On Wendy Doniger's "The Hindus"

This is a partial review of Wendy Doniger's book "The Hindus: An alternative history". The book had generated a lot of activity on my FB stream. Which meant there was quite enough disquiet in me to warrant a read. I am onto chapter 6 now. I decided to write a partial-review because of the furor the book has lately created in India. You must have read about the controversy around this book and Wendy Doniger's relationship with the Hindutva brigade. The author's politics - and her treatment of Hindu texts - have been at odds with the more conservative Hindutva elements for a long time now. Well. In the preface itself the author castigates BJP/RSS/VHP/ABVP. I point this out so that you have enough of background in the politics behind the outrage - and the banning of the book.

IMHO, the book is decidedly worth reading - even if only to get an erudite outsider's point of view. Personally, I find the book informative and insightful - even entertaining. The language is quite accessible. Though her analogies are colorful and somewhat irreverent at times. So, even outside of that confrontational section in the preface - I can see that this book will be offensive to some.

An aside: While reading The Hindus I was reminded of  Khattar Kaka series by Harimohan Jha. (If you can read संस्कृत परिनिष्ठित  Hindi, you should give these books a try.) 

Back to the The Hindus: The author has an agenda. And she outlines her intent at the beginning of the book. She wants to present her theories about myths that have (or may have) been altered - where the victors seem to have edited out women and other disadvantaged classes of the society. She wants to examine alternative narratives. She invites us to examine the dominant interpretations of the myths in a different light. She alerts us to her suspicions of revisionism. She dishes out a lot of 'What-Ifs'.  Some of these are quite unsettling. Some of these are merely far-fetched propositions. In any case, it is a call-to-arms to defend the liberal aspects in the Hindu culture. And the author tries to establish that there has always been a liberal narrative in the Hindu culture.  

The book begins with the prehistoric and Harrappan times. Various geo-racial-linguistic theories pertaining to this region have been popular at different times. The book critiques - and elaborates upon - these theories. (I benefitted a lot from patiently checking out wikipedia and references that the author alludes to.) Her comparative analyses are often punctuated with pithy asides. Mostly insightful. Sometimes 'irreverent'. Well. The book is about considering alternative interpretations - and the author, being an outsider, is well placed to do that. Given the background, I did not find the book insensitive or offensive. It may be because I was brought up by a sociologist - who often had several liberal-leaning visitors (of the JNU kind).  For example, I do remember the discussions around the following controversial lines from Tulasidas's Ramacharitmanas - and whether the hyphenation lessens the insults. 

 ढोर गंवार सूद पशु-नारी, ये सब ताड़न के अधिकारी |

I found the said discussion deeply disturbing at the time - I used to do a सुन्दरकाण्ड पाठ (chants from the chapter that had this line) every week in those days. Truth be told, it is a little bit hard to wiggle your way around such issues. It is what it is. Ancient social commentary cannot be held to current norms of PC-ness. Trying to defend such mores in a modern liberal society is not a viable strategy. We should be cognizant of the need to make appropriate changes in (projection of) religious and social belief systems to maintain the universal appeal our culture has enjoyed.

I understand that the pride one takes in one's culture is essential to the sense of identity. OTOH, it is also important to steer away from jingoism  - it is good to remind ourselves of the principle of global kinship, वसुधैव कुटुंबकम. We should include the varied points of view in the cultural discourse.

So far, I think the book has been a good read. Many of us NRI Hindus can benefit from reading this book - it is not (yet) a banned book in the USofA.