject that is considered taboo. Imagine somebody asking these questions in India ?
JAYKAY CHRABORTY
KOLKATTA, INDIA  

OCT 29, 2009 12:42 AM
4 Aditi ji, Thank you for articulating this clearly. The notion that once a person has been successfully. albeit falsely stereotyped , it is unnecessary to rebut his or her arguments, is a reductionist approach that is rampant. However, the only thing that will likely stop her is a law suit.
042170
PLEASANTON, USA  

OCT 29, 2009 12:06 AM
3 > "Doniger’s (and her colleagues’) versions of Hinduism and Hindu history (which are often at serious variance with traditional Hinduism as practised and understood by Hindus themselves)...." 

This is true of other religions also. What the followers practice and understand is the best depiction of a religion. Good article by Aditi Banerjee. Lucid and well argued.
ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES    
OCT 28, 2009 11:57 PM
2 there is a common thread connecting the author and all her references and the people who will now shower praises on her and its the same thread which she refuts is not needed in the beginning of the article. 
the sringeri acharyas r selected at a very yuoung age not because of any knlkwedge but because they r born into a specific community. wendy with her education and research is any day 1000 times better than them.hinduism and sanskrit and all gods whether rama or his father had done wonders for the brahins and i find no wrong in they getting annoyed and deriling wendy but the trouble starts when they start saying and forcing that they were good to eklavya and vaali too.why should i feel proud of sringeri mutt and get annoyed about wendy?.i will buy her books and will present it whenever i am needed to buy gifts.i have no objection if someone prints this rebuttal and distributes in thousands but feel annoyed when one talks with authority on issues which r subjective to say the least
GANAPATHI
CHENNAI, INDIA    
OCT 28, 2009 10:59 PM
1 A fantastic rebuttal!! 

I do not recall reading anything by the writer before. But I hope she writes more. There is excellent clarity and research.
GANESAN
NJ, USA  


http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262511
DISTORTION OF HINDUISM STUDIES IN WESTERN ACADEMY
India’s historical narrative has been primarily written by its colonists, from a victor’s perspective.  Western academy continues to take its cues from colonial scholarship even in modern times.  The amount of denigration and negative portrayal of Hinduism in the Academy is alarmingly high. This is not surprising. Western scholars of Indology are largely non-practitioners of Hinduism.  Sometimes they are trained in Divinity schools which provide inadequate tools to understand Hindu civilization. 

The situation has to change, as more and more practicing Hindu professionals settled in the US raise objections to unfair treatment of their heritage.  We hope that the Academy will be sensitive to their critique and help advance more appropriate scholarship.  

A few examples of the distorted narratives are provided in this note.
Dr. Wendy Doniger of Unversity of Chicago:
A very good example of biased and agenda-driven scholarship is represented by Dr. Wendy Doniger’s latest book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, Penguin, 2009.  Excerpted below is a critique of the book by Dr. Aseem Shukla, a Surgeon at the University of Minnesota, originally published at Washington Post under “On Faith,” March 17, 2010.  Doniger’s unscholarly response to the critique is also available there. Google it!
Dr. Wendy Doniger, professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, has long enjoyed exalted status as the doyen of Hindu studies in the American academy. She faces scrutiny now in an unfolding drama involving her latest book, "The Hindus: An Alternative History". An online petition asking Penguin Press, the publishers of the book, to apologize for the insensitivity and to hold publication and demand revisions has already crossed 10,350 signatures. Petition can be viewed at http://www.petitiononline.com/dharma10/petition-sign.html. And when the book was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, Hindu scholars and professionals wrote numerous concern letters about her shoddy scholarship and some activists even staged a protest outside the award ceremony in New York. It was saving grace that her shoddy scholarship was not the recipient of the NBCC award. 
It is also a matter of record that Doniger was derailed before. In 2003, Microsoft retracted a chapter on Hinduism written by Doniger for its online encyclopedia after a heavily publicized internet campaign protested factual and interpretive errors in her essay. In the end, a Hindu writer, providing the emic, or insider's perspective, wrote an entry that depicted Hinduism in the light that practitioners would actually recognize. . .
Doniger’s 780-page tome is set as her rendering of Hinduism's history based--we are to assume--on her own interpretations of scripture, her own biases and inclinations. Infamous for her penchant to sexualize, eroticize and exoticize passages from some of the holiest Hindu epics and scriptures--often invoking a Freudian psychoanalytic lens--Doniger has been accused of knowingly polarizing and inflaming. She does not disappoint.
Doniger represents what many believe to be a fundamental flaw in the academic study of Hinduism: that Hindu studies is too often the last refuge of idiosyncratic and irreligious academics presenting themselves as "experts" on a faith that they study without the insight, recognition or reverence of a practicing Hindu or even non-Hindu--striving to study Hinduism from the insider's perspective. 

Factual inaccuracies in her latest book were also detailed by a lay historian, Vishal Agarwal. . . (Details and other critiques of Doniger are printed in Portrayal of Hinduism in Western Indology, WAVES, 2010; available on request.). It is not just that there are documented errors in fact predicated on errors in interpretation and context, but Hindus argue that Doniger seems to delight in celebrating the most obscure and arcane of anecdotes or stories from the hoary expanse of Hindu epics and scriptures. Privileging the absurd--dissembling it as an alternative--comes across as a specious exercise of a motivated author seeking spice to sell books. 
Parallelisms in her book conjure up obsolete anecdotes comparing the sacred stone linga representing Lord Shiva to a leather strap-on sex toy, and Lord Rama, one of the most widely worshiped deities, is psychoanalyzed to have acted out of fear that he was becoming a sex-addict like his father. Agarwal shows, Doniger's prose is replete with cutesy, perhaps, but offensive and jejune turns of phrases. Her interpretations of the Rig Veda, the most ancient of the Vedas that Hindus consider sacred, Doniger sees incest and adultery with a pregnant woman in a verse praying to God for protection and safe delivery. Here are few out of many of her derogatory quotes from her book:
Pg 40 – “If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’.” 

Pg 112 - The author alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! 

Pg 128 - The book likens the Vedic devotee worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s). 

Pg 225 -“Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’... Rama knows all too well what people said about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)” 

Pg 467 - Harihara and Bukka (the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire that saved Hindu culture in S India) ‘double-crossed’ the Delhi Sultan when they reconverted to Hinduism. 

Pg 468-469 -“…The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and peoples and colors and the smells of the bazaar…” 

Pg 509 - ”Shankara and the philosopher’s wife…This tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed).” The author attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka. 

Pg 571- It is alleged that in a hymn from Saint Kshetrayya’s poetry, ‘God rapes’ the women devotees. 
A Danish cartoonist would be hard pressed to match the disturbing parodies of a believer's faith that Doniger offers throughout the book. The great Hindu yogi, Patanjali, cautioned in the 2nd century BCE against falling into the trap of false "meaning making" when reading scriptures that contain subtle, esoteric meanings as well as moral edicts. Doniger's book, then, could be read as an idiosyncratic exposition that is "meaning making" out of profound revelations perhaps not meant for the spiritually untrained, untempered, and non-seeking mind.
Whether such a licentious foray into Hinduism studies is protected by free speech is not the question. Doniger can write and believe what she wishes. But Hindus are asking if publishers should bear responsibility for copious factual and interpretive errors. This demand from Hindus to combat Doniger's view of their religion cannot be reduced to an unhinged ban-the-book crusade. . . Recall that publication of the Jewel of Medina was abruptly dropped by Random House last year when fear grew that a story about one of the wives of the prophet Muhammad would spark violence from the Muslim community. 
Doniger has tended to dismiss criticisms from Hindus as politically motivated, chauvinistic, sexist, casteist--the list is long. It is as Vamsee Julluri, Professor of Media Studies at the University of San Francisco, wrote:  "The academy has gone almost directly from the Orientalist myth of Hindu superstition to the postmodern concern about Hindu fundamentalism, without even a notice of the great Hindu religion in between, and what it means to its followers and admirers. The academy must engage with Hinduism more positively."  Academic freedom is sacrosanct. But academic legitimacy in the eyes of the public sets a much higher bar. 
Prof. Paul Courtright of Emory University:
A second example of insensitive and biased scholarship of Hinduism is represented by Paul Courtright’s book, Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings, OXFORD University Press, 1989-PBK.  It is noteworthy that Dr. Wendy Doniger provided her endorsement/ Foreword to this derogatory book. The following critique was prepared by a committee of Atlanta concerned Hindus and submitted to Emory University in 2003. 
Quote: 

“We have been sorely disappointed at the lack of sensitivity Prof. Courtright has shown towards Hindu faith as reflected by assertions in his book.  The following few quotes from the 1989 edition of the book will demonstrate our contention. 
· "Its (Ganesa's) trunk is the displaced phallus, a caricature of Siva's linga. It poses no threat because it is too large, flaccid, and in the wrong place to be useful for sexual purposes." (Page 121)
· "So Ganesa takes on the attributes of his father but in an inverted form, with an exaggerated limp phallus-ascetic and benign- whereas Siva is a "hard" (ur-dhvalinga), erotic and destructive." (Page 121)
· "Both in his behavior and iconographic form Ganesa resembles in some aspects, the figure of the eunuch, ……. Ganesha is like eunuch guarding the women of the harem.”  (Page 111)
· "Although there seems to be no myths or folktales in which Ganesa explicitly performs oral sex; his insatiable appetite for sweets may be interpreted as an effort to satisfy a hunger that seems inappropriate in an otherwise ascetic disposition, a hunger having clear erotic overtones." (Page 111)
· "Ganesa's broken tusk, his guardian's staff, and displaced head can be interpreted as symbols of castration" (page 111) 
· "He (Ganesa) remains celibate so as not to compete erotically with his father, a notorious womanizer, either incestuously for his mother or for any other women for that matter." (Page 110)
· "Feeding Ganesa copious quantities of modakas, satisfying his oral/erotic desires, also keeps him from becoming genitally erotic like his father." (Page 113)
·  "The perpetual son desiring to remain close to his mother and having an insatiable appetite for sweets evokes associations of oral eroticism. Denied the possibility of reaching the stage of full genital masculine power by the omnipotent force of the father, the son seeks gratification in some acceptable way." (Page 113)

Unfortunately, none of his distorted characterizations of Lord Ganesa have any scriptural validity according to Hindu tenets or eminent Hindu scholars. ………….. “ Unquote.
Other sample denigrations by Western Academia:
1. Distorted, sexist (non-falsifiable Freudian psychoanalytical) researches on Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (in his Ph.D dissertation) by Jeffrey John Kripal (Ph. D., University of Chicago, 1993), now the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

2. Motivated interventions by over 40 academics led by Michael Witzel, Harvard Univ. Sanskrit Department in the California Textbooks case (also commonly referred to as the Harvard Donkey Trial) to link up the social organization of jaati in India with Hinduism and present myths such as Aryan Invasions/Migrations/Trickles-in as history of Hindu civilization in sixth grade school textbooks. Such distorted presentations made about Hindu civilization in textbooks, are not made in the study of other civilizations such as Judaism or Islam or Christianity which are intended to instil a sense of pride among school children about their heritage and cultural identities.

3. Running anti-hindu hate groups camouflaged as pseudo-academic Indo-Eurasian_Research (IER) or Religions in South Asia (RISA) or Comparative Mythologies mailing lists or egroups or annual conferences.

We have a moral obligation to respect practitioners of all religions. When the factual is deprecated and editorializing privileged, when the treatment of a religion adhered to by over a billion is rendered unrecognizable in its iteration, a door is opened to bias, spin and errors. 

Insensitive and perverse books/writings neither advance our knowledge about Hinduism nor foster interfaith dialog so badly needed in the current global, social and political environment. Imagine the wrath of people of some other religions if the icons of their faith were belittled! 
Over the last few years, these are what many believe to have uncovered, and the ramifications are real. Such malicious distortions, sooner than later, are bound to cause worldwide condemnation and become an embarrassment to prominent academic universities such as University of Chicago and Emory University and to the American Academy of Religion, AAR. 

It’s about time that academic groups such as AAR set up an Ethics Committee with guidelines transparently spelled out to inquire into the accuracy and the propriety of the derogatory depiction of Hindus by Western Academia and the consequent review of the policy on tenures of such scholars.
Should you need to communicate or discuss these concerns, please email to  Concerned_Community@yahoo.com   
Readings:

Invading The Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America, Rupa & Co 2007. Editors: Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas and Aditi Banerjee
Portrayal of Hinduism in Western Indology, World Association of Vedic Studies, 2010.
Editors: TRN Rao and S Kalyanaraman.
              
                                                                                                                                               February 2, 2010.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Sub:  Inclusion in the NBCC list for NYT award 2009 for Prof. Wendy Doniger’s book, “An Alternative History of Hindus”
As the national Secretary of Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, India, I am writing this on behalf of the Acharya Sabha. The Acharya Sabha is a Forum comprising more than 125 eminent Heads of Hindu religious institutions of learning, teaching and spiritual practices, representing virtually all the denominations of Hindu tradition. Each of these Institutions is ancient with a continuing lineage and current followership of huge numbers of Hindus from all walks of life.
A book titled, “An alternative History of Hindus” written by Prof. Wendy Doniger of the Chicago University came to our notice a short while back. We noticed that the Professor known in the Western world as an expert on Hinduism, has dealt with in a highly lop-sided manner the great religious and spiritual tradition several millennia old and sacred to about a billion people of the world. Even a cursory reading of the different chapters of the book makes it clear that her relentless focus is on highly selective quotations meant, single-mindedly, to portray Hinduism in an abhorrent light. Her entire interpretative presentation is derisive in tone, flippant in language and derogatory in conclusions. Outraged Hindu scholar-practitioners term the book as even malicious in intent. What she claims, namely, that her description of the history of Hindus is believed and accepted by a large number of Hindus, is totally unfounded and tendentious. We have no doubt that what she purports to convey is very different from the understanding and internal experience of practicing Hindus at large and Hindu scholars alike, irrespective of their spiritual standing. Ms. Doniger’s purported history of Hindus is deeply offensive and her analysis and conclusions hurt the religious sentiments of the huge Hindu population of the world. Sacred literature and divine figures venerated by Hindus has been presented in the book in a manner totally unacceptable to those to whom the ancient tradition matters a lot in their daily life. 
We consider that numerous interpretations and assertions of Prof. Doniger in the book can be and will be rebutted as  spurious by many scholars well versed in primary sources. Our purpose here is to make a general assessment of the nature of the contents of the book and to convey to you the impact it has on Hindus far and wide.
It in this background we write to express our great consternation at the proposal to bestow the NYT 2009 award on the book, based on a short list drawn by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC).  Apart from the usual grounds and principles underlying the tests your organization may have laid down for such awards, it is relevant and essential to ask the question: what is the purpose meant to be achieved by the book which treats so callously and thoughtlessly with an ancient and still living religious tradition sacred to millions and millions of people all over the world.  Is it to exhibit the extent of the writer’s imaginative skills and inventiveness in novel interpretation? This may be relevant in literary work but certainly not in dealing with a still vibrantly living religious tradition. When the treatment is prurient in the extreme and repulsive and hurtful to a large population of the concerned religious persuasion, such a book becomes all the more objectionable and even condemnable. Wendy Doniger may keep on saying and writing that she has spent a life time studying Hinduism out of her respect for its openness and inclusiveness. But this does not give her license to defame the religion under the pretext of scholarship. 
The present day world is riven with a variety of antagonisms adversely impacting harmony among peoples. Absurd and hurtful interpretations of others’ religions ostensibly on the ground of ‘scholarship’ should be, therefore, discouraged instead of being extolled, however high in the academia may be the  person venturing such interpretations. Highly regarded entities such as NBCC and NYT have a social and moral obligation to promote harmony and understanding among societies and peoples. Doniger’s book on Hindu history does not deserve recognition with an award simply on the ground that it is clever in conception and appears scholarly in presentation. 
The Acharya Sabha requests you to reconsider and desist from recognizing with an award this thoroughly disgusting work of Prof. Doniger.
                                                                                                                   Sincerely,
                                                                                                        
                                                                                                         R.Venkatanarayanan
Addressees as per list in the email attached.



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: S. Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 7:43 AM
Subject: Re: Congratulations- Dina Nath Batra Vs Wendy Doniger
To: Dina Nath Batra <dina_nathbatra@hotmail.com>
Cc: Narshima Rao USA <drtrnrao@gmail.com>, swamy <swamy39@gmail.com>, monika arora <publiccause@yahoo.co.in>


Dear Dr. Swamy, Dr. Batra ji,

FIR should be lodged against Doniger and Penguin Publishers, India in states ruled by BJP. They should be investigated and cases mounted for indulging in hate speech against Hindus.

Dhanyavaadaah.

kalyanaraman

On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Dina Nath Batra <dina_nathbatra@hotmail.com> wrote:
Dear Shri Kalyanraman je
              Sadar Vande,

I was really disturbed to know that you have recent hard attack. All of us and your well wishers pray to god that you recover as soon as possible. Your life and work is an asset to Hindu Nation. Thanks, for you email again prayer for your recovery.
In the services of the Motherland
(Dina Nath Batra)
President

Dear Sh Tranrao  jee
        I have received your email. The summons  are being issued to the Penguin publisher and Wendy Doniger,  with your good wishes and sympathizers for the cause, I think we shall win the war.  As regards finances you no it is a voluntary organization, we need financial help and support for all sides. After the collection let you the know.  I shall the name and the Trust to whom the money is to be sent.
In the services of the Motherland
(Dina Nath Batra)
President


Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:56:16 +0530
Subject: Fwd: Congratulations- Dina Nath Batra Vs Wendy Doniger
From: kalyan97@gmail.com
To: lgoel@uwf.edu; bharatgupt@vsnl.com; swamy39@gmail.com; dina_nathbatra@hotmail.com; dattah@gmail.com; srividyananda@gmail.com; rgovindhari@gmail.com; avmrajkot@yahoo.co.in; arsha@md3.vsnl.net.in

Shubha kaamanaayen, Dr. Dinanath Batra ji. Together with the guidance of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, and aasheervaadam of Swami Dayananda ji, we shall succeed.

With Devi Sarasvati's anugraham, everything is possible, including my recovery from recent heartfailure.

dhanyosmi.

kalyanaraman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TRN RAO <drtrnrao@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: Congratulations- Dina Nath Batra Vs Wendy Doniger
To: Dina Nath Batra <dina_nathbatra@hotmail.com>
Cc: "Dr. Kalyan, S" <kalyan97@gmail.com>


Namaste, Dina Nath ji,

Our great regards and congratulations. Please let us know what NRIs can do to help. I plan to raise financial support for the cause. I will let you know the details in a few days.

Sincere regards and  best wishes for your success

TRN Rao

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Dina Nath Batra <dina_nathbatra@hotmail.com> wrote:
Respected
       sadar Vande,

The case against Penguin Publisher regarding The History book " The Hindu and Alternative history was  filed. The complaint is admitted and notice the publisher under Section 91 and order 39 Rule 1 to CPC send the publisher. The copy of the order is attached.

(Dina Nath Batra )
National Convener
 -- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TR. Narasimha Rao, Ph.D.
Loflin Chair Professor-Emeritus of Computer Science
University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA
Former President, Hindu University of America, Orlando, FL
e-mail: drtrnrao@gmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doniger (Intl. edn.)
Set 6 Quotes. Motivated method of Doniger to produce pornographic and hate literature
Part of Doniger’s agenda
Part of my agenda in writing an alternative history is to show how much the groups that conventional wisdom says were oppressed and silenced and played no part in the development of the tradition – women, Pariahs (oppressed castes), sometimes called Untouchables) – did actually contribute to Hinduism. My hope is not to reverse or misrepresent the hierarchies which remain stubbornly hierarchical, or to deny that Sanskrit texts were almost always subject to a final filter in the hands of the male Brahmins (the highest of the four social classes, the class from which priests were drawn) who usually composed and preserved them.  (pp.1-2)
Selectivity
Selectivity and synecdoche. Such a luxurious jungle of cultural phenomena, truly an embarrassment of riches, necessitates a drastic selectivity. I have therefore provided not detailed histories of specific moments but one or two significant episodes to represent the broader historical periods in question. (fn.16: Microhistory, in the hands of a master like Carlo Ginsburg, is another way to excavate these often lost ordinary histories, but microhistory requires a thick description to which a survey such as this cannot aspire.) The result is not a seamless narrative that covers the waterfront but a pointillist collage, a kaleidoscope, made of small, often discontinuous fragments. Synecdoche – letting or or two moments in history and one or two narratives stand for many – allows us to see alternity in a gran of sand, taking a small piece of human history and using it to suggest the full range of enduring human concerns.  (fn. 18: With apologies to William Blake: ‘To see a world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower,/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/And eternity in an hour.’)(pp.7-8)
NB: Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image; synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (pars pro toto), or a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class (bindo pro parte).
I have also included a few episodes of interactions (both friendly and hostile) between Hindus and non-Hindus in India, such as Buddhists, Jainas, Sikhs, and Muslims, though without paying direct attention to those other religions in their own right. (p.8)

Comment:

These quotes summarise the technique adopted in the book by Doniger. Doniger’s agenda is to drive a wedge between the Hindu and non-Hindu. Hindu is defined as a religionist; a non-Hindu is defined as a religionist called by orientalists/indologists as Buddhists, Jainas, Sikhs and Muslims. She fails to acknowledge that before these panthas emerged, all their ancestors were Hindu. She also fails to acknowledge that Hindu is considered by many to be a Dharma. She clearly knows that the term Hindu includes Buddhists, Jainas, Sikhs; in fact, she cites: “Taking the opposite tack, the inclusive tack, the Indian Supreme Court, in the Hindu Marriage Act (1955), ruled that any reference to Hindus shall be construed as including ‘any person who is a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion,’ as well as ‘persons professing the Sikh, Jain or Buddhist religion,’ a blatant appropriation that most Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists would resent bitterly. It also defines a Hindu as someone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi, or Jew, but who is (in addition to a Sikh, Buddhist, or Jaina) one of a rather arbitrary selection of people whose marginality made the court nervous:’any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms or developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj.’ ” (p.27)
The Hindi translation of the Preamble of the Constitution of India defines the term ‘secular’ as pantha-nirapekshata (or, neutrality as to panthas). Maybe, Doniger is not familiar with this translation. But, as a student of religion, she should certainly know the distinction between dharma and pantha.
By choosing the method of selectivity and synecdoche, she ends up misrepresenting the history of Hindus and caricaturing the Hindu in sexist, animalistic terms and bogus interpretation of metaphors.
She wrongly assumes that there is a hierarchy in the four-fold classification of varnas and confounds the term varna and jati (translated as caste) and presents a Brahmin as a varna on top of the hierarchy of the classification list of brahmin, vaishy, kshatriya, shudra. Doniger’s agenda is no different from the agenda of a missionary who tries to divide the Hindu samajam by pitting one class against another, little realizing that jati was at most an artisan guild classification in early history of the Hindu and continues to be so, enshrined as, for example, a reference to ‘Scheduled Castes’ in the Indian Constitution.
The problem with the method adopted by Doniger is that her selectivity of citations from texts is motivated and intended to sow the seeds of hatred in the samajam by pitting a Hindu versus a non-Hindu. She fails to acknowledge that there were no muslims, christians, parsis or jews in Vedic times or at least prior to 1cent. before Christ was born. She also fails to recognize that the Hindu is not governed by a revealed book but by the tradition of the Vedas as a quest for learning (the root of the term veda is vid, ‘to know’). 
By adopting mischievous and misguided selectivity, Doniger ends up presenting a caricature of the Hindu far removed from reality and from the practices of millions of Hindu – practices followed even today and as recognized in the Chicago Police training video on the faith and practices of Hindu community.
The fundamental problem with Doniger’s method and approach is that she assumes a narrow perception of ‘religion’ and seeks to understand it through anecdotes. An anecdote is that, an ancecdote and cannot be used to define what she calls a ‘kaleidoscope’. As an academic she has failed in her responsibility to see the underlying unity in the tradition of the Hindu. Even the ancestors of many muslims in India were Hindu. So are Bauddha, Jaina, Khalsa Pantha sparks from the anvil of Sanatana Dharma, which Gautama the Buddha refers to in Pali as ‘esha dhammo sanantano’. 
By indulging in misrepresentations, Doniger is not contributing to knowledge which clearly should be the role of an academic, but indulging in adharma, abusing her authority as an academic. That she intentionally does this is clear from her interview published in Outlook magazine (October 26, 2009). She abuses her authority (adhikara) because she believes that she cannot be fired from the chair in the name of Mircea Eliade which she occupies in the University of Chicago.
[quote] Have you ever been tempted to maintain a discreet silence on the sensual aspect of Hinduism in order not to entangle with the Hindu right wing and not tarnish your academic reputation?
Never. My mother was a terrific revolutionary and iconoclast and she raised me not to care about what other people said if I thought I was doing the right thing. So it’s just not in me to do that. My feeling is more that if no one is saying it, someone has got to say it. When I write, I try not to tell all the stories of Krishna as a charming little baby because everybody knows those things. So I say, what about the stories people don’t know like Krishna’s lies and the amazing things he does. If Krishna is God and he lies and lets the battle happen, this is something to know about the vision of the deity, the vision of God. These raise interesting questions about the nature of God.  I am  68 years old, I have publishers who will take what I write, so I have nothing to lose. I can’t be fired. [unquote]
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262348
Aha, Doniger has publishers who will take what she writes. She can’t be fired.
Why did Random House withdraw a book of fiction?
[quote] August 18, 2008…Random House paid $100,000 for Sherry Jones' racy historical novel about Muhammad and his nine-year-old wife, Aisha, The Jewel of Medina, only to withdraw the book before its scheduled August 12 publication date. Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry said they decided to drop the book after receiving, "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." [unquote]
There is an ethical or moral issue here. Academic  freedom stops when there is an issue of ethics or morality and when there is a perception of offense towards a faith community. 
Do Doniger, Univ. of Chicago and Penguin, the Publisher realize that they have offended the Hindu community? Or, will they wait for halls of justice to adjudicate on this issue of freedom versus violation of human rights or dharma versus adharma?  Violation of human rights is adharma. This is the message of Hindu history. Ramayana or Mahabharata are NOT about war as Doniger contends [‘Ramayana and Mahabharata)…They are long poems, in Sanskrit (indeed mostly in the same meter), and both are about war. ’ (p.261)]; they are about dharma. Valmiki refers to Sri Rama as ‘vigrahavan dharmah’  (personification of dharma). Both epics are about establishing dharma which Sri Rama and Sri Krishna accomplish as avataras of paramaatman or maheshwara, the supreme divinity.
Maybe, these perversions indulged in by Doniger come from the misuse of nonfalsifiable Freudian method. Maybe, she needs help. Cf.The article on “Wendy Doniger’s Unconscious Exhibitionism” by Dr. Shree Vinekar, is apposite:  (Nov. 27, 2009) 
http://sookta-sumana.blogspot.com/2009/11/wendy-donigers-unconscious.html

If so, what is the remedy for such motivated, bigoted expressions like Doniger’s verging on the pornographic, constituting hate literature and what are the damages to be settled to make amends for the intentional hurt caused to the Hindu community? 
Shouldn’t there be a method of categorizing such bogus books, say, by branding them ‘Explicit pornography. Intentional hatred. Will harm impressionable minds. For Adults only,’ similar to the warning labels on tobacco products: ‘Injurious to health. Will kill.’ In any case, such trash should be far removed from the impressionable minds of children and students – and confined to the garbage bin by Hindus.
The AP High Court order on a proposed Sahitya Akademi Award to Yarlagadda Prasad the writer of Draupadi (Telugu) may be seen at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26641547/aphcdraupadi. Mirror: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/25031850/aphcdraupadi This should be a lesson in jurisprudence and on the issues which are hinted in this note. The issue is subjudice. Rightly so.

Kalyanaraman
10 Feb. 2010

Doniger (Intl. Edition)
Set 3. Quotes from Doniger. Peddling pornography and hate literature
Chapter 25. Inconclusion, or, the abuse of history. (Starts with a quote attributed to Madhav Sadashi Golwalkar (1906-1973). The quote is: “The spirit of broad Catholicism, generosity, toleration, truth, sacrifice and love for all life, which characterizes the average Hindu mind not wholly vitiated by Western influence, bears eloquent testimony to the greatness of Hindu culture…The non-Hindu peoples in Hindustan…must not only give up their attitude of intolerance and ungratefulness towards this land…but must…stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment – not even citizen’s rights. (fn. 1: Golwalkar, We, Our Nationhood Defined, 48-49)…The statement by Golwalkar, a leader of the chauvinist Hindu organization known as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), in 1939, reflects a different sort of cultural schizophrenia from the creative dichotomies that have typified so much of Hinduism. The first half of his statement seems to me to express largely valid historical claims, while the political agenda of the second half contradicts those claims, paradoxically using the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance…Agni, the name of the Vedic god of fire, is also the name of one of India’s most powerful nuclear missiles. Pakistan named its missile Ghorid (fn.4), after Muhammad of Ghor. Why should the two warring South Asian nations reach back into Vedic and eleventh-century history to name their nuclear warheads? What is the relevance of history to religious intolerance?...The great mystery about the abuse of history is not the abuse itself but the question of why, in such a future-intoxicated age, we still reach for the past for a past (or a past, however confected) to justify the present.”(p.687)
Comment 1: 
This is in fact a self-confession. Doniger reaches for a confected past. It is a fantasy, not true history that she presents.
The quote attributed to Golwalkar is patently false and intended to defame RSS. The quote attributed to Golwalkar is to a Hindi version of a Marathi book. Golwalkar was only the translator of the book, as Dr. Shrinivas Tilak explains in the following comment. This is not merely biased scholarship, this is intended to defame RSS and Hindu history as she summarises her sexist fantasy.
Irrespective of the confected, fraudulent attribution of the quote to Golwalkar, Doniger’s ‘inconclusion or abuse of history’ intends to misrepresent Hindu history as a history of intolerance. This is bogus, absurd and false misrepresentation of Hindu history, intended only to hurt the feelings of Hindus and to sell her fascination with sex citing anecdotes from Hindu texts and insulting many divinities and thoughts which Hindus consider sacred.
Yes, we must look before we leap into history, but we should look with compassion and present, not a fantasy and eroticism, but to understand the Hindu in the spirit with which many non-Hindus admired the Hindu. We can cite hundreds of quotes from the likes of Voltaire or Einstein, but will make no difference to those obsessed with sex and drainage inspectors like Wendy Doniger who can never see the sublime or distinguish the sacred from the profane. 
Doniger is a blot on the academe. Her book should be declared pornographic and banned from access to children, the way tobacco products are allowed to be sold only to adults in many parts of the world. 
This is hate literature at its worst, intended to create hatred about the Hindus in the impressionable minds of young students.
Comment 2: By Dr. Shrinivas Tilak (5 Feb. 2010):
After 686 pages, comes chapter 25 ‘Inconclusion [sic], or, The Abuse of History,’ which is only 3 1/ 2 pages long! It begins with a long quotation attributed to Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973) who, claims Doniger, used the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance (p. 687). I have seen this quotation attributed to Golwalkar in dozens of so-called scholarly monographs by Western and Indian academics, historians, and Indologists who conveniently create a ‘straw-man’ out of Golwalkar as an iconic Hindu fanatic.  

Like others Doniger demonizes Golwalkar and his thought as intolerant on the basis of just one paragraph from a small pamphlet We, Our Nationhood Defined (p 48-49). This is unhistorical, besides being incompetent and biased scholarship considering the fact that Golwalkar only translated that work into Hindi originally written in Marathi by Balarao Savarkar, the younger brother of Vinayak D. Savarkar. It does not necessarily mean that Golwalkar, as the translator, endorsed or espoused all the ideas presented by Balarao Savarkar. Furthermore, Golwalkar was active in India’s public life thirty-five years after the pamphlet came out and his collected works run to thousands of printed pages collected in twelve volumes. One would expect a more nuanced assessment of Golwalkar from “one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world” as claimed in the blurb. Those interested in an ‘alternative’ perspective on Golwalkar may consult my Reawakening to a secular Hindu nation: M. S. Golwalkar’s vision of a dharmasapeksa Hindurastra (Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publications, 2008).
http://sookta-sumana.blogspot.com/2010/02/doniger-does-doggie_05.html#comments

Excerpts from Prof. Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus, an alternative history (2009)

The following select excerpts from the book indicate the method used by the learned professor and selective anecdotes cited to generalize on Hindus and their history:

Part of Doniger’s agenda

Part of my agenda in writing an alternative history is to show how much the groups that conventional wisdom says were oppressed and silenced and played no part in the development of the tradition – women, Pariahs (oppressed castes), sometimes called Untouchables) – did actually contribute to Hinduism. My hope is not to reverse or misrepresent the hierarchies which remain stubbornly hierarchical, or to deny that Sanskrit texts were almost always subject to a final filter in the hands of the male Brahmins (the highest of the four social classes, the class from which priests were drawn) who usually composed and preserved them.    (pp.1-2)

Selectivity

Selectivity and synecdoche. Such a luxurious jungle of cultural phenomena, truly an embarrassment of riches, necessitates a drastic selectivity. I have therefore provided not detailed histories of specific moments but one or two significant episodes to represent the broader historical periods in question. (fn.16: Microhistory, in the hands of a master like Carlo Ginsburg, is another way to excavate these often lost ordinary histories, but microhistory requires a thick description to which a survey such as this cannot aspire.) The result is not a seamless narrative that covers the waterfront but a pointillist collage, a kaleidoscope, made of small, often discontinuous fragments. Synecdoche – letting or or two moments in history and one or two narratives stand for many – allows us to see alternity in a gran of sand, taking a small piece of human history and using it to suggest the full range of enduring human concerns.    (fn. 18: With apologies to William Blake: ‘To see a world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower,/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/And eternity in an hour.’)(pp.7-8)
NB:  Pointillism  is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image; synecdoche is  a  figure of speech  in which a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing (pars pro toto), or  a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class (bindo pro parte).
I have also included a few episodes of interactions (both friendly and hostile) between Hindus and non-Hindus in India, such as Buddhists, Jainas, Sikhs, and Muslims, though without paying direct attention to those other religions in their own right. (p.8)

Aditi gives birth. Let us now speak with wonder of the births of the gods – so that some one may see them when the poems are chanted in this later age. In the earliest age of the gods, existence was born from nonexistence. After this the quarters of the sky, and the earth, were born from her who crouched with legs spread. From female Infinity (Aditi), male dexterity (Daksha) was born, and from male dexterity (Daksha), female infinity (Aditi) was born. After her were born the blessed gods, the kinsmen of immortality (10.72.1-5). The dominant visual image of this poem is the goddess of infinity, who crouches with legs stretched up (uttana-pad), more particularly with knees drawn up and legs spread wide*, a term that designates a position primarily associated with a woman giving birth. (*Visual depictions of this figure are first attested from the second to the fourth century CE). This position is later associated with yoga and might have yogic overtones even in this period. (fn. 67: Bolon,  Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri  in Indian Art, figure 52; Kramrich, ‘An image of Aditi-Uttanapad’, 259-70).(p.127)

Concerns for the relationship between humans and animals, and with retribution in ‘the other world’, are central issues in the Brahmanas…(p.134).

Dogs. A dog too played a part in keeping evil out of the sacrifice, and the negative role of the dog is evidence that the lower castes were still essential to the ritual. It may well be that the growing acknowledgement of class distinctions in this period (of Brahmanas) and the formulation of more intense rules of purity and impurity began to find the omnivorous dog a useful symbol of the impure eater, the outsider, in contrast with the noble, herbivorous (i.e., vegetarian) horse. Another factor in the fall of the dog’s status may have been the progressive decline of the Vedic gods Indra, Yama, and Rudra, who were associated with dogs. (fn. 33: Debroy,Sarama and Her Children). (p.145)

Chandika gives Shumbha death in lieu of sex; he dies in the battle that she demands as a prelude to marriage, a marriage that never happens, and goes straight to heaven, since his love-war relationship with the goddess is regardes as a form of  dvesha-bhakti, devotion through hatred (as well as love).(p.416)

Some women found a kind of automony, freedom from their families, in the Tantric community, but for the most part the rituals were designed to benefit people who had lingas, not yonis. (p.433)

Mrs. Indra and other females… More substantial in the early evidence in this poem (RV 10.162) of rape that came to be regarded as a bad, but legitimate, form of marriage; having sex with a sleeping or drugged woman. It appears that a woman’s brother too is someone she might expect to find in her bed, though the  Rig Veda  severely condemns sibling incest, it is also possible that the brother in question is her husband’s brother, a person who, as we shall see, can have certain traditional, though anxiety-producing, connections with his brother’s wife. (fnnn. 53. For sibling incest, see Yami’s unsuccessful attempt to seduce her brother: Yama in  Rig Veda  10.10)(pp. 123-124)

Chapter 25. Inconclusion, or, the abuse of history. (Starts with a quote attributed to Madhav Sadashi Golwalkar (1906-1973). The quote is: “The spirit of broad Catholicism, generosity, toleration, truth, sacrifice and love for all life, which characterizes the average Hindu mind not wholly vitiated by Western influence, bears eloquent testimony to the greatness of Hindu culture…The non-Hindu peoples in Hindustan…must not only give up their attitude of intolerance and ungratefulness towards this land…but must…stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment – not even citizen’s rights. (fn. 1: Golwalkar,  We, Our Nationhood Defined, 48-49)…The statement by Golwalkar, a leader of the chauvinist Hindu organization known as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), in 1939, reflects a different sort of cultural schizophrenia from the creative dichotomies that have typified so much of Hinduism. The first half of his statement seems to me to express largely valid historical claims, while the political agenda of the second half contradicts those claims, paradoxically using the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance…Agni, the name of the Vedic god of fire, is also the name of one of India’s most powerful nuclear missiles. Pakistan named its missile Ghorid (fn.4), after Muhammad of Ghor. Why should the two warring South Asian nations reach back into Vedic and eleventh-century history to name their nuclear warheads? What is the relevance of history to religious intolerance?...The great mystery about the abuse of history is not the abuse itself but the question of why, in such a future-intoxicated age, we still reach for the past for a past (or a past, however confected) to justify the present.”(p.687)

In addition to understanding the history of the texts, we need to understand the relationship between records of historical events and the construction of imaginary worlds as well as the symbolism that often joins them. To begin with the symbolism of physical objects, sometimes a linga is just a linga – or, more often both a linga and a cigar…And many Hindus have, like Freud, seen lingas in every naturally occurring elongated object, the so-called self-created (svayambhu) lingas… (p.22)

Yet though the goddesses of India are equally various, people (both scholars and the authors of Sanskrit texts) often speak of the Goddess, Devi, and tend to treat all the other goddesses as nothing more than aspects of Devi, whereas they all are actually quite different. One gets the impression that in the dark, all goddesses are gray. (So too while gods, orgres and antigods often have extra heads – Brahma has four, Shiva five, Skanda six, Ravana ten – Puranic goddesses not only seldom have more than one – they have lots of arms, but not heads – but often have less than one; several of them are beheaded. This is a gendered pattern that makes one stop and think.) I would prefer to treat the Hindu goddesses individually, though reserving the right to generalize about them. (p.387)

Shankara and the philosopher’s wife (Bharati, wife of Mandanamishra)…The tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed). This double superiority – for it appears that, like Shiva, this Shankara stored up impressive erotic powers during his years of chastity – rather than the inherent power (or relevance) of nondualism, is apparently what persuades both the philosopher and his wife.    (p.509)

The  Bhagavata  also domesticates the myth of looking into the mouth of god (Krishna), which, in the  Gita, reveals to Arjuna the unbearable image of doomsday. In the Purana, Yashoda looks into the mouth of her toddler Krishna and sees in it the universe and herself (as Brahma sees the universe and himself in Vishnu), a vision that she finds unbearable, just as Arjuna did. ..Gopis as lovers. When passion, even religious passion, is the game, the erotic is always a heavy hitter. Krishna in theMahabharata  is a prince with many wives, sixteen thousand by some counts, though he had his favourites. (Rukmini, Satyabhama, and Jambavati). The Puranas depict Krishna as a handsome young man who dances with the many Gopis, the wives of the cowherd men. In the great circle dance in the moonlight (rasa-lila), he doubles himself again and again so that each Gopi thinks that Krishna is with her. Similarly, the Gopis double themselves, leaving shadow images of themselves in bed with their unsuspecting husbands. The Gopis are both his mothers and his lovers; the Puranas tend to blur the distinction between the love of Krishna’s mothers (‘calf love’ [vatsalya]) and the love of his lovers (‘hone-sweet love’ [madhurya] (Bharmavaivarta Purana 4.15 Doniger O’Flaherty,Women, 103-04)… Gita Govinda, ‘The song of (Krishna) the Cowherd’ by Jayadeva…Jayadeva’s Radha is powerful, Krishna bends down before her and puts her feet on his head. The romance of the two adulterous lovers may owe something to the Persian romances that were becoming known in India through the Muslim preseence at this time, in some Sufi sects. (Behl and Weightman,  Madhu Malati)…In the  Bhagavata Purana,  Krishna would disappear from the circle dance from time to time, and the Gopis searched for him in an exquisite agony of longing, the great Indian theme of love and separation (viraha), here in the famous bhakti mode of longing for the absent god (the  deus absconditus  or  otiosus)…In the Brahmavaivarta Purana, probably composed in Bengal in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the mature Radha is put in charge of the infant Krishna, to her intense annoyance, suddenly he turns into a gorgeous young man, with whom she makes love joyously for many days – until he turns back again into a demanding, and wet, infant. (fn. 20:  Brahmavaivarta Purana  4.15)(pp.478-479)

Famine and plague (which raged during this period), as always, affected religion. The widespread economic devastation may well account for the increase, at this time, of goddess worship, which generally flourishes during epidemics. When two years of failed monsoon led to the famine of 1750 to 1755, in which a third of the population of Bengal, some ten million people, died, there was a surge in the worship of the goddess Kali in her aspect of Annapurna (‘Full of Food). (fn.25:  Klostermaier, Hinduism, 291). Hard times give rise to hard deities. And it was religion that really soured the Raj.(p.583)

“But Kunti had already had one son, secretly, out of wedlock. When she was still a young girl, she had decided to try out her mantra, just fooling around. The sun god, Surya, took her seriously; despite her vigorous protests and entreaties, he raped her and afterward restored her virginity. She gave birth to Karna, whom she abandoned in shame; a Charioteer and his wife adopted him and raised him as their own (1.104; 3.290-94; 5.144.1-9)” (p.295)

“Dasharatha’s son is certainly lustful” is a key phrase. Rama knows all too well what people said about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)”.(p.225)

The seduction and killing of Mahisha…the Skanda Purana, states that Durga was already a powerful goddess when Mahisha defeated the gods…Another text from roughly the same period brings out the erotic element more vividly…”she said to Mahisha’s mess3enger, ‘Your master is a great fool, and certainly no hero, to want to be killed by a woman. For to be killed by one’s mistress gives sexual pleasure to a pansy (kliba) but misery to a hero.”    (Devi-Bhagavata Purana  5.2-11; Doniger O’Flaherty, Hindu Myths, 240-49)…Though Durga here is so beautiful that she inspires the antigod with a destructive erotic passion, she herself is so devoid of erotic feelings, that she insists not only that she is a man rather than a woman but that her would-be consort is NOT a man, but a mere pansy. To clinch this argument, she insists that only a pansy would wish to experience a LIEBESTOD with a womjan. The aggressive woman rides astride the buffalo, and her sexual supremacy is expressed through a martial image: She holds an erect phallic sword in paintings and sculptures depicting the slaying of Mahisha. (pp.417-418)

One text that we have already considered, the text that speaks of the king’s eating the people, also glosses several lines from the obscene banter with the queens that accompanies the ritual copulation in the horse sacrifice: “ ‘The little female bird rocks back and forth as he thrusts the penis into the slit.’ Now, that bird is really the people, for the people rock back and forth at the thrust of the royal power, and the slit is the people, and the penis is the royal power, which presses against the people; and so the one who has royal power is hurtful to the people.” (fn. 77: Shatapatha Brahmana 13.2.9.6-9; Doniger O’Flaherty,  Textual Sources, 17-18.) On the analogy of the ritual copulation, this text is saying that the king rapes the people. It thus proclaims, in brutal and obscene language, the violence of royal oppression. (pp.154-155)

Take dogs. Hindu dharma forbids Hindus to have any contact with dogs, whom it regards as unclean scavengers, literally untouchable (a-s-prishya), the parasites of Pariahs who are themselves regarded as parasites…(Citing from Mahabharata)…Yudhishthira refuses to abandon a dog who is ‘devoted’ (bhakta) to him…For the dog never does go to heaven, never violates Hindu law, because there was no dog; it was all an illusion. In case of a real dog…what then? The story shows just how rotten the caste system is but does not change it. No dogs get into heaven. (p.267)

Draupadi’s five husbands… Like other polyandrous women whose virginities were restored, sometimes after premarital seduction or rape, Draupadi will be restored to purity each month after willing conjugal sex…When Duryodhana has Draupadi dragged into the assembly hall, much as Rama summons Sita to the public assembly, and Duhshasana attempts to strip her, despite the fact that she is wearing a garment soiled with her menstrual blood (the same blood that was supposed to purify her), the enemies of the Pandavas justify their insults to her by arguing that a woman who sleeps with five men must be a slut (2.61.34-36)…The  Mahabharata  keeps insisting that all this is hearsay, as if to make us doubt it; it invokes a vivid, quasi-Freudian primal scene to explain a kind of sexual revulsion. A Brahmin’s right to demand the sexual services of any woman he fancied (fn. 23) evoked violent protect in ancient Indian texts, and Draupadi herself is subjected to such sexual harassment (unconsummated) on one occasion when she is in disguise as a servant and not recognized as the princess Draupadi (4.21.1-67)…Draupadi, born of fire, is significantly motherless, like Sita, who was born of Earth and returns into earth, after she has entered fire and come out of it.(pp.296-301)

(Concluding sentence of the book)...Perhaps we can ride into the future on the glorious horse that graces the jacket of this book. It is an example of the contribution of a foreign culture to Hinduism, since composite animals of this type come from Persia and entered India with the Mughals, and an example of the intersection of court and village, as the image traveled from the Mughal court in Delhi to a village in the state of Orissa, the source of this contemporary example. It is an image of women, almost certainly painted by a man. Depicting the god Krishna as the rider on the horse makes the muslim image a Hindu image, and the rider on the horse is an enduring Hindu metaphor for the mind controlling the senses, in this case harnessing the sexual addiction excited by naked women. This multivocal masterpirce is, like Hinduism, a collage made of individual pieces that fit together to make something far more wonderful than any of them. (p.690)
[Divinity Krishna is shown sitting on the buttocks of a naked woman, surrounded by other woman in various karanas. See the Doniger book jacket image posted at   http://www.scribd.com/doc/26565460/Scan-0002; Mirror:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24829805/scan0002 ]



Comments of Dr. S. Kalyanaraman on Prof. Wendy Doniger’s book: The Hindu, an alternative history (2009)
Hindu as an erotic. Doniger attempts to distort, disparage and spit on the Hindu and caricatures Hindu as an erotic. See her quote related to Draupadi (worse than the Telugu writer's comment in his fictional account; this book was to be given a Sahitya Akademi award; AP High Court intervened and ordered that Sahitya Akademi should desist from such an award).
Peddling pornography and hate literature fantasizing about Hindu history.
Chapter 25. Inconclusion, or, the abuse of history. (Starts with a quote attributed to Madhav Sadashi Golwalkar (1906-1973). The quote is: “The spirit of broad Catholicism, generosity, toleration, truth, sacrifice and love for all life, which characterizes the average Hindu mind not wholly vitiated by Western influence, bears eloquent testimony to the greatness of Hindu culture…The non-Hindu peoples in Hindustan…must not only give up their attitude of intolerance and ungratefulness towards this land…but must…stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment – not even citizen’s rights. (fn. 1: Golwalkar, We, Our Nationhood Defined, 48-49)…The statement by Golwalkar, a leader of the chauvinist Hindu organization known as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), in 1939, reflects a different sort of cultural schizophrenia from the creative dichotomies that have typified so much of Hinduism. The first half of his statement seems to me to express largely valid historical claims, while the political agenda of the second half contradicts those claims, paradoxically using the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance…Agni, the name of the Vedic god of fire, is also the name of one of India’s most powerful nuclear missiles. Pakistan named its missile Ghorid (fn.4), after Muhammad of Ghor. Why should the two warring South Asian nations reach back into Vedic and eleventh-century history to name their nuclear warheads? What is the relevance of history to religious intolerance?...The great mystery about the abuse of history is not the abuse itself but the question of why, in such a future-intoxicated age, we still reach for the past for a past (or a past, however confected) to justify the present.”(p.687)

Comment 1:

This is in fact a self-confession. Doniger reaches for a confected past. It is a fantasy, not true history that she presents.

The quote attributed to Golwalkar is patently false and intended to defame RSS. The quote attributed to Golwalkar is to a Hindi version of a Marathi book. Golwalkar was only the translator of the book, as Dr. Shrinivas Tilak explains in the following comment. This is not merely biased scholarship, this is intended to defame RSS and Hindu history as she summarises her sexist fantasy.
Irrespective of the confected, fraudulent attribution of the quote to Golwalkar, Doniger’s ‘inconclusion or abuse of history’ intends to misrepresent Hindu history as a history of intolerance. This is bogus, absurd and false misrepresentation of Hindu history, intended only to hurt the feelings of Hindus and to sell her fascination with sex citing anecdotes from Hindu texts and insulting many divinities and thoughts which Hindus consider sacred.

Yes, we must look before we leap into history, but we should look with compassion and present, not a fantasy and eroticism, but to understand the Hindu in the spirit with which many non-Hindus admired the Hindu. We can cite hundreds of quotes from the likes of Voltaire or Einstein, but will make no difference to those obsessed with sex and drainage inspectors like Wendy Doniger who can never see the sublime or distinguish the sacred from the profane.

Doniger is a blot on the academe. Her book should be declared pornographic and banned from access to children, the way tobacco products are allowed to be sold only to adults in many parts of the world.

This is hate literature at its worst, intended to create hatred about the Hindus in the impressionable minds of young students.

Comment 2: By Dr. Shrinivas Tilak (5 Feb. 2010):

After 686 pages, comes chapter 25 ‘Inconclusion [sic], or, The Abuse of History,’ which is only 3 1/ 2 pages long! It begins with a long quotation attributed to Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973) who, claims Doniger, used the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance (p. 687). I have seen this quotation attributed to Golwalkar in dozens of so-called scholarly monographs by Western and Indian academics, historians, and Indologists who conveniently create a ‘straw-man’ out of Golwalkar as an iconic Hindu fanatic. 

Like others Doniger demonizes Golwalkar and his thought as intolerant on the basis of just one paragraph from a small pamphlet We, Our Nationhood Defined (p 48-49). This is unhistorical, besides being incompetent and biased scholarship considering the fact that Golwalkar only translated that work into Hindi originally written in Marathi by Balarao Savarkar, the younger brother of Vinayak D. Savarkar. It does not necessarily mean that Golwalkar, as the translator, endorsed or espoused all the ideas presented by Balarao Savarkar. Furthermore, Golwalkar was active in India’s public life thirty-five years after the pamphlet came out and his collected works run to thousands of printed pages collected in twelve volumes. One would expect a more nuanced assessment of Golwalkar from “one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world” as claimed in the blurb. Those interested in an ‘alternative’ perspective on Golwalkar may consult my Reawakening to a secular Hindu nation: M. S. Golwalkar’s vision of a dharmasapeksa Hindurastra (Charleston, SC: BookSurge Publications, 2008).
http://sookta-sumana.blogspot.com/2010/02/doniger-does-doggie_05.html#comments

Doniger's erotic explanation for the book jacket

quote:

(Concluding sentence of the book)...Perhaps we can ride into the future on the glorious horse that graces the jacket of this book. It is an example of the contribution of a foreign culture to Hinduism, since composite animals of this type come from Persia and entered India with the Mughals, and an example of the intersection of court and village, as the image traveled from the Mughal court in Delhi to a village in the state of Orissa, the source of this contemporary example. It is an image of women, almost certainly painted by a man. Depicting the god Krishna as the rider on the horse makes the muslim image a Hindu image, and the rider on the horse is an enduring Hindu metaphor for the mind controlling the senses, in this case harnessing the sexual addiction excited by naked women. This multivocal masterpirce is, like Hinduism, a collage made of individual pieces that fit together to make something far more wonderful than any of them. (p.690)

Comment:

There is NO horse in this image that is said to grace the jacket of Doniger's book. It ain't no grace. It is a disgrace on a book claiming to be authored by a Mircea Eliade Chair Professor of Univ. of Chicago.

Divinity Krishna is shown sitting on the buttocks of a naked woman, surrounded by other woman in various karanas. See the Doniger book jacket image posted at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26565460/Scan-0002 ; also attached. Mirror: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24829805/scan0002

It is clear that Doniger wants to depict 'god Krishna' and present the erotic content of her book to enrage the millions of Hindus who venerate Sri Krishna and offer prayers to the divinity in many temples. She and the publisher have done this with the full knowledge that Sri Krishna is revered as a divinity and there are many temples for Sri Krishna where Hindus worship the divinity. The intent is clearly to ridicule, humiliate, defame the Hindu and denigrate the Hindu traditions.

The vulgar painting is no different from the paintings of MF Hussain who presents Hindu divinities nude and in vulgar postures, insulting the faith of millions of Hindus. 

Doniger's book jacket is hate literature, presented under the cover of 'art' and claiming to be from an Orissa painting without mentioning the source. It could as well be a forgery or author's fantasy.

Unlike MF Hussain, Doniger occupies a prestigious chair named after the savant Mircea Eliade. Isn't the Univ. of Chicago concerned that its name is being misued by Doniger, promoting her book naming the chair she occupies? One hopes she has read the works and assimilated the thoughts of Mircea Eliade who viewed the faiths of millions of people with compassion and empathy. If indeed she has, she would not have indulged in producing hate literature. What a contrast and what a misfit on the chair set up in the memory of a savant -- a memory which is supposed to ennoble and lead to jnana. (How come Doniger doesn't talk about jnana?)

Shouldn't the author, the University and the Publisher (Penguin, USA and Penguin, India) be concerned that they are peddling pornographic and hate literature while defaming the Hindu?

Should the University be allowing the author to peddle pornography and hate literature in the University schools? The author, University and the Publisher alike are accountable to the society which they are supposed to serve.

What gives them the adhikara? Adhikara is a very important juridicial concept in Hindu traditions, corresponding to rights and authority mentioned in Roman jurisprudence and in international law. 

In the Hindu traditions, adhikara comes with responsibility and should be used only to promote dharma. In this case, the authority, the University by acquiescence and the Publisher are promoting adharma by abusing their adhikara. The concept of adhikara is well explained in Hindu texts. It is amazing that Doniger makes no mention of these references, while trying to cull out sexist references and even mistranslating them.

This is an issue concerning Human rights pitted against abuse of adhikara in the academe and by a publisher. 

The malicious intent of Doniger and the Publisher are disgusting, vulgar and devoid of any ethical or moral values expected of an academic. This is abuse of academic freedom, abuse of adhikara occupying a chair in an American University and indulging in self-praise as 'one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world'. She is NOT. She is a bogus scholar. She needs help. The article on “Wendy Doniger’s Unconscious Exhibitionism” by Dr. Shree Vinekar, is apposite:  (Nov. 27, 2009) 
http://sookta-sumana.blogspot.com/2009/11/wendy-donigers-unconscious.html

Just as there is a rating system for movies such as: Pornographic, Adults only, Parental Guidance, there should be some rating for books produced abusing the academic authority but shorn of academic scholarship and responsibility.

In this case, the production of this Doniger's book is conduct unbecoming of the position Doniger occupies on the Mircea Eliade chair and the name of the University which is used liberally to promote pornography and hate against a civilization which is a civilization continuum of at least 5 millennia. Surely, Doniger knows this and with malicious intent defames the Hindu.

The book is abusive and bogus Hindu history
The book outlines Hindu history as history of sex, Kali as hard deity ( Freud is the Veda)
The selective quotes speak for themselves.

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman
11 Feb. 2009 kalyan97@gmail.com
To:
1.   Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York , New York 10014 , USA
2.   Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., II Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110012, India 
3.   NY Times Chairman and President. president@nytimes, publisher@nytimes.com 
4.   NBCC Board Members and President Ciabattari, Ms. Hoffert
Re: Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus, an alternative history (2009) published by Penguin Group and Penguin India
I am writing this on behalf of World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) is a multidisciplinary academic society. It is a forum for all scholarly activities and views on any area of Vedic Studies variously called as Indian Studies, South Asian Studies or Indology.
We wish to bring to your attention that the above referenced book in two editions(ISBN 9781594202056 International edn.) (ISBN 9780670083541 Indian-subcontinent edn.) has several factual errors, distortions and denigration of Indian history.

We urge you to revise the book removing many factual errors and distortions about Hindu history.

Hinduism is a faith of millions of people worldwide. Many Hindus feel outraged by the insensitive and disparaging comments made against divinities worshipped by many of them. This is an invasion of the sacred and tantamount to defamation of practitioners of the Hindu faith.

We will be happy to give you a list of factual errors and derogatory statements contained in almost every chapter of the book, apart from the insulting jacket on the book. Each chapter is a shocking series of anecdotes of denigration, distortion and misrepresentation of Hinduism and the history of India/Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure/secondary references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism.
The author has transgressed the boundaries of scholarship by defaming the religion and religious practices of Hindus. The book is, simply, pornographic and hate literature, hurting the sentiments of Hindus worldwide.

We request New York Times to desist from rewarding the book or promoting its publication through other editions, until a thorough review is made by Hindu scholars and practitioners. You may like to get the book reviewed thoroughly by historians who have specialized in Indian history. 

We request the Publishers to: 
1.     Apologize for having published “The Hindus: An Alternative History” without thoroughly fact-checking the historical accuracy of Professor Wendy Doniger’s statements, thus contributing to offending the religious sentiments of Hindus worldwide
2.     Correct the factually and historical inaccuracies in “The Hindus: An Alternative History” and use the updated version for future editions.





February 19, 2010

Susan Peterson Kennedy
President
Penguin Group (USA) 
375 Hudson St
New York, NY 10014


Dear Ms. Peterson Kennedy,

The following is a petition from concerned Hindu Americans to the Penguin Group (USA) requesting an apology for the publication of the factually incorrect and offensive “The Hindus-An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger.  We request Penguin Group (USA) to correct the many errors and print a revised version.

We wish to bring to your attention that “The Hindus: An Alternative History” contains countless errors in its historical facts and Sanskrit translations. Throughout the book, Doniger also takes free license to apply psycho-sexual Freudian theories, theories which modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limited and limiting, to analyze revered Hindu Gods and Goddess.  Using Freudian analysis to retrospectively find psychosexual motivation behind depictions of Hindu deities then seems deplorably inappropriate. More importantly, her analysis in no way comports with the actual beliefs, understandings or interpretations of practicing Hindus and is quite frankly, offensive and insulting to not only the Hindu American community, but Hindus worldwide.    

A. Factual errors

The following are a just a sampling of examples of the factual errors that run rampant through the book. Upon request, we are more than happy to provide additional erroneous passages.


Page Number Inaccurate Statement in Book Verifiable Fact    
194 Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture) was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (translated as ‘the science of deep attachment’). The title of Gandhi’s work is 'Anasakti Yoga' (trans. ‘Science of non-Attachment’).    
532 Emperor Akbar moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Delhi in 1586. Emperor Akbar moved his capital to Agra.    
537-8 The Sikh teacher Guru Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708, while 'attending Emperor Aurangzeb'. Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707. Govind Singh was assassinated during the reign of Aurangzeb’s successor, Emperor Bahadur Shah I.    
539 'Jahandah Shah' (sic) became the ruler after Emperor Aurangzeb. Emperor Bahadur Shah I, who was the father of Jahandar Shah, succeeded Aurangzeb. 
 


B. Derogatory statements

Each chapter is a shocking series of anecdotes which denigrate, distort and misrepresentat Hinduism and the history of India and Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure and secondary references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism.  Cited below are only a handful of quotes along with our understanding and interpretation, with references from Hindu scripture.


Page Number Quote  Rebuttal    
225 “Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’... Rama knows all too well what people aid about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and   addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)” The critical edition of Valmiki Ramayana records no such statement attributed to Lakshmana.    
295 “But Kunti had already had one son, secretly, out of wedlock. When she was still a young girl, she had decided to try out her mantra, just fooling around. The sun god, Surya, took her seriously; despite her vigorous protests and entreaties, he raped her and afterward restored her virginity. She gave birth to Karna, whom she abandoned in shame; a Charioteer and his wife adopted him and raised him as their own (1.104; 3.290-94; 5.144.1-9)” The use of the word 'rape' is the author's misinterpretation. ‘Rape’ is not contained in the text. Hindus worship Kunti as divinity representation of the Feminine Divine in many temples throughout India.    
509 ”Shankara and the philosopher’s wife…This tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed). This double superiority – for it appears that, like Shiva, this Shankara stored up impressive erotic powers during his years of chastity – rather than the inherent power (or relevance) of nondualism, is apparently what persuades both the philosopher and his wife.” Doniger imagines 'erotic powers' without any basis, which is a serious slur on a person of the stature of Adi Shankara. She attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka. The author misinterprets ‘parakayapravesha’ as orgy.  This is a good example of how Doniger is misled by her own predisposition to diverge from the tradition’s interpretation of the event. 
 

As mentioned, the above is simply a sampling of the offensive statements in the book.  Additional examples and reponses are available upon request.

As concerned Hindu Americans, we request Penguin Group (USA) to:

1. Apologize for having published “The Hindus: An Alternative History” without thoroughly fact-checking the historical accuracy of Professor Wendy Doniger’s statements, thus contributing to offending the religious sentiments of Hindus worldwide
2. Correct the factually and historical inaccuracies in “The Hindus: An Alternative History” and use the updated version for future editions.

New Encarta Introduction to Hinduism:
(from: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555715/Hinduism.html)

I  Introduction 
Hinduism, a religious tradition of Indian origin, comprising the beliefs and practices of Hindus. The word Hindu is derived from the river Sindhu, or Indus. Hindu was primarily a geographical term that referred to India or to a region of India (near the Sindhu) as long ago as the 6th century bc. The word Hinduism is an English word of more recent origin. Hinduism entered the English language in the early 19th century to describe the beliefs and practices of those residents of India who had not converted to Islam or Christianity and did not practice Judaism or Zoroastrianism. 

In the case of most religions, beliefs and practices come first, and those who subscribe to them are acknowledged as followers. In the case of the Hindu tradition, however, the acknowledgment of Hindus came first, and their beliefs and practices constitute the contents of the religion.

Hindus themselves prefer to use the Sanskrit term sanātana dharma for their religious tradition. Sanātana dharma is often translated into English as “eternal tradition” or “eternal religion” but the translation of dharma as “tradition” or “religion” gives an extremely limited, even mistaken, sense of the word. Dharma has many meanings in Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hindu scripture, including “moral order,” “duty,” and “right action.” 

The Hindu tradition encourages Hindus to seek spiritual and moral truth wherever it might be found, while acknowledging that no creed can contain such truth in its fullness and that each individual must realize this truth through his or her own systematic effort. Our experience, our reason, and our dialogue with others—especially with enlightened individuals—provide various means of testing our understanding of spiritual and moral truth. And Hindu scripture, based on the insights of Hindu sages and seers, serves primarily as a guidebook. But ultimately truth comes to us through direct consciousness of the divine or the ultimate reality. In other religions this ultimate reality is known as God. Hindus refer to it by many names, but the most common name is Brahman. 

In many religions truth is delivered or revealed from a divine source and enters the world through a single agent: for example, Abraham in Judaism, Jesus in Christianity, and Muhammad in Islam. These truths are then recorded in scriptures that serve as a source of knowledge of divine wisdom: the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. In the Hindu tradition, by contrast, there is no single revelation or orthodoxy (established doctrine) by which people may achieve knowledge of the divine or lead a life backed by religious law. The Hindu tradition acknowledges that there are many paths by which people may seek and experience religious understanding and direction. It also claims that every individual has the potential to achieve enlightenment. 

The Hindu community today is found primarily in India and neighboring Nepal, and in Bali in the Indonesian archipelago. Substantial Hindu communities are present in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Mauritius, Fiji, the West Indies, East Africa, and South Africa. Scattered Hindu communities are found in most parts of the Western world. Hindus today number nearly 900 million, including about 20 million who live outside India, making them the third largest religious community in the world, after Christians and Muslims.

Since ancient times, Hindu thought has transcended geographical boundaries and influenced religious and philosophical ideas throughout the world. Persian, ancient Greek, and ancient Roman thought may well have been influenced by Hinduism. Three other religions that originated in India branched off from Hinduism: Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism (see Sikhs). In the 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer read both Hindu and Buddhist scriptures and based much of his thinking on them. In the United States, 19th-century writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau drew on Hinduism and its scriptures in developing their philosophy of transcendentalism. More recently, civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., studied the teachings of Hindu leader Mohandas Gandhi on nonviolent protest. In the sphere of popular culture, rock musician George Harrison embraced Hinduism during the 1960s, and some members of the United States counterculture explored Hinduism and Buddhism, as did the Beat poets (Beat Generation). Millions of Westerners today practice meditation or yoga to achieve relief from stress or physical fitness, indicating Western receptiveness to Hindu practices. 

II  What Is Hinduism? 
An encyclopedia article should have a definition at the outset, but this requirement presents unique difficulties in the case of Hinduism. This difficulty arises from Hinduism’s universal world-view and its willingness to accept and celebrate diverse philosophies, deities, symbols, and practices. A religion that emphasizes similarities and shared characteristics rather than differences has a difficult time setting itself apart—unless this very quality is considered its defining feature. This is not to say that there are no beliefs and practices that may be identified as Hindu, but rather that the Hindu tradition has concerned itself largely with the human situation rather than the Hindu situation. Instead of basing its identity on separating Hindu from non-Hindu or believer from nonbeliever, Hinduism has sought to recognize principles and practices that would lead any individual to become a better human being and understand and live in harmony with dharma. 

The distinction of dharma from the Western sense of religion is crucial to understanding Hindu religious identity. To the extent that Hinduism carries with it the Western meaning of being a religion the words distort Indian reality. In the West a religion is understood to be conclusive—that is, it is the one and only true religion. Second, a religion is generally exclusionary—that is, those who do not follow it are excluded from salvation. Finally, a religion is separative—that is, to belong to it, one must not belong to another. Dharma, however, does not necessarily imply any of these. Having made this point, this article will bow to convention and use the expression Hinduism.

A  The Dharmic Tradition 
Dharma is an all-important concept for Hindus. In addition to tradition and moral order, it also signifies the path of knowledge and correct action. Because of Hinduism’s emphasis on living in accordance with dharma, anyone who is striving for spiritual knowledge and seeking the right course of ethical action is, in the broadest sense, a follower of sanātana dharma. 

Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism share with Hinduism the concept of dharma along with other key concepts, and the four religions may be said to belong to the dharmic tradition. At one level Hinduism can refer to the beliefs or practices of followers of any of the dharmic traditions. The word Hinduism retains this sense in some usages in the Indian Constitution of 1950. In the field of religious studies, however, Hinduism is used in a narrower sense to distinguish it from the other religions of Indian origin.
A Hindu is thus identified by a dual exclusion. A Hindu is someone who does not subscribe to a religion of non-Indian origin, and who does not claim to belong exclusively to another religion of Indian origin—Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism. This effort at definition produces a rather artificial distinction between Hinduism and other dharmic traditions, which stems from an attempt to limit a system that sees itself as universal to an identity that is strictly religious. In many ways, labeling the other dharmic traditions as non-Hindu has a basis that derives more from politics than from philosophy. Indeed, greater differences of belief and practices lie within the broad family labeled as Hinduism than distinguish Hinduism from other dharmic systems.

Indian historian Irfan Habib makes this point when he quotes an early Persian source that Hindus are those who have been debating with each other within a common framework for centuries. If they recognize another as somebody whom they can either support or oppose intelligibly, then both are Hindus. Despite the fact that Jains reject many Hindu beliefs, Jains and Hindus can still debate and thus Jains are Hindus. But such discourse does not take place between Hindus and Muslims because they do not share any basic terms. 

B  Sanātana Dharma 
Evidence from inscriptions indicates that Hindus had begun to use the word dharma for their religion by the 7th century. After other religions of Indian origin also began to use this term, Hindus then adopted the expression sanātana dharma to distinguish their dharma from others. The word sanātana, meaning immemorial as well as eternal, emphasized the unbroken continuity of the Hindu tradition in contrast to the other dharmas. The Buddhist, Jaina, and Sikh dharmas possess distinct starting points, whereas Hinduism has no historical founder.

The Hindu tradition might be said to begin in the 4th century bc when the growth and separation of Buddhism and Jainism provided it with a distinctive sense of identity as sanātana dharma. Some scholars prefer to date its beginnings to about 1500 bc, the period when its earliest sacred texts originated, although recent evidence suggests these texts may be even older. Certain beliefs and practices that can clearly be identified as Hindu—such as the worship of sacred trees and the mother goddess—go back to a culture known as Harappan, which flourished around 3000 bc. Other Hindu practices are even older. For example, belief in the religious significance of the new and full moon can be traced to the distant proto-Australoid period, before 3000 bc. It is with good reason that Hinduism perceives itself as sanātana dharma or a cumulative tradition. Its origins are shrouded in the mist of antiquity, and it has continued without a break. 

C  A Comprehensive and Universal Tradition 
The Hindu tradition aims at comprehensiveness so far as religious beliefs and practices are concerned. First, it wishes to make the riches of Hinduism available to the Hindu and to any genuine seeker of truth and knowledge. But it does not limit Hindus to their tradition. Instead, it encourages them to explore all avenues that would lead to a realization of the divine, and it provides a system with many paths for such realization.

Second, in the manner of science, Hinduism is constantly experimenting with and assimilating new ideas. Also like science, it is far less concerned with the origin or history of ideas than with their truth as demonstrated through direct experience. Hinduism’s openness to new ideas, teachers, and practices, and its desire for universality rather than exclusivity, set it apart from religions that distinguish their followers by their belief in particular historical events, people, or revelations.

Two events in the life of Mohandas Gandhi exemplify aspects of the Hindu tradition. First, Gandhi entitled his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1929). In doing so, he was practicing the Hindu willingness to experiment continually as a means of discovering truth and to record the results of such experiments. Although Gandhi was seeking spiritual truth, he approached it in the spirit of science. Second, when asked, “What is your religion?” in 1936, Gandhi answered, “My religion is Hinduism, which for me is the Religion of humanity and includes the best of all religions known to me.” Saintly figures such as Gandhi have periodically renewed Hinduism throughout its history and kept it abreast of the times. Because Hinduism has no central orthodoxy, and no belief in the need for one, renewal of its tradition has invariably come from sages in every age who base their knowledge on experience of the divine.

III  Hindu Teachings: What Do Hindus Believe? 
Because defining Hinduism is so difficult and because we have called it the sum of the belief and practices of Hindus, it is best to approach Hinduism through its teachings.

Within Hinduism there are various schools of thought, which Hindu scholars have systematized in different ways. All of these schools have enriched Hinduism with their individual emphases: Nyāya on rigorous logic, Vaiseshika on atoms and the structure of matter, Sānkhya on numbers and categories, Yoga on meditation techniques, Mīmāmsā on the analysis of sacred texts, and Vedānta on the nature and experience of spirituality. Their teachings are usually summarized in texts called sūtras or aphorisms. These sūtras can be memorized easily and recited as a means of gaining spiritual focus. 

A  Brahman: The Ultimate Reality 
Various schools have contributed to Hindu thought, each school with a different emphasis. The school known as Vedānta has been the standard form of intellectual Hinduism. According to Vedānta, the highest aim of existence is the realization of the identity or union of the individual’s innermost self (ātman) with the ultimate reality. Although Vedānta states that this ultimate reality is beyond name, the word Brahman is used to refer to it.

Whether this ultimate reality is itself ultimately without distinguishing attributes (nirguna) or with personal attributes (saguna) has been a subject of extensive debate among Hindu scholars. To be ultimate Brahman must transcend (exist above and beyond) all limiting attributes, such as name, gender, form, and features. But how can the human mind, with its limitations, conceive of this transcendent reality? Human comprehension requires a more personal reality, with attributes. 

Saguna Brahman is also called Ishvara, a name best translated as “Lord.” A quotation attributed to 8th-century Hindu scholar Shankara illustrates the subtlety of these ideas: “Ishvara, forgive these three sins of mine: that although you are everywhere I have gone on a pilgrimage, although you are beyond the mind I have tried to think of you; and although you are ineffable [indescribable] I offer this hymn in praise of you.” 

B  Brahmā, Vishnu, and Shiva: Aspects of Brahman 
Saguna Brahman—that is, Brahman with attributes—generally takes the form of one of three main Hindu deities: Brahmā, Vishnu, or Shiva. These personified forms of Brahman correspond to three stages in the cycle of the universe. Brahmā corresponds to the creative spirit from which the universe arises. Vishnu corresponds to the force of order that sustains the universe. Shiva corresponds to the force that brings a cycle to an end—destruction acting as a prelude to transformation, leaving pure consciousness from which the universe is reborn after destruction. Other forms of Ishvara widely worshiped by Hindus are Shakti, the female aspect of divinity, and Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity associated with the removal of obstacles. 

Brahman also may choose to take birth in a knowable form, or avatar (incarnation), to uphold dharma and restore balance to the world. Krishna, a well-known avatar of Vishnu, appears at times to save the world. Rāma, another well-known avatar of Vishnu, is the subject of the Hindu epic Rāmāyana (Way of Rāma). Whether nirguna or saguna, Brahman represents the ultimate reality (sat), ultimate consciousness (sit), and ultimate bliss (ānanda).

Vishnu has ten major avatars, which are described in Hindu texts called the Purānas. These incarnations and their Hindu names are: fish (matsya), tortoise (kūrma), boar (varāha), man lion (narasimha), dwarf (vāmana), axe-wielding human (Parashurāma), ideal person (Rāma of the Rāmāyana), all-attractive perfect person (Krishna), the enlightened (Buddha), and a future incarnation (Kalkī). 

The majority of Hindus choose a personal deity, a saguna form of Brahman with whom they can feel a direct personal connection. Devotion to this deity can take a number of forms, including prayer, ceremonial worship, chanting of the deity’s name, and pilgrimage to sites sacred to the deity.

C  Brahmānda: The Universe 
The relationship of the universe, which Hindus call brahmānda, to the ultimate reality poses a deep philosophical problem: Whereas Brahman represents a permanent reality, the universe is constantly changing. The universe is also eternal, but it is eternally changing, whereas Brahman is eternal in another sense in that it is beyond change. According to Vedānta, Brahman alone is real. Such reality as the universe possesses is derived from Brahman, just as the light of the Moon really belongs to the Sun.

All of creation arises from Brahman, according to Hindu teaching. Brahman is both the efficient cause of the universe (creator) as well as the material cause (substance of which the universe is created). For this reason, all of creation is divine and deserving of our respect.

Time in the Hindu universe moves in endlessly recurring cycles, much like the motion of a wheel. The duration of the various phases of the universe’s existence are calculated in units of mind-boggling astronomical duration organized around such terms as yugas, mahāyugas, manvantaras, and kalpas.

D  Ātman: The Innermost Self  
We as individuals are also a part of this changing universe. Our bodies are constantly undergoing change, while our minds, formed of thoughts and feelings, are also in a state of flux. According to Vedānta, however, our self consists of more than mind and body. At its core lies the unchanging ātman, our innermost, transcendental self, as opposed to the material self (our body, thoughts, and feelings) that is part of the universe. The ātman is our true self. But we lose sight of it because of our passionate involvement with our material self and its search for happiness in this universe. The universe can never provide perfect and permanent happiness, however, because it, like our material self, is in a state of constant flux. We attain true happiness only through an awareness of our ātman and the discovery of its true relationship with Brahman. 

By achieving awareness of our ātman and its unity with Brahman, we attain not only happiness, but also moksha, or liberation. But liberation from what? At one level, the liberation is from unhappiness, but the answer provided by Vedānta Hinduism goes deeper: Moksha is liberation from a chain of lives.

E  Samsāra: The Chain of Lives 
We normally think of ourselves as coming into being when we are born of our parents and as perishing when we die. According to Hinduism, however, this current life is merely one link in a chain of lives that extends far into the past and projects far into the future. The point of origin of this chain cannot be determined. The process of our involvement in the universe—the chain of births and deaths—is called samsāra. 

Samsāra is caused by a lack of knowledge of our true self and our resultant desire for fulfillment outside ourselves. We continue to embody ourselves, or be reborn, in this infinite and eternal universe as a result of these unfulfilled desires. The chain of births lets us resume the pursuit. The law that governs samsāra is called karma. Each birth and death we undergo is determined by the balance sheet of our karma—that is, in accordance with the actions performed and the dispositions acquired in the past.
F  Karma: Action and Its Consequences 
Karma is a crucial Hindu concept. According to the doctrine of karma, our present condition in life is the consequence of the actions of our previous lives. The choices we have made in the past directly affect our condition in this life, and the choices we make today and thereafter will have consequences for our future lives in samsāra. An understanding of this interconnection, according to Hindu teachings, can lead an individual toward right choices, deeds, thoughts, and desires, without the need for an external set of commandments. 

The principle of karma provides the basic framework for Hindu ethics. The word karma is sometimes translated into English as “destiny,” but karma does not imply the absence of free will or freedom of action that destiny does. Under the doctrine of karma, the ability to make choices remains with the individual. 

We are subject to the “law” of karma just as our physical movements on earth are subject to the law of gravitation. But just as the law of gravitation does not take away our freedom to move about, the doctrine of karma does not leave us unfree to act. It merely describes the moral law under which we function, just as the law of gravitation is a physical law governing our being.

When we cause pain or injury, we add to the karmic debt we carry into our future lives. When we give to others in a genuine way, we lighten our karmic load. In the Bhagavad-Gītā, an important Hindu text, Krishna states that the best way to be free of debt is by selfless action, or by dedicating every action as an offering to Krishna himself. In addition, human beings can purify themselves of karmic debt through different yogas (disciplines), kriyās (purification processes), and bhakti (devotions).

G  Purushārthas: Goals of Human Life 
Hinduism takes a comprehensive view of our human condition and has classified all the things we seek in the world and beyond into four broad categories: kāma, artha, dharma, and moksha. Kāma includes the pleasure of the senses, both aesthetic (refined artistic) pleasures and sensual and sexual pleasure. Artha includes the pursuit of material well-being, wealth, and power. Dharma includes our striving for righteousness and virtue. Moksha describes our desire for liberation from the chain of lives.

The first three goals pertain to the world we know, whereas moksha involves freedom from the world and from desires for kāma, artha, and dharma. Attaining moksha is an extraordinary goal, which only some people specifically seek. In preparing for it, the prior pursuit of dharma can be a great help. Dharma, in the sense of duty or desire to do right, occupies a central role in regulating artha and kāma and promoting moksha. On account of dharma’s centrality, the goals of human life are often listed in the following order: dharma, artha, kāma and moksha.

Hinduism accepts all four purushārthas as valid goals of human endeavor. It does not look down upon kāma or artha, as indicated by the Kāmasūtra, a work on sexuality from about the 4th century ad, and by the Arthashāstra. The latter text by Kautilya, a minister to a king of the 4th century bc, discusses how a king should wield political and economic power. 

However, the ultimate aim of human life is moksha, liberation from sorrow and desire and realization of the union with the Ultimate Reality. In our future lives we may not always enter the world in human form. Thus, Hindus consider that birth as a human being is a unique and valuable opportunity for seeking moksha, an opportunity that should not be wasted. To guide us along the way, the system of Vedānta and the yogas provide a good road map for the journey.

H  Jīva: The Individual 
Our personality has a strong influence on the goal we seek. According to one Hindu scheme a human being consists of not one but three bodies. There is the gross physical body; a subtle body of thought and feelings; and an even subtler body, known as the causal body, where our primal ignorance of our true nature is located, along with the knowledge of that ignorance. The physical body disintegrates after our death; only the subtle and causal bodies travel from one life to the next. 

Another Hindu system envisions the human being as consisting of five layers or sheaths, called koshas, that cover up the true self or ātman. Beginning with the outermost, these layers are constituted by food or the physical body (annamaya), energy (prānamaya), mind (manomaya), consciousness (vijñānamaya), and bliss (ānandamaya). Identification with one or more of these koshas—for example, imagining, “I am my physical body”—limits people and prevents knowledge of their true nature. 

Other Hindu concepts of personality employ other schemes. One popular concept visualizes a person’s dormant energy residing at the bottom of the spine like a coiled serpent (kundalinī). Upon awakening, it confers liberation when it reaches the head after piercing nodal points, called chakras, along the spine. Hinduism offers spiritual and physical exercises for awakening and liberating all these aspects of the personality. 

I  Yogas: Paths to Brahman 
How do we proceed if we wish to rise toward Brahman? Hindu thought takes the personality of the seeker as the starting point. It divides human personalities into types dominated by physicality, activity, emotionality, or intellectuality. The composition of our personality intuitively predisposes us to a type of yoga—that is, a path we might follow to achieve union with Brahman. Although many people associate the word yoga with a physical discipline, in its original Hindu meaning yoga refers to any technique that unites the seeker with the ultimate reality. 

While physical fitness buffs may seek such a union by practicing hatha yoga, people with different personality traits have other choices. For the action-oriented person there is karma yoga, the yoga of action, which calls for a life of selfless deeds and actions appropriate to the person’s station in life. For the person of feeling, bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, calls for unconditional love for a personal divinity. For the person of thought, jñāna yoga, the yoga of knowledge, calls for spiritual and physical discipline intended to bring direct insight into ultimate reality. The yogas do not represent tightly sealed compartments, merely convenient classifications. A well-balanced personality might well employ all four. These yogas are sometimes called mārgas (paths), suggesting that the same destination can be approached by more than one route, and indeed by more than one mode of travel.

J  Varna: Social Organization 
The individual stands in relationship not only to Brahman but also to the society in which he or she lives. Two Hindu concepts—varna and āshrama—address this social dimension of human existence.

Every society distinguishes among occupations on the basis of power, wealth, education, or other factors. Hindu thought has long recognized four major occupational groupings. In the first group are priests, teachers, scholars, and others who represent knowledge and spirituality. People in this group are called brāhmanas, or brahmans. Those in the second group, called ksatriyas, are represented by kings, warriors, government bureaucrats, and others who represent power. Those in the third group, called vaishyas, are represented by farmers, traders, merchants, and other skilled workers. Those in the fourth group, called shūdras, are represented by unskilled workers. A group sometimes known as untouchables has at times constituted a subcategory within the shūdra class, sometimes referred to as a fifth group.

Hindu thinkers visualized these groups as constituting the four limbs of society conceived as a body. This hierarchical system, with brahmans as the first category and shūdras as the last, is known as the varna system. The system also indicates the different roles and responsibilities of each group within society and the relationship of the groups within a harmonious whole. The varna system was never intended as a permanent assignment of hereditary roles, and it once possessed considerable flexibility even though people tended to inherit the family profession, as in many other traditional societies. 

The process of establishing the varna system was completed by the 4th century bc. By that time Hindu social organization accommodated thousands of subgroups called jātis, which were based upon marriage and other associations as well as on occupational specialization in crafts. Hindu law books from the 4th century bc onward bear witness to the blending of the varna and jāti systems. In this process each jāti became loosely linked with a varna. Yet the standing of jātis altered with changes in wealth, education, and political power. Over time, especially during the long period of Islamic rule, the groupings hardened into what became known as the caste system. The British census in the late 19th century helped formalize this system by mapping each jāti to a specific varna. 

K  Āshrama: Stages of Life 
Much as the varna system provides the organizing principle of Hindu society, the āshrama system provides the organizing principle of an individual’s life. According to the āshrama system, human life is divided into four stages, each succeeding the other. Āshrama provides a road map for the journey through these stages and provides a clear sense of purpose for each stage, including old age. Hindus consider the last stage of life highly meaningful. Āshrama also addresses the four goals that constitute a fulfilling life: dharma, artha, kāma, and moksha. 

The first stage is the life of a celibate student, a time when an individual acquires the values of dharma—that is, preparation and training for leading a proper life. It is followed by that of the householder, during which the individual seeks artha and kāma by marrying, working, and raising a family as an active member of society. During this second stage, Hindu householders are expected to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with dharma and free themselves of debts owed to the gods, the sages, and their ancestors. 

After the years of enjoyment and responsibility, the third stage of life begins. Around age 50, when the children are grown, the individual gradually begins to give up acquisitions and worldly ties and to take up spiritual contemplation in preparation for the next stage. The fourth and final stage involves renunciation of the world to seek liberation in sublime isolation. Renunciation allows the individual to be free of external responsibilities and to concentrate on an inner search. The life of the sannyāsi (renunciant) focuses on achieving realization of the innermost self (ātman) and union with the divine (moksha). 

The āshrama system recognizes the division between active participation in life (pravrtti) and ascetic withdrawal from life (nivrtti). Although this division has applied to all Hindus, regardless of gender or caste, men of the three higher varnas (brahmans, ksatriyas, and vaishyas) have been more likely to enact it through the āshrama system. Some Hindus choose to devote their entire lives to the quest for moksha. They become renunciants and are free from the obligations of varna and āshrama. Such people are called sannyāsis. A sannyāsi who joins a monastic order takes the title swami. 

In addition to the duties belonging to each stage of life, Hinduism also emphasizes duties belonging to all human beings, especially cultivation of truth and nonviolence. Many Hindus choose not to eat meat because of their cultivation of nonviolence.

IV  Hindu Rituals: What Do Hindus Do? 
Hindus consider all of creation worthy of worship, and thus religious activity in Hinduism takes many forms. Rituals may be performed by the individual, the family, the village, the community or region; at home or in a temple; and frequently or infrequently. The prevalence and persistence of Hindu ritual may well provide the stabilizing factor in a tradition that is so flexible in doctrine. Ritual might even be considered the glue that holds Hindus and Hinduism together. 

Many rites and observances that Hindus practice daily have come down from ancient times. Others grew up around the lives and teachings of Hindu saints and sages. While details of rituals may differ from region to region and jāti to jāti, their meaning and central practices have remained consistent over vast distances of time and space.

Virtually all rituals in Hinduism possess multiple meanings, including symbolic interpretations. Even the way Hindus regularly greet each other may be regarded as symbolically bowing to the divine. The Hindu greeting involves pressing the palms of the hands together, which symbolizes the meeting of two people; placing the hands over the heart where Brahman dwells, indicating that one meets the self in the other; bowing the head in recognition of this meeting; and saying namaste, a Sanskrit word that means “I bow to you” and signifies “I bow to the divine in you.”

Bindi, the red dot that many Hindu women wear on the forehead, is an auspicious mark and symbol of good fortune. Once worn only by married women, bindi can be seen today on girls and women of all ages. Its location, over a chakra (energy point), is intended to help focus concentration during meditation.

A  Categories of Ritual 
The school of Hindu philosophy called Mimamsa, which is specially concerned with ritual, divides all religious activities in Hinduism into three types: (1) actions that are performed daily, called nitya; (2) actions performed on specific occasions, called naimittika; and (3) actions performed voluntarily according to personal desire, called kāmya. 

Hindus fulfill all three religious activities—nitya, naimittika, and kāmya—through three types of ritual. These rituals are yajña, (involving a sacrificial fire); pūjā (devotional offerings, usually flowers); and dhyāna (meditation). Yajñas are performed on major occasions, such as marriage and housewarming, when sacred substances are offered into the sacrificial fire. Pūjā may be performed publicly or privately. Public pūjā, usually performed in a temple, consists of anointing a statue of a deity and offering flowers, incense, and carefully prepared food to the deity. Chanting and devotional singing follow, accompanied by the waving of a small, camphor-burning lamp that illuminates the image of the deity. Most ceremonies have clearly marked opportunities for dhyāna, or meditation.

B  Household Worship 
Hindu religious activities also can be divided into those that take place at home and those that take place in public. Many rituals are performed at home, either by individual family members or by the head of the household. Some of these household rituals involve a deity or a sacred fire; other rituals commemorate important passages in life.

B1  Pūjā: Devotion 
Many Hindus worship daily the deity they have personally chosen. This personal deity is known as the ishta-devatā. Household pūjā usually consists of worshiping the ishta-devatā with prayer and offerings of food, accompanied by chanting and the waving of a lamp or light. The offering of food acknowledges that all food has a divine source. After the offering, the food is ready to be shared by the worshipers. Household pūjā generally takes place in front of an image or statue of the ishta-devatā, which may be set up as a domestic shrine. Hindus who are more deeply involved in ritual may also tend a domestic fire. 

Pūjā possesses a markedly personal character and is more often performed privately by individuals and families than publicly at temples. The private nature of pūjā may arise from the extremely personal relationship that Hinduism nurtures with the divinity, as parent, friend, or other supportive person. It also could have evolved from Hindu historical experience under foreign occupation, during which expression of Hindu identity in public was frowned upon and even dangerous. 

B2  Samskāras: Sacraments to Mark Passages 
Sacraments called samskāras punctuate the life cycle of the individual and have greater religious significance than pūjā. A standard list cites 16 samskāras, but in other sources samskāras range in number from a maximum of about 40 to a minimum of 2, marriage and death. The number varies with varna and gender.

The samskāras cluster in the early phases of life, including the prenatal phase. Four samskāras occur between birth and the beginning of studies at about age five. At birth a simple ceremony welcomes and blesses the newborn. The naming of the child, a significant event, occurs shortly after birth. Then come the taking of the first solid food and the first ritual shaving of the head. When the child is ready to study the Vedas (sacred Hindu scriptures), the major samskāra of upanayana occurs. In the course of it, the child receives a sacred thread and chants a mantra whispered into the child’s ear: “Let us meditate on the glorious splendor of enlivening Sun-god. May he inspire our minds.” In early times, a Hindu boy traditionally moved to the home of a guru (teacher) to study the Vedas after the upanayana samskāra. After completing study of the Vedas, the student shaved the hair and was ready for marriage.

A Hindu wedding consists of ceremonies performed over several days, culminating in the joining of the bride and groom. As part of the marriage samskāra, a knot is tied to join the bride’s and the groom’s garments, after which they walk around a sacred fire seven times. The sacred fire serves as a witness to the vows exchanged between the bride and the bridegroom. They then take seven steps together, symbolizing friendship and emphasizing the idea of companionship in marriage. To strengthen the union, the bride and groom place their right hands on each other’s heart; the groom then recites a prayer from the Vedas, “I give you my heart. May our minds be as one.” At the end of this ritual the pair become man and wife. Additional rites before and after the main Hindu marriage ritual vary from region to region.

The sacrament of death calls for cremation (burning of the dead body), at the end of which the ashes are collected and deposited, usually by the side of or in a river. For ten days after cremation, family members offer rice balls to the person who has departed. This offering provides a good example of the persistence of ritual in Hindu tradition: The rice symbolizes growth and is meant to provide the person with a body in which to dwell in the world of the ancestors. The alternative, while waiting for the next birth, is the less pleasant prospect of wandering in the world of ghosts. These actions are required only of the Hindu householder and do not apply to the renunciate.

B3  Other Domestic Rituals 
Some Hindu rituals are performed to obtain a specific reward, according to instructions in the Vedas. Such rewards include securing a suitable life partner, conceiving a child, or attaining wealth, as well as warding off negative outcomes.

C  Communal Worship 
Household religious activities involve the family or an individual member of the family. Other Hindu religious activities involve a larger community. A cluster of families may have a shrine where they worship periodically. Beyond the family and the cluster of families lies the village. At the village level, worship of the favored deity of the village dominates. From the village level, worship moves to public rituals, which may be performed at temples and other sacred sites or at sacred times.

C1  Temple Worship 
Rituals performed at temples, like household rituals, may be described as those that take place daily, nitya; those performed on specific occasions, naimitikka; and those performed voluntarily, kāmya. Hindu temples are dedicated to a deity or several deities who are believed to preside over the temple. Hindus visit temples to worship the temple deity or to worship another deity of their choosing by means of these three types of rituals. As at household shrines, they worship sculptures or painted images of the presiding deity and make offerings. 

Basic rituals performed daily at most Hindu temples include rousing the deity from sleep at dawn, making the deity available for worship and offerings by visitors at midday, and putting the deity to bed at dusk. At some temples, the additional rituals of bathing and feeding the deity take place between dawn and midday. These rituals express the personal nature of Hindu love of and devotion to their deities. 

Naimittika at temples is an occasion for carrying about the image of the temple deity. For example, a festival at the temple of Jagannātha in the town of Puri celebrates the god Jagannātha’s annual visit to his birthplace, the temple site, in his chariot. More than 4,000 celebrants pull the god’s wooden chariot, which stands about 14 m (45 ft) high. The English word juggernaut comes from Jagannātha. Public processions and festivals at the temples of Rāma and Krishna mark the birthdays of these avatars of Vishnu. 

Kāmya pūjā is typically performed at temples to gain a specific end. A visitor to a temple might request the performance of pūjā, or daily prayers, at the temple and make a donation for that purpose.

C2  Sacred Sites 
Hindus consider the entire Earth, as well as the Indian land mass known as mother India (Bhārata Mātā), to be sacred. This view once found expression in such practices as visiting the four corners of India as represented by the pilgrimage sites of Badrinath to the north, Puri to the east, Rameshvaram to the south, and Dwarka to the west. Hindus make pilgrimages to sacred sites in the hope of cleansing themselves of sins and lessening their karmic debt. 

Certain parts of India are held in special veneration. For example, Hindu tradition regards seven cities as holy: Ayodhyā (the birthplace of Rāma); Mathurā (where Krishna grew up); Haridwār (where the Ganges River widens onto a plain); Kāsī (sacred to Shiva); Kāñcī (associated with the Hindu philosopher Shankara); Avanti or Ujjain (site of the temple of Mahākāla); and Puri (associated with the later life of Krishna). 

Other sacred Hindu locations involve rivers and events in Hindu epics. Particular regions also have their own sacred locations. Certain sites in India are sacred because of their association with the Great Goddess, Devi, who takes many forms. In the form of Devi Satī, according to legend, her dismembered body parts fell on 51 locations that became sacred to worshipers of Shakti (the female aspect of the divine). The Jvālā Mukhī Temple near Jullundur, for example, is said to represent her tongue. Worshipers visit the Kāmākshya Temple in Assam to partake of her cosmic energy.

C3  Sacred Times 
Religious festivals dot the Hindu calendar. A number of them commemorate events in the great Sanskrit epic Rāmāyana (Way of Rāma) or in the life of Krishna. The timing of these festivals is related to the movements of the Sun and the Moon. 

An important festival known as the Dassera marks the victory of Prince Rāma over the demon king Rāvana in a struggle between good and evil that is related in the Rāmāyana. Dassera takes place in September or October and is followed by Diwāli (also known as Deepvali), the festival of lights. Diwāli commemorates events that restored truth and light in early times: the victorious return of Rāma with his bride Sītā to Ayodhyā in the north and the victory of Krishna over the monster Narakāsura in the south. 

The festival of Holi celebrates the arrival of spring in February or March. During this festival people spray each other with colored powders and colored water, forget the cares of winter, and rejoice in the onset of spring. A popular family festival, Raksābandhana, occurs in July or August and renews the bonds of affection between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie lucky threads around the wrists of brothers and are rewarded with gifts. Other important festivals are Shiva-ratri, the night sacred to Shiva when worshipers recite prayers to be freed of sins, and Ganesha-Chaturthi, dedicated to the elephant god Ganesha, when worshipers recite prayers to remove obstacles in their lives. Shiva-ratri falls in the winter months, and Ganesha-Cahturthi in August or September. Among the major regional festivals are the Dolāyātrā, a spring festival in the eastern state of Orissa; Pongal, a winter festival in southern India; and Onam, a harvest festival in the southwestern state of Kerala.

C4  Satsanga: Fellowship 
 A popular form of participation in religious life is the satsanga, which literally means keeping company with sat (truth and goodness). The satsanga may consist of Hindus who gather for discussions of Hindu scripture or of a circle of devotees who have formed around a saintly figure. A saint (“sant” in Sanskrit) in Hinduism in someone who has realized the truth and attained recognition from the community for doing so. Other forms of worship that occur at satsangas are chanting or singing, especially devotional songs called bhajans. On religious occasions the chanting the om sound is considered particularly holy.

C5  Om: Sacred Symbol and Sacred Sound 
The sacred syllable om or aum functions at many levels. Hindus chant it as a means of meditating on the ultimate reality and connecting with the innermost self (ātman) and Brahman. At one level, om possesses a vibrational aspect apart from its conceptual significance. If pronounced correctly, its vibrations resonate through the body and penetrate the ātman. At another level, the three sounds that constitute the syllable—a, u, and m—have been associated with the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, states to which all life can be reduced. Thus, by repeating the syllable the chanter passes through all three states. Other associations of the three sounds are with the three states of the cosmos—manifestation, maintenance, and dissolution—and with the three aspects of Ishvara who preside over these cosmic states: Brahmā, Vishnu, and Shiva. Om thus functions at a practical level as a mantra and at a cosmic level as signifying the trinity. 

C6  Guru: Teacher 
Spiritual authority in Hinduism flows from enlightened sages called gurus. The guru is someone who has attained realization and acts as a guide for other human beings. He or she guides the individual seeker of truth and self-realization to the appropriate deity, practice, or yoga within Hinduism. The disciple’s goal is to transcend the need for a guru through direct experience of the divine and self-awareness. Having a guide is considered critical for traversing the complexities of spiritual practice and self-discovery. The guru thus constitutes an important center of spiritual activity in Hinduism. Numerous Hindu hymns express adoration for the guru.

V  Sacred Literature: What Do Hindus Read? 
Although Hindu tradition maintains that the ultimate reality lies beyond all scriptures, it is equally convinced that the scriptures help people orient their minds and lives towards Brahman. This attitude has given rise to a body of sacred literature so vast that by one calculation it would take 70 lifetimes of devoted study to read all of it.

A  The Vedas 
The four Vedas constitute the most important body of sacred Hindu literature, at least in theory. Other sacred literature, especially the Hindu epics, may be more popular with readers, but the Vedas, written in the ancient Sanskrit language, are the oldest and most respected scriptures. They are separately titled the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sāma-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, and collectively referred to as the Veda. 

Each of the Vedas can be divided into four types of texts, which are roughly chronological in order: mantra or samhitā, brāhmana, āranyaka, and upanishad. The mantra or samhitā portion largely consists of hymns addressed to the various deities. The brāhmana texts gather the authoritative utterances of brahmans (those with knowledge of Brahman, the ultimate reality) and describe the rituals, chiefly sacrificial offerings, in which the hymns are employed. The third section consists of āranyakas, or forest texts, presumably composed by sages who sought seclusion in the forests. The last section consists of the Upanishads, philosophical texts that have an air of mystery and secrecy about them. 

Scholars have suggested that the four types of texts represent four different stages in the spiritual evolution of the Aryans, the peoples of the Vedas. During the earliest stage in their religious life, the Aryans may have recited simple hymns of praise for the divinities they felt dwelt around them. In the next stage ritual evolved out of the early worship and became increasingly elaborate, until people were driven to ask what it was all about. Sages then retired to the forests to reflect on the meaning of sacrifice and the person who makes the sacrifice. This reflection opened the floodgates of philosophical speculation found in the Upanishads.

Hindus traditionally have viewed the four types of texts as dating from the same period but serving different purposes. The first three texts deal with the realm of action and are concerned with dharma, artha, and kāma, whereas the last text concerns knowledge of the self and moksha. In this view, following dharma while experiencing the ups and downs of life produces a devout and mature mind that is then able to fully grasp what the Upanishads have to say.

The Upanishads are also called Vedānta (meaning “end of the Vedas”) because they represent the final essence of the Vedas. The Vedānta marks the culmination as well as the conclusion of the Vedas, although the Vedic canon was never formally closed.

B  Shruti and Smriti: Eternal Truth and Tradition  
Hindu scriptures can be classified into two types: shruti and smriti. Shruti, meaning “heard,” may be thought of as revelation or eternal truth, whereas smriti, meaning “remembered,” is comparable to tradition. By distinguishing that which is eternally true from that which holds true for a specific time and culture, the categories of shruti and smriti enable Hindus to reform outdated practices while remaining faithful to Hinduism’s essence. Where there is a conflict between the two, shruti takes precedence over smriti. The Vedas constitute shruti, whereas there are many different smriti texts. 

The Vedas correspond, among the Hindus, to the Bible among Christians and the Qur’an among Muslims. However, unlike the revealed texts of Christianity and Islam, whose source is considered to be God speaking through the son or the prophet, the Vedas have no author. According to Vedānta, shruti is revelation without a revealer. Because in Hinduism the universe is without beginning or end, the Vedas appear along with creation at the beginning of each cycle of time. Then Brahmā, who presides over the remanifestation of the universe, recites the Vedas and sages hear them anew. These divinely heard scriptures are then transmitted orally from master to disciple. 

The Vedas as also called shruti because they are divinely “heard” by the sages at the beginning of a cycle; and also because they are transmitted orally from master to disciple thus once again justifying the meaning of shruti as audition. 

The word smriti is applied to a vast category of literature in Hinduism. Unlike shruti, Sanskrit scripture without an author, smriti is considered to have an author and may even be written in one of the regional languages of India. 

One category of smriti consists of more than 20 law books that lay down in detail the rules to follow in life, especially the rules that pertain to varna (social order) and āshrama (stages of life). Another category includes texts called Purānas, which deal with the lives of the gods and celestial beings. There are 18 Purānas, and they can be classified according to which of the three gods of the Hindu trinity they focus on—Brahmā, Vishnu, or Shiva. The most famous of these is the Bhāgavata Purāna, which deals with the life of Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, in the pastoral surroundings of Vrndāvana. A third category of smriti consists of two texts of legendary history: the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata. These are the two well-known epics of Hinduism. Scholars believe the Rāmāyana assumed its present form between 300 bc and ad 200, while the Mahābhārata evolved over a period extending from about 400 bc to about ad 400.

C  The Epics  

C1  Rāmāyana 
The Rāmāyana of Vālmīki consists of about 24,000 verses and describes the life of Prince Rāma, an incarnation of Vishnu. The author, Vālmīki, according to later tradition, belonged to the shūdra varna and made his living by robbing travelers. After an encounter with the sage Narada, Vālmīki turned his life around and became a poet and scholar. Classical Hinduism recognizes him as a brahman and as India’s first poet. Rāma and his wife Sītā embody virtue and righteousness, and their lives demonstrate dharma in various spheres of activity. Their life stories contain lessons for Hindus on ideal behavior in various roles, such as son, brother, wife, king, and married couple. Rāma’s reign ushers in a golden age, and the expression Rāma-rajya (rule of Rāma) describes the best of times in which the divine presence rules on Earth. 

C2  Mahābhārata 
The Mahābhārata, an epic story of 100,000 verses, is attributed to a sage named Vyāsa and considered to be the longest poem in the world. It traces the descendants of two sets of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāndavas, whose disputes eventually lead to the Mahābhārata war. Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, is central to the story. Like the Rāmāyana, the Mahābhārata addresses many questions related to dharma and the actions of individuals and society. These discourses have provided inspiration for Hindus in many areas of life. 

C3  Bhagavad-Gītā 
One part of the Mahābhārata, the Bhagavad-Gītā, functions virtually as a text on its own in Hinduism. On the eve of the Mahābhārata war, the hero Arjuna suddenly develops a disinclination to fight. Arjuna’s decision leads to a prolonged dialogue with Krishna during which Krishna tries to resolve Arjuna’s moral and metaphysical dilemmas in 700 verses. The way in which Krishna seeks to guide Arjuna has endeared the text to the Hindus as a guide to their faith.

In the Bhagavad-Gītā Hinduism comes closest to possessing a universal scripture. Since the Gupta period (ad 320 to 550; see Gupta Dynasty) it has inspired a stream of commentaries, summaries, and translations, all of which attest to its wide popularity. The process shows no signs of letting up. The Bhagavad-Gītā’s doctrine of svadharma (understanding one’s own role and responsibility) implies a cosmic mirroring of the essential nature of reality (Brahman) in the reality of the individual’s essential nature (ātman). This implication has proved spiritually intriguing for practitioner, believer, and scholar alike.

The Mahābhārata and the Bhagavad-Gītā carry meaning on multiple levels. In one interpretation, the Pāndavas and Kauravas represent the forces of good and evil that exist within each person, and the contest between them represents the perpetual battle between these tendencies. The Bhagavad-Gītā describes the techniques and paths by which the individual can attain realization of the Ultimate Reality with Krishna as the guide.

As part of the Mahābhārata, the Bhagavad-Gītā technically falls in the category of smriti rather than shruti. However, it virtual enjoys the status of shruti by representing the words of the divinity, incarnated as Krishna and addressed to human beings through Arjuna. 

D  Tantric Literature 
Tantra represents another vast body of Hindu literature. After centuries of neglect, it has gradually begun to receive fuller recognition. The word tantra has two meanings. In one sense it refers to sacred literature which appeared from the 5th century onward and focused not only on Vishnu and Shiva, but also on the cults of earlier deities: Ganapati (another name for the elephant-headed god, Ganesha), Kumāra (a son of Brahmā), Sūrya (sun) and Shakti (the goddess). The second sense restricts tantra to texts that deal with the worship of Shakti.

After the Gupta age ended in the 6th century the Tantric tradition heavily influenced Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. If elite or intellectual Hinduism is Vedic in nature, then mainstream Hinduism is Tantric in orientation. Some accounts consider both traditions equally revelatory. Tantric literature largely eliminates caste distinctions in terms of religious practices. It also holds women in high regard. It thus provides a useful corrective to the negative stereotypes of Hinduism as patriarchal (male-controlled). Although smriti literature can be described as male oriented, Tantric literature is female oriented. 

Consider these statements from Tantric literature. The Gautamīya Tantra clearly states that tantra is open to women and members of all castes. The Mahānirvāna Tantra requires a man to fast for a day for talking rudely to a woman. The Kubjikāmata Tantra states that all houses of women should be worshipped as holy shrines. In the Shakta model of Hinduism, which focuses worship on the Great Goddess, all women are regarded as gurus and may initiate others by reading out the mantra from an authoritative text. Men have no authority to do so. In addition, the Devi (goddess) is worshiped in her own right, rather than in relation to a male god.

Hindu gods are regularly displayed with their female counterparts. When they are invoked together, the female partner is named first, as in Sītā-Rma and Rādhā-Krishna. In the case of Shiva and Shakti the relationship gets so close that they are represented as inhabiting a single body in the Ardhanrīshvara (Lord-who-is-half-female) form. Tantra at times involves the balancing of these two aspects—Shiva (representing consciousness) and Shakti (representing energy)—in a manner reminiscent of yin and yang in Daoism.

E  Literature in Regional Languages 
Most Hindus first encounter Hinduism through their regional languages, despite the special significance of Sanskrit. Almost every regional language in India has produced its own version of the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata, sharing in the religious admiration given to the original versions. Deservedly famous translations of the Rāmāyana include one in the Tamil language by the 9th-century Hindu scholar Kamban and one in Hindi and by the 16th-century poet and saint Tulsīdās. A wave of literature in Tamil appeared in the 7th to 9th centuries as the result of a surge of devotion of Vishnu and Shiva. Most of the influential works of modern Hinduism were originally composed in English. Masters who have realized Brahman continually renew the Hindu tradition and express themselves in a language appropriate to their time and place.

The utilization of these various bodies of literature provides insight into how Hinduism tries to sanctify what it touches. Thus the title of Veda came to be conferred on any worthwhile body of knowledge, including writings on architecture, on music, and even on military science. Highly esteemed sacred texts that came after the Vedas have come to be described as the fifth Veda. 

VI  History of Hinduism 
Hinduism does not attach the same religious significance to historical events that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do. Some have compared Hinduism’s indifference to the history of a religious idea or practice to a scientist’s indifference to the history of science. What is of value to both is the idea or practice as such.

The history of Hinduism thus becomes a history of its quest to incorporate the various developments it has encountered or generated, rather than a history of conquest of or triumph over these historical developments. The contrast is apparent in the Biblical injunction to believe in one God who is the only God and the Vedic perception that “Truth is one, sages call it variously.”

Considerable controversy remains over Hinduism’s historical origins. At one time scholars believed that the arrival of the Aryan people in India about 1500 bc represented a critical moment in the history of Hinduism. The Aryans replaced the earlier Harappan culture in the Indus valley, and they are the people described in the Vedas, the earliest sacred literature of Hinduism. Although linguistic evidence tends to support the notion of an Aryan migration, most scholars now believe this view awaits confirmation by archaeology, especially because it has been challenged by the discovery of extensive sites in northwestern and western India. So far there is no clear-cut answer to the key question: Did Hinduism as described in the Vedas originate in India or did it arise as a result of migrations from outside? What is clear is that the Hinduism of the Vedas goes back at least to 1200 bc in India and perhaps much earlier.

A  Vedic Hinduism 
The beginnings of Vedic Hinduism, no later than 1200 bc, trace back to the Rig-Veda, which contains hymns of praise to various deities called devas. Agni (deva of fire) and Indra (king of devas and deva of the atmosphere, storms, rain, and battle) were prominent, judging by the number of hymns addressed to them. Fire was the deity of the domestic hearth as well as of public ritual. The Rig-Veda calls the deity “smoke-bannered” as it carries the offering made into it toward the gods. Indra was a martial leader in the Rig-Veda who carried his followers to victory in battle and also battled drought as a rain-god. An entire book of the Rig-Veda is devoted to soma, a plant whose juice produced ecstatic experiences. It is already clear in the Rig-Veda that all these devas were aspects of one underlying reality. 

By the 4th century bc Vedic Hinduism had appeared in virtually all of India and had assimilated and absorbed various local religious beliefs and practices. The resulting mixture is what we refer to comprehensively as Vedic Hinduism.

B  Classical Hinduism 
The period from the 3rd century bc to the late 7th century ad is known as classical Hinduism. Even as Vedic Hinduism flourished throughout India, various aspects of its world-view had come under challenge by the 6th century bc. This challenge came from Upanishadic thinkers and from the rise of new sects including the Jains and the Buddhists. The Upanishadic thinkers considered themselves in the line of descent from Vedic seers, while the followers of Buddhism and Jainism tended to question Vedic authority, although they retained many concepts from the Vedas. All were concerned about release from eternal rebirth and generally agreed that release was obtained not by sacrifice but by meditation and contemplation. 

Buddhism and Jainism gradually gained strength in India during the centuries just before and just after the beginning of the first millennium. Buddhism benefited in the 3rd century ad from the patronage extended to it by King Ashoka, who ruled almost all of India. Jainism similarly benefited from royal patrons. By the start of the Gupta period, which lasted from about ad 320 to 550, Hinduism resurged, having integrated a variety of Buddhist and Jain beliefs and practices. These included the doctrine of ahimsā (nonviolence) and an emphasis on vegetarianism. The Gupta period is celebrated as a glorious epoch of classical Hindu culture. 

During this classical Gupta period, Hindu thought and its systematization flourished. By then many shāstras (classical works) of Hindu philosophy had been compiled. These shāstras include the Arthashāstra (principles of statecraft), Nayashāstra (aesthetics of performing arts), poetry and dramatic works by writers such as Kālidāsa and Bhavabhūti, grammars by Pānini and Patañjali, works on human sexuality such as the Kāmasūtra, and the medical compendia of Charak and Susruta. In addition, the major epics—the Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata—received their present form. Also during this period, rules were developed for representations of the deities and for building structures to house these statues and images. 

C  Medieval Hinduism 
As a vigorous and multifaceted Hinduism unfolded in India during the 7th century, a new religion made its appearance in Arabia: Islam. Within a century, Islam’s dominions extended from Spain to Sind (now part of Pakistan). By the 10th and 11th centuries the followers of Islam consolidated their hold on northwestern India. By 1200 Islamic rule was established in the city of Delhi in northern India, and it then spread in two waves over nearly the whole of India. The first wave of expansion occurred under the Delhi Sultanate, which ruled from 1206 to 1526. During the second wave, under the Mughal Empire (1526-1858), Islamic rule achieved its maximum extension.

This encounter between Hinduism and Islam lasted more than 800 years. During most of this time, Islam had the upper hand politically, a fact that had enormous consequences for Hinduism and that presented challenges for both Hinduism and Islam which continue to this day. Islam’s military victories outside India were followed by the conversion of the masses to Islam, with the possible exceptions of Spain and the Balkans. In India, however, Islam succeeded in converting barely a quarter of the population to Islam by 1900. Although Hinduism had successfully incorporated all previous invaders and political conquerors within the Hindu religious system—from the Persians in 6th century bc to the Huns in the 6th century ad—its powers of assimilation failed in the face of Islam.

One response of Hinduism to the presence of Islam was political. It included the emergence of the Hindu Vijayanagar kingdom, which held power in southern India from about 1336 to 1565, and the Hindu Marāthā state in western India during the 17th and 18th centuries. The rise of Sikhism and the Sikh Empire (1767-1846) in the Punjab can also be considered part of this response. Yet Sikhs rejected nonviolence in the face of Islam and took a militant stance toward the conquerors. 

The Islamic presence evoked a paradoxical Hindu religious response that blended hostile rejection and active emulation. Mainstream Hinduism retreated into a defensive position under the protective cover of orthodoxy (conformity to rule), judging by the number of Hindu religious codes produced during this period. At the theological level, however, Hinduism witnessed the rise and flowering of the bhakti (devotion) movement. This movement of ecstatic devotion to Vishnu or Shiva had gained a firm foothold in the south by the 9th century, and it swept over the rest of the country by the 17th century. Devotion to the divine (bhakti), rather than knowledge of the divine (jñana), became the dominant form of Hinduism, perhaps reflecting the historical circumstances. Bhakti poetry expressed love for the divine, often in the forms of Krishna and Rāma. Among the mystical bhakti poets were Chaitanya, Tulsīdas, Mīrābāī, and Kabīr. 

The bhakti movement also provided a point of contact with a mystical movement in Islam known as Sufism. Sufis were religious figures known for their piety and love of God. As they carried out their work in India, the two traditions of Hinduism and Islam came together in their love of God. This coming together, however, never crossed over from communion to union, but the rise of Sikhism points to a possible crossover. Sikhism rejects image worship and ritualism in keeping with Islam, while retaining many aspects of the Hindu world-view. 

D  Modern Hinduism 
Following the decline of the Mughal Empire during the late 17th century, the British gradually succeeded in establishing themselves as the paramount power in India during the next century. The process began with a British victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, followed by the defeat of the Marathas in 1818. British victory over the Sikhs in 1846 completed the process. By this time the British had made two decisions of far-reaching importance for the future of Hinduism: to allow Christian missionaries to operate within the British dominions, in 1813; and to introduce English as the language of public instruction, in 1835. These decisions forced Hinduism to confront Christianity and Western modernity. At the same time, the Western world was exposed to Hindu scriptures translated into European languages.

D1  Movements for Reform 
One response to the encounter with Europe was reform. The Bengali scholar Ram Mohan Roy set the tone for reform in the early 19th century. Roy campaigned against medieval or regional Hindu practices that were objectionable in the modern world. He advocated allowing widows to remarry and abolition of the relatively rare practice of sati (self-immolation of a wife after her husband’s death; see suttee). In 1828 Mohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj (Society of Brahma) to spread his ideas. 

Another movement kept India from moving too far toward imitation of the modern Christian West. The movement was named after Ramakrishna, a Hindu spiritual leader who served as a priest at the Dakshineshwar Temple in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta). His reputation as a mystic drew many to him, including Swami Vivekānanda, who founded the Ramakrishna movement after Ramakrishna’s death in 1886. Vivekānanda, a representative Hindu product of India’s new English-language education system, became a devotee of Ramakrishna and renounced the world after the priest’s death. His message was a return to the timeless wisdom of the Vedas. As an unknown swami, he turned up uninvited at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago in 1893 to present Ramakrishna’s teachings. He won instant celebrity and was hailed as a hero in India for his vigorous advocacy of Hinduism. In 1895 he founded the Vedānta Society in New York City to promote Hindu ideas. 

Vivekānanda primarily used English in his work of reforming Hinduism and stressing the inclusive aspects of Hindu spirituality over ritual and rules. Another reform-minded leader of the 19th century, Dayānanda Sarasvati, used Hindi in responding to the challenges of Christianity and modernity. Sarasvati founded the Arya Samaj, a movement also dedicated to modernizing Hindu practices and asserting the universality of the Hindu tradition. These movements helped revitalize Hinduism.

Another issue that engaged Hindu reformers was the plight of the lowest social class, the panchama jātis who are also known as untouchables. Local movements, such as one led by Sri Narayana Guru in Kerala, were most successful at reform. Narayana, who was born in 1856, believed that education and greater self-esteem, rather than confrontation and blame, would elevate the untouchables. He established temples where all castes could pray together.

D2  India’s Struggle for Independence 
The rise of Indian nationalism in the 20th century further contributed to Hindu self-awakening. In the work of Indian philosopher and statesman Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the Hindu tradition found intellectual expression; in the work of Indian poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, Hinduism found humanist expression; and in the life of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Hinduism found political and social expression. Another important figure in the development of Hindu nationalism was Sri Aurobindo Ghose. Ghose promoted revolutionary activism early in his life but later withdrew to an ashram, practiced yoga, and influenced his followers through his writings. 

Gandhi’s innovative use of nonviolence and civil disobedience on a massive scale under the name of satyagraha made traditional Hindu values relevant to India’s political struggle against British rule. By linking the elevation of the untouchables with the struggle, Gandhi added social justice to his campaign. By raising social awareness within the Hindu tradition and by lifting that tradition to a new level of political awareness, Gandhi provided modern Hinduism with its defining features. These features took firm root in a century of reformist effort and half a century of political struggle against the British. Although the movement led by Gandhi succeeded in winning independence for India in 1947, it failed to prevent the partition of the Indian subcontinent on a religious basis. The partition of the subcontinent between a primarily Hindu India and a primarily Muslim Pakistan was to have profound consequences for contemporary Hinduism.

Once the movement against British rule gained strength, the relationship between India’s Muslim minority and its Hindu majority became an issue. The movement led by Gandhi aimed at a state based on mutual accommodation, and it was able to subdue those elements within Hinduism that sought to assert Hindu political identity at the expense of Muslim political identity. The partition of India in 1947 weakened the forces of accommodation. After partition India created a secular state in keeping with Hindu principles, whereas Pakistan created a religious state in keeping with Islamic principles. Continuing political tension between Pakistan and India, especially over Kashmīr, further eroded hopes for peaceful accommodation. 

D3  Hindu Nationalism 
A vision of Hindu nationalism known as Hindutva gained force before and after partition. Hindutva took its name from the title of a book published in 1923 by revolutionary theorist V. D. Savarkar, which advocated a militarily strong Hindu India. The Hindu majority was also alienated by a perception that Hindu political parties courted Muslim voters as the swing vote in tight elections. 

A movement to reclaim the presumed birthplace of Rāma in the city of Ayodhyā in northern India became the lightning rod of Hindu grievances. Hindus alleged that Mughal rulers had constructed a mosque in 1528 over a Hindu temple that had once marked the site. The demolition of this mosque in 1992 by a Hindu mob contrasts strongly with the nonviolent struggle led by Gandhi against the British, and represents one aspect of Hinduism’s coming to terms with its past. 

Hindu political ideas served as a model for state formation in much of southeast Asia during ancient times. But the succeeding period of foreign rule over India, which lasted about 1,000 years, has made Hindus particularly sensitive to the charge of political failure in facing Islam and Christianity. How Hindu culture will overcome this sensitivity remains to be seen. Christian evangelization among Hindus and consequent conversions to Christianity have provoked controversy and promoted a need for Hindu self definition.

D4  Contemporary Challenges 
The modern age, like every age, poses challenges for humanity and for the various religions that engage humanity. The aim of Hinduism has always been to enlighten rather than to convert. The Hindu world-view of pluralism and respect for multiple paths points to one model for reconciliation of religious conflicts, without calling for conversion to any one creed and with each religion maintaining its unique identity and practices. 



Contributed By:
Arvind Sharma, M.A., M.T.S., Ph.D. - Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University; author of Classical Hindu Thought: An Introduction, Hinduism for Our Times, and other works. 

Further Reading 
How to cite this article: "Hinduism," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003; http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.   © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

E-mail from Pankaj Jain" <pj2017@columbia.edu>
Nov. 18, 2003:
Thanks to Sankrantji's essay at Sulekha a while ago,
Wendy Doniger's essay is now replaced by Prof Arvind Sharma's essay at Encarta:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555715/Hinduism.html

World Association for Vedic Studies, Inc.
A Multidisciplinary Academic Society, Tax Exempt in USA



PRESIDENT

Sashi Kejriwal
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WAVES CONTACT

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WAVES 2010 Conference Chair

Dr. Bal Ram Singh
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MA

508-999-8588
bsingh@umassd.edu

















Date: 2/24/2010

Re: Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus, an alternative history (2009) published by Penguin Group and Penguin India

NBCC, janeciab@gmail.com, Ms. Hoffert

Dear  Ms. Hoffert,  

 
I am writing this on behalf of World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) which is a multidisciplinary academic society. It is a forum for all scholarly activities and views on any area of Vedic Studies variously called as Indian Studies, South Asian Studies or Indology.

We wish to bring to your attention that the above referenced book in two editions (ISBN 9781594202056 International edn.) (ISBN 9780670083541 Indian-subcontinent edn.) has several factual errors, distortions and denigration of Indian history.

Hinduism is a faith of millions of people worldwide. Many Hindus feel outraged by the insensitive and disparaging comments made against divinities worshipped by many of them. This is an invasion of what is sacred to Hindus, and is tantamount to defamation of practitioners of the Hindu faith.

This book contains multiple factual errors and derogatory statements contained in almost every chapter of the book, apart from the insulting jacket on the book. Each chapter is a shocking series of anecdotes of denigration, distortion and 























































references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism.

The author has transgressed the boundaries of scholarship by defaming the religion and religious practices of Hindus. The book is, simply, pornographic and hates literature, hurting the sentiments of Hindus worldwide.

We urge a scholarly revision of this book, removing the many factual errors and distortions about Hindu history.

We request New York Times to desist from rewarding the book or promoting its publication through other editions, until a thorough review is made by Hindu scholars and practitioners. You may like to get the book reviewed thoroughly by independent historians who have specialized in Indian history. Our WAVES group of accomplished scholars will be glad to provide information on the errors and misinformation present in this book.

We hope the Publishers see the need to: 

 1.      Apologize for having published “The Hindus: An Alternative History” without thoroughly fact-checking the historical accuracy of Professor Wendy Doniger’s statements, thus contributing to offending the religious sentiments of Hindus worldwide

 2.      Withdraw the present editions of the book “The Hindus: An Alternative History” from the market. Correct the factually and historical inaccuracies and remove the blasphemous and   defamatory portions before bringing back the book into the market.




Sashi Kejriwal,
President, World Association of Vedic Studies






February 19, 2010

Susan Peterson Kennedy
President
Penguin Group (USA) 
375 Hudson St
New York, NY 10014


Dear Ms. Peterson Kennedy,

The following is a petition from concerned Hindu Americans to the Penguin Group (USA) requesting an apology for the publication of the factually incorrect and offensive “The Hindus-An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger.  We request Penguin Group (USA) to correct the many errors and print a revised version.

We wish to bring to your attention that “The Hindus: An Alternative History” contains hundreds of errors in its historical facts and Sanskrit translations. These errors are bound to mislead students of Indian and Hindu history. 

Throughout the book, Doniger also takes free license to apply psycho-sexual Freudian theories, theories which modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limited and limiting, to analyze revered Hindu Gods and Goddess.  Using Freudian analysis to retrospectively find psychosexual motivation behind depictions of Hindu deities then seems deplorably inappropriate. More importantly, her analysis in no way comports with the actual beliefs, understandings or interpretations of practicing Hindus and is quite frankly, offensive and insulting to not only the Hindu American community, but Hindus worldwide because it is an attempt to eroticize ‘the Hindu Other”.    

A. Factual errors

The following are a just a small sampling of examples of the factual errors that run rampant through the book. Upon request, we are more than happy to provide additional erroneous passages and also provide references from scholarly sources so that you can verify these errors yourself.


Page Number Inaccurate Statement in Book Verifiable Fact    
Maps at beginning In the first map (‘India’s Major Geographical Features’), the Waziristan Hills area is marked erroneously as ‘Kirthar Range’. In the third map (‘India from 600 CE to 1600 CE), these sites are misplaced - Janakpur, Nagarkot, Mandu and Haldighati. The Kirthar Range is at least 200 miles further south. The four sites are marked several hundred miles from their correct geographical location – a fact that can be corrected from any standard map.    
67 It is claimed that the entire Harappan culture had a population of 40,000! This is estimated as the population of Mohenjo-Daro alone. The population of the entire culture is estimated around 500,000.    
112 Wheat is mentioned as a food item in the Rigvedic period. Wheat is not mentioned in the Rigveda at all. It first occurs in the Maitrayani Samhita.    
130 The author claims that there are no Gods in the Vedas who are Shudras It is anachronistic to assign castes to Rigvedic deities, but nevertheless, Pushan, Vesmapati and others have been considered Shudra deities in later times.    
194 fn. Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture) was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (translated as ‘the science of deep attachment’). The title of Gandhi’s work is 'Anasakti Yoga' (trans. ‘Science of non-Attachment’).    
206 The book wrongly states that the Hindus had only a triad of passions. Hindu scriptures list 6 main evils and the concept of shadripus (six internal enemies) is very well known.    
441 The book claims that Firoz Shah redeemed a number of Hindu slaves… A misrepresentation of the fact that he employed (not ‘redeemed’) 12000 of his 180000 slaves forcibly in royal factories for producing articles of consumption by Muslim elites. No manumission was involved.    
445 Dates of Saint Kabir are given as 1450 – 1498. His demise is believed to have occurred in 1518, and the traditional date of birth is 1398.    
448-448 In 713 Muhammad ibn Qasim invaded Sind Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sind in 711.    
450 It is claimed that Emperor Ala-ud-Din Khalji did not sack temples in Devagiri. His contemporary Amir Khusro clearly mentions that the Emperor sacked numerous temples and raised mosques instead.    
459 King Ala-ud-din Husain of Bengal patronized Saint Chaitanya. Saint Chaitanya never met the king, and fled his kingdom to avoid persecution, as did his disciples. The king destroyed temples in Orissa.    
532 Emperor Akbar moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Delhi in 1586. Emperor Akbar moved his capital to Lahore in 1587, and thereafter to Agra.    
537-8 The Sikh teacher Guru Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708, while 'attending Emperor Aurangzeb'. Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707. Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708 during the reign of Aurangzeb’s successor, Emperor Bahadur Shah I.    
550 The book claims that Mirabai lived from 1498-1597, and then on p. 568, she claims that Mirabai lived from 1450-1525! Both dates are wrong and the commonly accepted dates are 1498-1547.    
552 The book claims that the Ramcharitmanas was written at Varanasi. Both modern scholarship as well as tradition accept that the work (or at least most of it) was written in Ayodhya.    
Biblio. “Shekhawat, V. “Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research 7:1 (1900), 63-67.” The correct issue and year of this Journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991. The bibliography has literally dozens of errors. Some references cited by Doniger simply do not exist.
 


B. Derogatory and Offensive statements

Each chapter is a shocking series of anecdotes which denigrate, distort and misrepresent Hinduism and the history of India and Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure and secondary references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism.  Cited below are only a handful of quotes along with our understanding and interpretation, with references from Hindu scripture.


Page Number Quote  Rebuttal    
40 If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’.” Very derogatory and offensive. The motto of Hinduism is to follow the truth and unite with God.    
112 The author alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! The hymn has no such suggestion. It is offensive to suggest that the Holy Book of Hindus has kinky sex in it.    
128 The book likens the Vedic worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s). This is offensive and ignores that fact that in the Rigveda, the gods are said to be all united, born of one another, and from the same Source.    
225 “Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’... Rama knows all too well what people aid about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and   addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)” Rama is a reverted Hindu deity. The critical edition of Valmiki’s Ramayana records no such statement attributed to Lakshmana. The phrase, 'kama-atman' in the text is mistranslated as 'addicted to sex' by the author whereas it normally means ‘filled with desires’, a meaning that also fits the context.    
467 Harihara and Bukka (the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire that saved Hindu culture in S India) double-crossed the Delhi Sultan when they reconverted to Hinduism. The brothers committed apostasy as they had been imprisoned and forcibly converted to Islam, and immediately reverted to Hinduism when they were 1000 miles from the Sultan, under the influence of a Hindu ascetic.     
468-469 “…The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and peoples and colors and the smells of the bazaar…” It is simply unacceptable that a scholar can essentialize the Hindu Main Street of Sultanate India as “monkeys and peoples, colors and smells, and chaos” –   this is just a variant of the cow, caste and curry stereotype of India and Hindus.    
509 ”Shankara and the philosopher’s wife…This tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed).” She attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka. The author presents the story as a sexual orgy in which the Saint Shankara and King Amruka take turns making love to the latter’s wives after he is tired. Both her sources however state that the King was already dead, and the Saint transferred his soul into the dead King’s body through his yogic powers. There is no suggestion in the texts that the queens ‘prefer Shankara to the king in bed’.
   
571 It is alleged that in a hymn from Saint Kshetrayya’s poetry, ‘God rapes’ the women devotee. The hymn merely presents devotion using spiritual metaphors and the hymns seen collectively depict it as a love affair between the God and the devotee. No rape is implied.  

As mentioned, the above is simply a sampling of the offensive statements in the book.  Additional examples and responses are available upon request.

We believe that the book will misinform the readers about the history of Hindu cultures, and will promote prejudices and biases against our community. As concerned Hindu Americans, we request Penguin Group (USA) to:

1. Apologize for having published “The Hindus: An Alternative History” without thoroughly fact-checking the historical accuracy of Professor Wendy Doniger’s statements, thus contributing to offending the religious sentiments of Hindus worldwide
2. Correct the factually and historical inaccuracies in “The Hindus: An Alternative History” and use the updated version for future editions. We are willing to assist the Publisher in correcting these errors.
3. Modify statements in the book that reflect the author’s lack of appreciation of cultural diversity, are offensive and insulting to Hindus, and are racist in their tone.

Demand for withdrawal of a blasphemous, derogatory book

Ms. Susan Peterson Kennedy
President , Penguin Group (USA) 
375 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014, USA

 Mr. Mark Bryan,
CEO & President, Penguin Books Pvt Ltd.
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017
India

Dear Ms. Peterson Kennedy, Mr. Mark Bryan,

The following is a petition from concerned signatories to the Penguin Group, asking for an apology for the publication of the factually incorrect and offensive book “The Hindus-An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger.  (Two editions: ISBN 9781594202056 International edn.; ISBN 9780670083541 Indian-subcontinent edn.) 

We expect Penguin Group to withdraw the editions in their present form, and correct the many glaring errors.

We wish to bring to your attention that book is rife with numerous errors of verifiable, historical facts and Sanskrit translations. These errors and misrepresentations are bound to mislead students of Indian and Hindu history. 

Throughout the book, the author, Wendy Doniger also takes free license to apply psycho-sexual Freudian theories, theories which modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limited and limiting, to analyze revered Hindu Gods and Goddess.  Using faulty assumptions and Freudian analysis to retrospectively find psycho-sexual motivation behind depictions of Hindu deities is deplorably inappropriate. More importantly, her dishonest analysis and her frequently malicious portrayal to deliberately eroticize ‘the Hindu Other” in no way agrees with the actual beliefs, traditions or interpretations of practicing Hindus.  

A. Factual errors

The following are just a small sampling of factual errors that run rampant through the book. Upon request, we will provide additional erroneous passages and also provide references from scholarly sources so that you and your reviewers can verify these errors and bring the book in conformity with the known history and civilization of India.
[Page number precedes a reference to inaccurate statements in the book. This is followed by a comment citing verifiable facts.]

Maps in front pages: Comment: In the first map (‘India’s Major Geographical Features’), the Waziristan Hills area is marked erroneously as ‘Kirthar Range’. In the third map (‘India from 600 CE to 1600 CE), these sites are misplaced - Janakpur, Nagarkot, Mandu and Haldighati. The Kirthar Range is at least 200 miles further south. The four sites are marked several hundred miles from their correct geographical location – a fact that can be corrected from any standard map. 
67 It is claimed that the entire Harappan culture had a population of 40,000! Comment: This is estimated as the population of Mohenjo-Daro alone. The population of the entire culture is estimated around 500,000. 
112 Wheat is mentioned as a food item in the Rigvedic period. Comment: Wheat is not mentioned in the Rigveda at all. It first occurs in the Maitrayani Samhita. 
130 The author claims that there are no Gods in the Vedas who are Shudras. Comment: It is anachronistic to assign castes to Rigvedic deities, but nevertheless, Pushan, Vesmapati and others have been considered Shudra deities in later times.
194 fn. Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture) was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (translated as ‘the science of deep attachment’). Comment: The title of Gandhi’s work is 'Anasakti Yoga' (trans. ‘Science of non-Attachment’).

206 The book wrongly states that the Hindus had only a triad of passions. Comment: Hindu scriptures list six main evils and the concept of shadripus (six internal enemies) is very well known.

441 The book claims that Firoz Shah redeemed a number of Hindu slaves… Comment: A misrepresentation of the fact that he employed (not ‘redeemed’) 12,000 of his 180,000 slaves forcibly in royal factories for producing articles of consumption by Muslim elites. No “manumission” was involved.

445 Dates of Saint Kabir are given as 1450 – 1498. Comment: His demise is believed to have occurred in 1518, and the traditional date of birth is 1398.

448-448     In 713 Muhammad ibn Qasim invaded Sind. Comment:  Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sind in 711.

450 It is claimed that Emperor Ala-ud-Din Khalji did not sack temples in Devagiri. Comment:  His contemporary Amir Khusro clearly mentions that the Emperor sacked numerous temples and raised mosques instead.

459 King Ala-ud-din Husain of Bengal patronized Saint Chaitanya. Comment: Saint Chaitanya never met the king, and fled his kingdom to avoid persecution, as did his disciples. The king destroyed temples in Orissa.

532 Emperor Akbar moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Delhi in 1586. Comment: Emperor Akbar moved his capital to Lahore in 1587, and thereafter to Agra.

537-8 The Sikh teacher Guru Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708, while 'attending Emperor Aurangzeb'. Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707. Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708 during the reign of Aurangzeb’s successor, Emperor Bahadur Shah I.

550 The book claims that Mirabai lived from 1498-1597, and then on p. 568, the author claims that Mirabai lived from 1450-1525! Comment: Both dates are wrong and the commonly accepted dates are 1498-1547. 

552 The book claims that the Ramcharitmanas was written at Varanasi. Comment: Both modern scholarship as well as tradition accept that the work (or at least most of it) was written in Ayodhya.

Biblio. “Shekhawat, V. “Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research 7:1 (1900), 63-67.” Comment: The correct issue and year of this Journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991. The bibliography has dozens of errors. Some references cited by Doniger simply do not exist.

B. Derogatory, Defamatory and Offensive statements

Awkwardly written, each chapter is a shocking and appalling series of anecdotes which denigrate, distort and misrepresent Hinduism, the history of India and Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure and secondary references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism. Cited below are only a handful of quotes along with our understanding and interpretation, with references from Hindu scripture.

 [Page number precedes the quote from the book. This is followed by a rebuttal comment.]

40 If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’.”  Comment: Very derogatory and offensive. The motto of Hinduism is to follow the truth and unite with God. 

112 The author alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! Comment: The hymn has no such suggestion. It is offensive to suggest that the sacred text of Hindus has kinky sex in it.

128 The book likens the Vedic worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s). Comment: This is offensive and ignores that fact that in the Rigveda, the gods are said to be all united, born of one another, and from the same source.

225 “Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’... Rama knows all too well what people said about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and   addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)” Comment: Sri Rama is revered and worshipped as a deity. The highly acclaimed and critical edition of Valmiki’s Ramayana records no such statement attributed to Lakshmana. An imagined phrase, 'kama-sakta' is mistranslated as 'addicted to sex' by the author whereas it normally means ‘filled with desires’. Valmiki uses a phrase 'samani-madhah' (trans. Possessed of passion).

467 Harihara and Bukka (the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire that saved Hindu culture in S India) double-crossed the Delhi Sultan when they reconverted to Hinduism. Comment: The brothers committed apostasy as they had been imprisoned and forcibly converted to Islam, and immediately reverted to Hinduism when they were 1000 miles from the Sultan, under the influence of a Hindu ascetic. 

468-469 “…The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and peoples and colors and the smells of the bazaar…” Comment: It is simply unacceptable that a scholar can perjoratively essentialize the Hindu Main Street of Sultanate India as “monkeys and peoples, colors and smells, and chaos” –   this is just a variant of the equally unacceptable cow, caste and curry stereotype of India and Hindus.

509 ”Shankara and the philosopher’s wife…This tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed).” Comment: The author attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka. The author concocts the story as a sexual orgy and indulges in a persion that the Saint Shankara and King Amruka take turns making love to the latter’s wives after he is tired. Both sources cited by the author, however, state that the King was already dead, and that the Saint transferred his soul into the dead King’s body through his yogic powers. There is no suggestion in the texts that the queens ‘prefer Shankara to the king in bed’. 

571 It is alleged that in a hymn from Saint Kshetrayya’s poetry, ‘God rapes’ the women devotees. Comment: The hymn merely presents devotion using spiritual metaphors and the hymns seen collectively depict it as a love affair between the God and the devotees. No rape is implied.

Cover jacket of the book; copy for ready reference at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26565460/Scan-0002 . Comment: This is a selective, and an insensitive choice of a contemporary serigraph to jacket the book. The serigraph appears to be plagiarised and drawn from an unverified, unnamed source. The publishers should recognize the fact that many practitioners of Hindu faith consider Sri Krishna an avatara, worshipped in Hindu temples.

As earlier mentioned, the above is simply a sampling of the scandalous and offensive statements in the book. These cast serious doubts about the author’s integrity as a researcher and ability to interpret accurately. Additional examples and responses will be made available upon request.

We believe that the book will misinform the readers about the history of Hindu civilization, its cultures and traditions, and will promote prejudices and biases against Hindus. 

As concerned members of civil society, we ask Penguin Group to:

1.      Apologize for having published this book “The Hindus: An Alternative History” that seriously and grossly misrepresents the Hindu reality as known to the vast numbers of Hindus and to scholars of Hindu tradition  and for failure to observe proper pre-publication scrutiny and scholarly review of the book in which scholarship degenerates into sensationalism.
2.      Withdraw all the copies of this book immediately from the bookshops/markets worldwide and refrain from printing a paperback edition till the corrections are done.
3.      Correct the book for factual and historical inaccuracies and remove all passages that are blasphemous, derogatory and defamatory to Hindus and re-issue only after the corrections have been carried out.


DEMAND FOR WITHDRAWAL OF A FLAWED, DEROGATORY AND PORNOGRAPHIC BOOK

COVER JACKET of the book - copy for ready reference at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26565460/Scan-0002. 

To,
Ms. Susan Peterson Kennedy
President , Penguin Group (USA) 
375 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014, USA

Mr. Mark Bryan,
CEO & President, Penguin Books Pvt Ltd.
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017
India

Dear Ms. Peterson Kennedy, Mr. Mark Bryan,

The following is a petition from concerned signatories to the Penguin Group, asking for an apology for the publication of the factually incorrect and offensive book “The Hindus-An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger.  (Two editions: ISBN 9781594202056 International edn.; ISBN 9780670083541 Indian-subcontinent edn.) 

We ask Penguin Group to withdraw the editions in their present form, and correct the many glaring errors. We wish to bring to your attention that book is rife with numerous errors of verifiable, historical facts and Sanskrit translations. These errors and misrepresentations are bound to mislead students of Indian and Hindu history. 

Throughout the book, Doniger analyzes revered Hindu Gods and Goddess using her widely discredited psychosexual Freudian theories that modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limiting. These interpretations are presented as hard facts and not as speculations. Doniger makes various faulty assumptions about the tradition in order to arrive at her particular spin. In the process, the beliefs, traditions and interpretations of practicing Hindus are simply ignored or bypassed without the unsuspecting reader knowing this to be the case. This kind of Western scholarship has been criticized as Orientalism and Eurocentrism. The non Judeo-Christian faith of Hinduism gets used by the author to dish out voyeurism and its tradition gets eroticized.

A. EXAMPLES OF FACTUAL ERRORS:

The following are just a SMALL sampling of factual errors that run rampant through the book. Upon request, we will provide additional erroneous passages and also provide references from scholarly sources so that you and your reviewers can verify these errors and bring the book in conformity with the known history and civilization of India. 
[Page number precedes a reference to inaccurate statements in the book. This is followed by a comment citing verifiable facts.]

Maps in front pages: Maps titled ‘India’s Geographical Features’ and ‘India from 600 CE to 1600 CE’
COMMENT: In the first map, the Waziristan Hills area is marked erroneously as ‘Kirthar Range’. The Kirthar Range is at least 200 miles further south. In the third map, Janakpur, Nagarkot, Mandu and Haldighati are marked several hundred miles from their correct geographical location. 

Pg. 67 - It is claimed that the entire Harappan culture had a population of 40,000!
COMMENT: This is estimated as the population of Mohenjo-Daro alone. The population of the entire culture is estimated around 500,000. 

Pg 112 - Wheat is mentioned as a food item in the Rigvedic period. 
COMMENT: Wheat is not mentioned in the Rigveda at all. It first occurs in the Maitrayani Samhita of the Yajurveda. 

Pg 130 - The author claims that there are no Gods in the Vedas who are Shudras. 
COMMENT: It is anachronistic to assign castes to Rigvedic deities, but nevertheless, Pushan, Vesmapati and others have been considered Shudra deities in later times.

Pg 194 fn.- Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture) was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (translated as ‘the science of deep attachment’). 
COMMENT: The title of Gandhi’s work is 'Anasakti Yoga' (trans. ‘Science of non-Attachment’).

Pg 206 - The book wrongly states that the Hindus had only a triad of passions. 
COMMENT: Hindu scriptures list six main evils and the concept of shadripus (six internal enemies) is very well known.

Pg 441 - The book claims that Firoz Shah redeemed a number of Hindu slaves… 
COMMENT: A misrepresentation of the fact that he employed (not ‘redeemed’) 12,000 of his 180,000 slaves forcibly in royal factories for producing articles of consumption by Muslim elites. No “manumission” was involved.

Pg 445 - Dates of Saint Kabir are given as 1450 – 1498. 
COMMENT: His demise is believed to have occurred in 1518, and the traditional date of birth is 1398.

Pg 448-448 - In 713 Muhammad ibn Qasim invaded Sind. 
COMMENT:  Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sind in 711.

Pg 450- It is claimed that Emperor Ala-ud-Din Khalji did not sack temples in Devagiri. 
COMMENT:His contemporary Amir Khusro clearly mentions that the Emperor sacked numerous temples and raised mosques instead.

Pg 459 - King Ala-ud-din Husain of Bengal patronized Saint Chaitanya. 
COMMENT: Saint Chaitanya never met the king, and left his kingdom to avoid persecution, as did his disciples. The king had destroyed Hindu temples in Orissa.

Pg 532 -  Emperor Akbar moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Delhi in 1586. 
COMMENT: Emperor Akbar moved his capital to Lahore in 1587, and thereafter to Agra.

Pg 537-8 - The Sikh teacher Guru Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708, while 'attending Emperor Aurangzeb'. Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707. 
COMMENT: Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated in 1708 during the reign of Aurangzeb’s successor, Emperor Bahadur Shah I. It is insulting to say that the Guru was ‘attending’ on the Emperor.

Pg 550 - The book claims that Mirabai lived from 1498-1597, and then on p. 568, the author claims that Mirabai lived from 1450-1525! 
COMMENT: Both dates are wrong and the commonly accepted dates are 1498-1547. 

Pg 552 - The book claims that the Ramcharitmanas was written at Varanasi. 
COMMENT: Both modern scholarship as well as tradition accept that the work (or at least most of it) was written in Ayodhya.

Section on Bibliography: “Shekhawat, V. “Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research 7:1 (1900), 63-67.” 
COMMENT:The correct issue and year of this Journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991. The bibliography has dozens of errors. Some references cited by Doniger simply do not exist.

B. EXAMPLES OF FALSE, DEROGATORY AND DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS ABOUT HINDUISM: 
Awkwardly written, each chapter is a shocking and appalling series of anecdotes which denigrate, distort and misrepresent Hinduism, the history of India and Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure and secondary references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism. Cited below are only a handful of quotes along with our understanding and interpretation, with references from Hindu scripture.

 [Page number precedes the quote from the book. This is followed by a rebuttal comment.]

Pg 40 - If the motto of Watergate was ‘Follow the money’, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be ‘Follow the monkey’ or, more often ‘Follow the horse’.”  
COMMENT: Very derogatory and offensive. The motto of Hinduism is to follow the truth and unite with God. 

Pg 112 - The author alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! 
COMMENT: The hymn has no such suggestion. It is offensive to suggest that the sacred text of Hindus has kinky sex in it.

Pg 128 - The book likens the Vedic devotee worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s). 
COMMENT: This is offensive and ignores that fact that in the Rigveda, the gods are said to be all united, born of one another, and from the same source.

Pg 225 -“Dasharatha’s son is certainly ‘lustful’... Rama knows all too well what people said about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, “The king is perverse, old, and   addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3)” 
COMMENT: Sri Rama is revered and worshipped as a deity. The highly acclaimed and critical edition of Valmiki’s Ramayana records no such statement attributed to Lakshmana. An imagined phrase, 'kama-sakta' is mistranslated as 'addicted to sex' by the author whereas it normally means ‘filled with desires’. Valmiki uses a phrase 'samani-madhah' (trans. Possessed of passion).

Pg 467 - Harihara and Bukka (the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire that saved Hindu culture in S India) ‘double-crossed’ the Delhi Sultan when they reconverted to Hinduism.
COMMENT: The brothers committed apostasy as they had been imprisoned and forcibly converted to Islam, and immediately reverted to Hinduism when they were 1000 miles from the Sultan, under the influence of a Hindu ascetic. 

Pg 468-469 -“…The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and peoples and colors and the smells of the bazaar…” 
COMMENT: It is simply unacceptable that a scholar can flippantly, pejoratively and derogatorily essentialize the Hindus as “monkeys and peoples, colors and smells.., and chaos” in most insulting manner with the aspersion thrown at the entire Hindu culture and community all over the world. Such generalization has no place in serious scholarly work.

Pg 509  - ”Shankara and the philosopher’s wife…This tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosopher’s wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed).” The author attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka.
COMMENT: The author concocts the story as a sexual orgy in which the Saint Adi Shankara and King Amruka take turns making love to the latter’s wives after he is tired. Both her sources however state that the King was already dead and the Saint transferred his soul into the dead King’s body through his yogic powers. There is no suggestion in the texts that the queens ‘prefer Shankara to the king in bed’.


Pg 571- It is alleged that in a hymn from Saint Kshetrayya’s poetry, ‘God rapes’ the women devotees. 
COMMENT: The hymn merely presents devotion using spiritual metaphors and the hymns of the Saint seen collectively depict it as a passionate love affair between the God and the devotees. No rape is implied in this hymn at all.

As earlier mentioned, the above is a SMALL SAMPLE of the scandalous and offensive statements in the book. These cast serious doubts about the author’s integrity as a researcher and ability to interpret Hindu scriptures and traditions accurately. Additional examples and responses will be made available upon request. We believe that the book will misinform the readers about the history of Hindu civilization, its cultures and traditions, and will promote prejudices and biases against Hindus. Can Penguin’s editors really be incompetent enough to have allowed this to pass to publication? If this is not deliberate malice, Penguin must act now in good faith.

As concerned readers, we ask Penguin Group to:

1.  APOLOGIZE to Hindus for having published this book “The Hindus: An Alternative History” that seriously and grossly misrepresents the Hindu reality as known to the vast numbers of Hindus and to scholars of Hindu tradition  and for failure to observe proper pre-publication scrutiny and scholarly review of the book in which scholarship degenerates into sensationalism.

2.  WITHDRAW all the copies of this book immediately from the bookshops/markets worldwide and refrain from printing a paperback edition till the corrections are done.

3.  CORRECT the book for factual and historical inaccuracies and remove all passages that are blasphemous, derogatory and defamatory to Hindus and re-issue only after the corrections have been carried out.

Posted 3 days ago by Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

Labels: Hindu

  

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