Wendy Donigar the author of the highly objectionable book, ‘Hindus: An Alternative History’, (2009) is back on the India theme. This time the book has a fairly innocuous title, ‘An American Girl in India,(Letters and Recollections, 1963-1964). Though the title is innocuous Wendy has not changed much of her views on Hinduism. I will come back to this later, let us first understand Wendy’s background.
Wendy’s Jewish parents emigrated to the United States. Her mother was from Vienna and her father was from a village called Reczki in Poland. Wendy is an Indologist with a career spanning over five decades. She is also a scholar of Sanskrit and Indian Textual Traditions. Her other books on India give an indication of her antipathy towards Hinduism. Here are some of the titles: Asceticism And Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva, Hindu Myths: A source book, The origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology, Women, Androgynies’, and other Mythical Beasts, The Rig Veda: An Anthology,108 Hymns translated from the Sanskrit. The titles give a very good indication of the author’s deeply anti Hindu mindset. Such is so consumed by her hostility that she abandons all professionalism worthy of her profession. She heavily emphasizes the word Mythology in her titles because that is what she wants the readers to know, that all Hindu scriptures are myths. And yet she uses those very myths to dig deep and create the impression that these myths are what represent the Hindu scriptures. However this is not the end of it. As a Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago she translated the, The Laws of Manu, and the Kama Sutra in English! She also translated an Anthology of Hymns from the Rig Veda which includes a rendition into English of the Purusa-Sukta or the Hymn of Man. Finally there is the, Against Dharma, ‘Dissent in the Ancient Indian Sciences of Sex and Politics with a chapter on PM Modi’s approach to Science and the craziness of it’!
Coming back to her new publication, ‘An American Girl in India,(letters and recollections)’ Wendy had a conversation with Vandita Mishra who is a Indian Express National Opinion Editor. In the conversations Wendy made following claims:
Hinduism was always liberal but over the last 20 years a new colorless Hinduism led by RSS and BJP has taken over. Wendy adds that what unites Hindus, ‘sarcastically’ are concepts like there are numerous Gods and one can pick and choose, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and beliefs in Karma and Dharma also unite Hindus. Vandita Mishra wondered whether Hindu nationalism preys on resentments and grievances. Wendy responded that the seeds of these resentments are in with-in Hindu faith. She warmed to her theme by saying that individuals are killed for eating(presumably Beef), individuals are killed for marrying people from another faith, these are, ‘flawed’ factors in Hinduism. She further said that Kautilya’s Arthshastra promotes belligerence towards neighbors!
Kautalia or Chanakya’s Arthshastra is actually a masterpiece on politics, diplomacy, war and much more.
Wendy goes on to ask a rhetorical question, ‘ Are Hindu Texts actually true’? That Rama was born where ever he was -this sort of lateralization of the textual content is sort of new-it is unhealthy, terribly damaging trick she says. At this point Vandita prompted Wendy to go further by asking whether this form of behavior is due to some sort of nervousness or insecurity on the coronary heart of Hinduism. To which Wendy replied, ‘ it is capitalization of Hatred’. She added centuries of shame, mistreatment, belittlement is whittling away on the ego(of Hindus). She continued that assertions are made that, ‘we had airplanes(during the time of Rama) and we had rocket science’.
Vanditas colleague Liz Mathew asked Wendy whether India was turning more illiberal. Surprisingly Wendy replied that the position of Dalit’s has got better but as far as freedom of speech is concerned things have got worse.
Another colleague of Vandita by the name Anathakrishnan pointed out that unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism has no central authority and RSS trying to claim being Pope of Hinduism is insanity! Wendy’s response was that a Hindu leadership should NOT evolve. Here Wendy throws caution to the wind and confirms that she is completely biased and her academic work is completely flawed because she is consumed by the desire to demonize Hinduism.
Vandita Mishra concludes by making a strange claim that, unlike the West where knowledge making is concentrated in Universities, India does not have religious studies departments. This according to her may have caused the rise of muscular Hinduism! Sycophancy is a trait of many left wing, secular Indian intellectuals and left wing academics!
A Challenge to Wendy Donigar in the Autumn of her Professional Life!
I urge Wendy Donigar to take up a Project to compare and contrast American and Indian civilization.
Around 200 years ago white settlers decimated the native Indian population and took over a land which was blessed with every natural resources a race of people would want. However within a span of 200 years America has managed to destroy the ecology and environment of the country. Frequent cyclones and hurricanes are the bane of American life now. It has further played a big role in destroying the Amazon rain forests in pursuit of producing cheap beef. America though founded on the principles of the Christian faith continued the slave trade, denied access to the black people on a plethora of public services. For decades it acted as the world’s dominant force usurping any country or ideology that came in its way. Vietnam was carpet bombed. The Gun culture is taking the lives of thousands of people. Real poverty can be seen in many parts of the country and the economy is in trillions of dollars in debt. America’s supremacy is increasingly being challenged by new players on the block. 200 years in the context of History is not even a little speck.
In contrast India is the worlds oldest and living civilization going back tens of thousands of years. Even though it suffered centuries of oppression the roots of Hindu heritage could not be shaken. Today India is once again becoming a global power and its spiritual values are being taken up by people all over the world. Wendy must have seen Yoga being practiced outside Time Square by tens of thousands of people. In America the sons and daughters of Hindus are playing an increasingly important role in the running of the country. Approximately 38% of doctors, 36% of NASA employees, and 34% of Microsoft employees are Indian. Indian technologists dominate the Silicone Valley. The creator of the Pentium Chip, on which 90% of computers run is Vinod Dahm and the founder and creator of Hotmail is Sabeer Bhatia. The list is too long to mention here. In politics too Hindus in America are holding many powerful positions.
The conclusion Wendy is that your hateful books on India will soon be gathering dust while Mother India will be marching ahead.
Nitin Mehta
21 June 2022
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