The Hindus - Wendy Doniger.
When it comes to picking up books that I want to read, I usually have a weird way of choosing what to read 
starting from a terrific looking book cover to a never heard Author (that happens a lot) to an unbelievable title to a too cheap a book by the looks of it 
and so many more such unbelievable reasons. But there is another superb way that I get my books (where the book picks me) through Author / Publishers or from friends and family as Gifts. Last year our kiddo gave us a shock by declaring that she wanted to convert to Christianity as soon as we came back from a long vacation covering parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Her reason for doing the same was that she was being pushed out from all the Temples we visited but no one bothered her when she was sitting and praying in a church even on the eve of Christmas day. Her first choice was Islam but unfortunately my father in law is a devout (read Hardcore Extremist) Hindu, she dare not go against him . At that stage I wondered how he would react to her Christianity stand. And while all this was going through in my household and my wifey was looking for a book to gift me, she couldn't find a better one than "The Hindus" as she thought this may enlighten me about our own roots and I may share some of the enlightenment with our kiddo . So, I got this book as a gift in 2018 and last night (on the eve of my birthday) I finished it looking forward to another equally entertaining gift from her yet again. Let's see what she gets me this time. Oh! and before I forget to mention, "The Hindus" is a solid entertainer when it comes to Hinduism as it is typically an American perspective of an Indian religion and written exactly the same way they make movies on our part of the world. If you know what I mean .
starting from a terrific looking book cover to a never heard Author (that happens a lot) to an unbelievable title to a too cheap a book by the looks of it and so many more such unbelievable reasons. But there is another superb way that I get my books (where the book picks me) through Author / Publishers or from friends and family as Gifts. Last year our kiddo gave us a shock by declaring that she wanted to convert to Christianity as soon as we came back from a long vacation covering parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Her reason for doing the same was that she was being pushed out from all the Temples we visited but no one bothered her when she was sitting and praying in a church even on the eve of Christmas day. Her first choice was Islam but unfortunately my father in law is a devout (read Hardcore Extremist) Hindu, she dare not go against him . At that stage I wondered how he would react to her Christianity stand. And while all this was going through in my household and my wifey was looking for a book to gift me, she couldn't find a better one than "The Hindus" as she thought this may enlighten me about our own roots and I may share some of the enlightenment with our kiddo . So, I got this book as a gift in 2018 and last night (on the eve of my birthday) I finished it looking forward to another equally entertaining gift from her yet again. Let's see what she gets me this time. Oh! and before I forget to mention, "The Hindus" is a solid entertainer when it comes to Hinduism as it is typically an American perspective of an Indian religion and written exactly the same way they make movies on our part of the world. If you know what I mean .
The book is a mammoth 700+ pages with Introduction running to some 25+ pages and the glossary in the end about 150+ pages strong. It took me a little over a month to finish it, although I thoroughly enjoyed Wendy Doniger's commentary on Hinduism which was more on India than on the religion. And it would have been better if she had titled it "Indians or India" (in last 50 million years till now). I have no doubts on her research or the efforts she has put in putting this incredible work together but it is heartening (or rather laughable) to read that as per her Indian mythology especially Ramayan and Mahabharat are now a cult all thanks to the 80's TV series' based on Amar Chitra Katha Comics. She goes on to the extent of saying that the Indians believe and follow what these comics have told the so called stories of both the epics as there is no concrete evidence so far that they ever took place in real time. As per her, Bollywood too has a huge impact on how the History now is told in our part of the world, especially after someone like a SRK plays a violent king Ashoka in one of the epic movies of India. It is unbelievable to read (her opinion) that whenever a movie is made in our part of the world from a historical chapter, it holds the power to change the facts. A majority of the book is commentary on India and Hindu Muslim relations in last few centuries than Hinduism, its inception, progress or current state. Through her research and disclosed sources she even claims that we are no Aryans, we are rather descendants from South Africa. And as per the geographical movements of the tectonic plates, we got cut off some 50 million years ago from the African continent and our part of continent physically moved to where we are today . I have no idea of her research or its authenticity or even its critical or literary acclaim but one thing is for sure that she presented it all in a very interesting manner and I had a jolly good time reading our own history especially from the last 2000 odd years to the current date. She has covered previous 50 million years to 2009 in this book before it got published.
. I have no idea of her research or its authenticity or even its critical or literary acclaim but one thing is for sure that she presented it all in a very interesting manner and I had a jolly good time reading our own history especially from the last 2000 odd years to the current date. She has covered previous 50 million years to 2009 in this book before it got published.
One thing that I totally loved about Wendy Doniger's Hindus is that a major of her work is inspired or I can say is in awe of amazing authors like Rudyard Kipling (a huge lot), Konrad, Voltaire, George Orwell, William Dalrymple, Shashi Tharoor etc, even JK Rowling gets a mention in her account of our History. Also, a majority of the book as I said is a commentary on what was going in India in those many years that she covered based on her research of material available. 50% of the book is based on Manu Smriti and Kamasutra (Shocking and surprisingly). I am now totally intrigued to lay my hands on both the original (translations of-course) at the earliest as she has totally piqued my interest in them as well a few of Kipling's as multiple mention of few of his works and how that was relevant to Hinduism or Indian culture was totally rocking stuff (I mean entertaining in a good way). Also, she has credited Romila Thapar and her work so much in the same field that I believe it will be a great idea to pick up her book and read it ASAP. Co-incidentally I gifted the same book last week to a very dear friend of mine as I was reading the Hindus . This is one of those few books that one (Indian) may read out of sheer curiosity to know about our own roots and culture from the eyes of an American. If I may be allowed to say, I will go on to say that "The Hindus" is actually Wendy Doniger's "Satanic Verses". If we Hindu's had something called a Fatwa (Hindu sentence) she would be running for her life from all of us . She is actually too brave to write so much about Hindus, Hinduism, Muslims, Indian Christians, Sikhs, Congress Govt VS BJP Government, RSS, Hindu Muslim relations, Authenticity of Babri Masjid, Taj Mahal, Ramayan, Mahabharat and so many more sensitive topics in her own way. It is pretty offensive at times to read but then we live in a free world and she has her own right in writing the history as she / they know or feel it.
. This is one of those few books that one (Indian) may read out of sheer curiosity to know about our own roots and culture from the eyes of an American. If I may be allowed to say, I will go on to say that "The Hindus" is actually Wendy Doniger's "Satanic Verses". If we Hindu's had something called a Fatwa (Hindu sentence) she would be running for her life from all of us . She is actually too brave to write so much about Hindus, Hinduism, Muslims, Indian Christians, Sikhs, Congress Govt VS BJP Government, RSS, Hindu Muslim relations, Authenticity of Babri Masjid, Taj Mahal, Ramayan, Mahabharat and so many more sensitive topics in her own way. It is pretty offensive at times to read but then we live in a free world and she has her own right in writing the history as she / they know or feel it.
I can go on and on about the book but I will stop right here although I am now very curious to know if she wrote the history of Christianity too, I would love to know her views on her own religion (assuming she is a Christian) or if she wrote anything on Islam (that would be very interesting and a Fatwa would have followed for sure). Have you read "The Hindus"? If you have, do let me know if you like it (for any reason like me), if not, I suggest you stay away unless you really need something funny which may take a lot of precious time but will certainly give you some superb food for your thoughts.
PS: That blurb by Amartya Sen is such a heart-break especially after I have finished the book. Wonder if he really read the book before endorsing it.
PS2: I will be looking forward to Authentic Translations of Manusmriti and Kamasutra (literature), do let know if you have any recommendations on the subjects.
No comments:
Post a Comment