The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy to be destroyed

[Hermione]

What has offended Mr. Jairam Ramesh and Mr. Ramchandra Guha is that for the first time a foreigner has been taken to task for dumping their filth on Hindu history and scriptures.

 

[Spring Onion]

Wendy's interview

Wendy Doniger: Hinduism’s openness will carry it through present danger - Times Of India


Professor at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, Wendy Doniger's rather radical works on Hinduism, its scriptures and icons have provoked huge debates. Her latest book, 'On Hinduism', too questions established ideas about the religion and its contemporary face. She tellsMalini Nair that Hinduism lives through its liberal followers

Your book arrives at a time when Hindutva seems to be back on the agenda of some political parties. But you maintain that the Hinduism of the future will have to be multi-cultural and pluralist and "light years ahead of fundamentalists of all religions". What makes you so optimistic?

I do watch with growing apprehension as the right-wing , Hindutva-driven factions gain increasing power in India, but the responses I've had to my books, in both personal notes and published reviews, have been enormously encouraging. The kind of people whose texts I found throughout the history of Hinduism — open-minded , intellectually omnivorous people, capable of self-irony and generous to views other than their own — are still alive and well and living in India. I do believe that the great strength of Hinduism — its openness to contradictory ideas — will prevail and carry it through this present danger.

However, in the book you also demolish the popular theory that Hindus are a tolerant community.

I think the paradox becomes clearer when you become more specific about what people are tolerant about. Hindus have generally been very tolerant about ideas; they did not persecute people whose beliefs about the gods were different from their own. This is the source of their quite justifiable pride in Hindu tolerance. But Hindus have not always been tolerant about behaviour — about what people ate, touched, or wore — and this, of course, makes for trouble with Muslims and Sikhs. What worries me most about the Hindutva brigade is that they are just as intolerant of behaviour as Hindus have often been, but now they are also intolerant of ideas, engaging in censorship of a fundamentalist nature that has never infected Hinduism until now.

You trace the 'dark shadows' of Hinduism — the way women and lower castes are treated — to Manu's diktats. Are you saying that Hindus haven't evolved?

I don't think that Manu is the source of mistreatment of women and lower castes, but he is a particularly brilliant and detailed example of it. The Manusmriti has been the canonical text for those who would enforce those aspects of Hinduism. I wouldn't call Manu's diktats particularly primitive or regressive; almost all the cultures I know have been, and often still are, sexist and classist; we all have a long way to go in social evolution. The caste system is a fairly extreme case of the classist abuse of human rights, but when you look at apartheid and the treatment of African-Americans under slavery, and still in America today , who can cast the first stone?

You point out that ancient Hindu texts, myths and epics happily allowed for some riotous "gender boundary jumping" between the gods and other divine figures. This tolerance was vastly different from the prudishness we see now, isn't it?

Alas, the contemporary Hindu attitude to alternate sexual behavior is indeed far more repressive than the attitudes of the ancient texts. Even then, there was an official disapproval of such behaviour, in the dharma texts, but there were important departures from that conventional stance in such texts as the Kamasutra and in the imaginative literature of ancient India. The real prudishness, toward joyous heterosexuality, came in with the British and the Bengal Renaissance, and has now been taken up by Hindutva.

You have a different take on the Kamasutra. You see it as less of a "how to" manual and more as great literature on human nature, pro-women and compassionate. In fact you draw parallels between its content and contemporary dating scene.

It's such a pity that people continue to misread the Kamasutra, even after Sudhir Kakar and I provided such a clear translation of it. The "how to" part is just a small fraction of it. The rest has such an intimate and often hilarious understanding of how women feel about inadequate husbands and jealous co-wives . In the case of courtesans, it talks about how they choose between lovers of different advantages and shortcomings . The text also tells you how to meet possible partners, how to tell when someone likes you or doesn't like you, how to furnish your house, what to plant in your garden, games to play at parties, and so much else!

You have done a lot of very unusual delving into the place of animals, particularly dogs, in the Hindu society and mythology. What pulled your thoughts in that direction?

Well, of course, it began simply with my own great affection for dogs, but then I noticed how often dogs played critical roles in Hindu texts, first as symbols of impurity (because they are scavengers , eating garbage) and then as symbols of devotion (because there is no one as devoted as a devoted dog). And that contrast seemed to me to epitomize the broader contrast between the caste-bound aspect of Hindu dharma , so fixated on purity, and the compassionate aspect of Hindu bhakti, which transcends ideas of purity.

 

[Hermione]

Are we that insecure about our religion and country that instead of defending against a stand or proving an opinion wrong through our actions, we resort to banning books or protesting against them?
Does the elephant care when a dog barks at it on the street?

It matters when you do not take a stand and ignore the barking dogs to such an extent that they are emboldened enough to attack you. Entire sections of Hindus due to this false propaganda have moved away from Hinduism and spew invective on Hindus and threaten the national integrity itself.

 

[SamantK]

any download?

I did download..

 

[bronxbull]

Great this is how it should be done. No violent protests, no one killed.

P.S: Someone should drag Jairam Ramesh to the court for contempt.

seedha dhamki to the baap.

no chelle velle.

 

[Dem!god]

Did that Destroy the world and made it grim and dark ??

ha ha ha...
if they start believing what is written then sure....

 

[Peshwa]

It matters when you do not take a stand and ignore the barking dogs to such an extent that they are emboldened enough to attack you. Entire sections of Hindus due to this false propaganda have moved away from Hinduism and spew invective on Hindus and threaten the national integrity itself.

Since when has Hinduism becoming the only binding factor Indians? what national integrity do you speak of maam?

Do remember, we are not a theocratic state and diversity is one of our strengths, which includes diversity of opinion. The author might not be Indian, but Hinduism isnt only present in India and can have followers around the globe. So if someone presents their opinion based on researched facts, we cannot just consider it propoganda. Just because Hinduism is native to India doesnt make Indians the indisputable authorities on Hinduism or always right.
To attack the author and her position (ie. opinions and her western roots) just because its critical of hinduism is wrong. Its for the reader to decide what to make of it...not for you and me.

 

[Indischer]

What has offended Mr. Jairam Ramesh and Mr. Ramchandra Guha is that for the first time a foreigner has been taken to task for dumping their filth on Hindu history and scriptures.

Have you read it? It's available online for download. I'll read it before I will give my appraisal.

 

[halupridol]

Have you read it? It's available online for download. I'll read it before I will give my appraisal.

dont....too mch religion is injurious to health....

 

[Hermione]

Since when has Hinduism becoming the only binding factor Indians? what national integrity do you speak of maam?
Do remember, we are not a theocratic state and diversity is one of our strengths, which includes diversity of opinion. The author might not be Indian, but Hinduism isnt only present in India and can have followers around the globe. So if someone presents their opinion based on researched facts, we cannot just consider it propoganda. Just because Hinduism is native to India doesnt make Indians the indisputable authorities on Hinduism or always right.
To attack the author and her position (ie. opinions and her western roots) just because its critical of hinduism is wrong. Its for the reader to decide what to make of it...not for you and me.

If it is not Hinduism what is exactly holding India together? What exactly is the incentive for a Bengali and a Kannada to belong to the Indian Union. What is the commonality between us that makes us a Country, a people? Why do I have to suffer a Mamata Banerjee or a Mulayam Singh Yadav?

While we are not a theocratic state, Hindus have a right to defend their religion. Ideas are not born and live in isolation, especially in a country which has completely surrendered its intellectually thinking capability to the Western Universities. There are "researched facts" day in and day out from every group that can fund research to get an outcome favorable to their objectives. I have seen enough hatred of people for Hindus and Hinduism, especially from people who moved out of Hinduism based on these "researched facts." The separatism in Kashmir, Nagaland, and Punjab are not based on anything else but contempt for a people of different religion.

 

[Indischer]

dont....too mch religion is injurious to health....

Nah Bro...Too much ignorance about religion is. Those who manipulate and milk religious sentiments for personal and political gains are the bigger threat.

 

[bronxbull]

the author is attacked because of the book not because of why she wrote what she wrote?

guys please read the book before opening ur gas.

 

[Hermione]

Have you read it? It's available online for download. I'll read it before I will give my appraisal.

I have read enough about Wendi to know what she writes about. She is not the only one, the entire coterie at South Asia Studies at Harvard are one sick group.

I want you to go through these videos. These are important to the future of India.

 

[halupridol]

Nah Bro...Too much ignorance about religion is. Those who manipulate and milk religious sentiments for personal and political gains are the bigger threat.

I disagree.....lesser we know about religion the better....
,,,there r so many other things to learn....
never understood why is it so important....

 

[Indischer]

I disagree.....lesser we know about religion the better....
,,,there r so many other things to learn....
never understood why is it so important....

I believe that knowing something is not as harmful as being ignorant about. But what to do with that knowledge is a personal choice. Understanding Religion(not necessarily following it) is important because of the role it has played, is playing and continues to play in our society. One may choose to ignore it, but it's influence upon him will not diminish.

btw, I'm agnostic.