Academic Hinduphobia: A critique of Wendy Donigers erotic school of Indology by Rajiv Malhotra

Academic Hinduphobia: A critique of Wendy Donigers erotic school of Indology Reviews

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  Aditya आदित्य

  This book is a collection of numerous articles and interviews published on the web during the first such upheaval in the Hindu Studies arena in USA in the early 2000's. Rajiv Malhotra has since then attained a huge following here in India and in my opinion, the intellectual courage and scholarly acumen with which he has been operating deserve serious acknowledgement from academicians and wider audiences alike.
  
  Rajivji is not a polemic, unlike the gratuitous portrayals in a few news outlets, and despite being trained in the technical field has a masterful understanding of the teaching of humanities in America and the West in general. After gaining a lifetime of experience in IT and Corporate world, it is astounding that Rajivji gives such compelling criticism of the study of Hinduism and India, a field so far removed from the area of his own expertise.
  
  Rajivji offers a truly distinct perspective in the study of Religion and Cultures from far away, geographically but at the same time, practiced in American households. He raises some serious issues faced by the Indian immigrant community in USA, without raising the bogey of "hate-crimes" or jumping in the outrage bandwagon.
  
  The concerns presented in this volume are of a larger Hindu community in India as well, and not just Indian-Americans. In his other books Rajivji elucidates how the Hinduism "constructed" by incompetent (or, insidious?) scholars cause severe harm to India. Therefore every concerned citizen should get a glimpse of the world of India studies or Indology and this book, replete with references to numerous scholarly articles is a good start.
  
  P.S.
  I personally felt that the stark contrast between the "scholarly" work on Hinduism and the public persona of the Academicians in question is quite disturbing. Some of the videos of the public lectures by the said professors are utterly dishonest given the vicious lies peddled as scholarly writings by them.
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  Surender Negi

  Academician in Ancient Indian heart holds high stature. The Ancient Indian Proverb declared that “Guru (Teacher), must consider greater than God itself.” This can be seen in the resonant Indian culture of Guru Shishya parampara (teacher-student tradition) of India and Verse from “Kabir Vani” (Saying of Saint Kabir).
  
  

  “गुरु गोबिन्द दोउ खडे काके लागूँ पाँय, बलिहारी गुरु आपने गोबिन्द दियो बताय”
  
  Guru and God both are here, to whom should I first bow
  All glory be unto the guru, path to God who did bestow
  
  -:Saint Kabir.

  
  
  “Academic Hinduphobia” is account and act of western gurus, who had broken all the limits to pollute such Indian notion of Guru’s Garima (Honor of teachers). It is very painful for me to write about Academician which could change the face of Hinduism if they haven’t chosen a subvert version of politics and favouritism to maligned Hinduism.
  
  Rajiv Malhotra investigates historicity of many academicians which hail from the prestigious Institute of the world. This cradle of education, enlightenment, investigation, intellectualism is part of the world which generally invisible to the normal people. But ideas and thought pressed by them take shapes in world perception slowly but surely. It used to amuse me when people argued that Ravan was much better than Lord Rama or Dhuryodhan was much better than Arjuna. These question which investigates the negative understanding of scripture has some starting point in Hinduism. Rajiv Malhotra through works investigates the deep roots of such thoughts. Rajiv Malhotra’s this book is basically a compilation of his essays in Sulekha.com and various intellectual e-groups. His Journey of understanding American academia through the critical approach given him the wisdom to understand the power structure of the academic class.
  
  
  
  Read full review here
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  Rama Rao

  The lapdogs are pillaging the Hindu traditions
  
  This book is a collection of essays by the author on American scholarship of Hinduism. There are numerous errors in the interpretation of the Hindu sacred texts by leading academics such as the University of Chicago Professor Wendy Doniger, Jeffery Kripal, Paul Courtright and Sarah Caldwell. The one in particular is the use of Freudian psychoanalysis in hermeneutics of Vedic Dharma. Because Wendy Doniger does not have any credentials to make “psychoanalysis” of Hindu theological and metaphysical structure. In the current cancel culture and wokism, Sanatan Dharma is reduced to drinking cows’ urine, idol worshipping, and active practicing of the caste system in India and here in the Western hemisphere.
  
  The work of many Western scholars is not gracious towards Hindu culture. This is not only offensive to the practitioners of the faith across the globe but also to ancient Indian traditions. In American academia the teaching of Hinduism and Indian literature is being supervised by Western scholars, and the Indian faculty member, in order to fit in become marginal member of the Western scholarship, and then taunt at Indian culture in the same manner as the English colonialists. This has radicalized the Muslim and Christian populations in India. The cultural appropriation occurs by first a Westerner approaches an Indian guru with some contempt, then studies under him, acquires the knowledge. Once the transfer of knowledge is complete, the former disciple progressively erases the original source, such as omission of the Sanskrit terms and their original meaning. The knowledge gets repackaged as the idea of their own thought and may even proceed to denigrate the Indian tradition. The traditional Indian knowledge is decontextualized and Christianized. In the final stage, the ideas are exported back to India by the former disciple and/or his followers for consumption as Western science or as 'superior' thought. The modern day reimportation of Christian Yoga into India serves as a good example.
  
  American academia is consumed with Eurocentric perspective that evaluates the Indian culture to reflect on colonial domination. Their studies are based on the model of Abrahamic traditions which is disrespectful to ancient Indian traditions. The Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are lot more interesting than Old Testament or New Testament or any work of Greek literature. They describe the complexity, a range of the metaphysical and theological ideas. The author is open and honest in evaluating the bias of Western scholarship that has demonized and disrespected Hindu traditions while ignoring the weakness of the Abrahamic texts and its practices.
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  Jaspreet Kochar

  slop