I do not believe in burning books, but wendy donigers 779page tome titled, the hindus. She has a large repertoire of hindu mythological stories. The author, wendy doniger, has two doctorates, one in sanskrit and one in indian studies, so she is exceedingly well qualified to write meaningfully on this topic. And so i intend to go on celebrating the diversity and pluralism, not to mention the worldly wisdom and sensuality, of the hindus that i have loved for about fifty years now and still counting. The title of donigers book an alternative history is problematic. The contested legacies of joachim wach and mircea eliade. Wendy doniger holds doctorates in sanskrit and indian studies from harvard and oxford. T his publication, on hinduism, has also attracted unjustified criticism from hindutvavadis.
She has mentored over 70 students through their phds. In this magisterial volume of essays, wendy doniger enhances our understanding of the ancient and complex religion to which she has devoted herself for half a century. Ive just finished wendy donigers in famous the hindus. The goal of this chapter is to examine the hindu understanding of ahimsa or nonviolence by comparing the personalities of yudishthira in the mahabharata and the mauryan emperor ashoka.
Library of congress cataloginginpublication data doniger, wendy. Wendy doniger in when the lingam is just a cigar, psychoanalysis and hindu sexual fantasies. They are links from which you can download the entire text. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account. Wendy doniger, the 74yearold american author and research scholar in sanskrit is moreover known for the high regard she has had for indian tradition.
I had written this for facebook, reproducing it here. The hindus, an alternative history by wendy doniger. An alternative history penguin, 2009 has outraged hindus around the world for allegedly insulting and offending hindus and indians. One story is about fusing the head of a brahmin woman onto the body of a dalit woman. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. This series of interconnected essays and lectures surveys the most critically important and hotly contested issues in hinduism over 3,500 years, from the ancient time of the vedas to the present day.
An alternative history after three, maybe four months. Wendy doniger holds two doctorates, in sanskrit and indian studies, from the universities of harvard and oxford. Sociolinguistic attitudes reflected in the work of bhartrhari and some later grammarians. Scholars and intellectuals across the board are critical and worried about penguins. Fight back and take back wendy donigers valuable book taken away from you by a spineless publisher and the fundamentalists they. Wendy donigers book is a tribute to hinduisms complexity. Doniger writes that it also tells an alternate history to show how much the groups that conventional wisdom says were oppressed and silenced and played no part in the development of the hindu. Pdf the hindus an alternative history wendy doniger. An alternative history by wendy doniger, a professor of religion at the. Doniger admits at the beginning of the chapter that. Wendy donigers the hindus, an alternative history penguin books 2009 by vishal agarwal aldous huxley once said that an intellectual was someone who had found something more interesting than sex.
It suggests the hinduism she is chronicling is a shadow version of some other more mainstream narrative. Contributions to the history of the sanskrit language edited by jan e. She is the author of several translations of sanskrit texts, including penguin classics editions of hindu myths and the rig veda, as well as many books about hinduism. There is just one alternative, which makes little sense, frankly, even as an alternative too. One could argue, using vedantic terms, that by falsely eroticizing all aspects of hindu.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the hindus. Pdf the hindus an alternative history wendy doniger ripu. A critique of wendy doniger the hindus an alternative history. Wendy donigers scholarship was critiqued at a roundtable panel in hawaii for two hours. An alternative history of portugal and the portuguese 20180201 pdf the cosmic century.
Wendy donigers the hindus recalled by penguin india time. In her book, doniger retells hindu stories and provides snarky interpretations. Wendy doniger has 73 books on goodreads with 35307 ratings. She has taught at the school of oriental and african studies, university of london and the university of california, berkeley, and is currently the mircea eliade distinguished service professor of the history of religions at the university of chicago. Hermeneutics, politics, and the history of religions. She gives the other side of the story concerning indian religious history. Through this magisterial volume which she calls the book of my books wendy doniger, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest and most original scholars of. The hindus an alternative history by wendy doniger penguin books november 2010 isbn10. It is just an old hegemony by a disingenuously counterhegemonic name, and has nothing to with hindus. An alternative history bywendy doniger 20200422 emigration and the sea. An alternative history kindle edition by doniger, wendy.
There has been much handwringing in india about wendy donigers book, the hindus. If you are drawn to read wendy donigers the hindus as i was because you see in hinduism an example of a culturalspiritual tradition that has managed to keep alive right into modern times a view of a sacred universe. Doniger provides several variants of the theme of transposed heads. Yet the greatness of hinduismits vitality, its earthiness, its vividnesslies precisely in many of those idiosyncratic qualities that. An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the worlds oldest major religions, the hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds.
An alternative history, which was also a finalist for the new york book critics circle award, in 2010. Wendy doniger is the mircea eliade distinguished service professor of the history of religions in the divinity school at the university of chicago, where she is also a professor of south asian languages and civilizations. The book was initially published by viking penguin in 2009 and later in india by penguins indian subsidiary, penguin india the book was criticized in india, and in february 2014 it was the subject of litigation in. Wendy donigers book on hinduism the right wing muslims made such a fuss about salman rushdie, most of them did not even read the book satanic verses, or even know that it was in english. A critique of wendy donigers the hindus, an alternative. The hindus an alternative history by wendy doniger. An alternative history is a book by american indologist, wendy doniger which the author describes as an alternative to the narrative of hindu history that they tell. It is laced with personal editorials, folksy turn of the phrase and funky wordplays. Dina nath batra, the retired headmaster whose lawsuit against penguin india led the company to agree to destroy copies of wendy donigers book the hindus. Her translations for penguin classics include the rig veda, the laws of. But those who are today merely silenced and fantasized about as the hindus will one day have their history, and their own alternatives too. P enguin books india has said this week that it will destroy all available copies of the 2009 book by the indologist wendy doniger, the hindus. Seventythreeyearold doniger is an american jewish indologist who has been a professor at the university of chicago since 1978. An alternative history, in his office beneath portraits of rightwing hindu nationalists k.
The real reason wendy donigers book on hindus was banned. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The hindus an alternative history is an utterly wonderful book. She is the mircea eliade distinguished service professor of the history of religions at the.
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