The Hindus: An Alternative History Author: Wendy Doniger | Language: English | ISBN:
B001TSZ688 | Format: PDF
The Hindus: An Alternative History Description
"Don't miss this equivalent of a brilliant graduate course froma feisty and exhilarating teacher."
-The Washington Post An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth,
The Hindus offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account. Many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated within a century; its central tenets arise at particular moments in Indian history and often differ according to gender or caste; and the differences between groups of Hindus far outnumber the commonalities. Yet the greatness of Hinduism lies precisely in many of these idiosyncratic qualities that continues to inspire debate today. This groundbreaking work elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds, the inner life and the social history of Hindus.
- File Size: 2744 KB
- Print Length: 812 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1594202052
- Publisher: Penguin Books (March 19, 2009)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B001TSZ688
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,147 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Books > History > World > Religious > Hinduism - #7
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > History - #12
in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism
- #2
in Books > History > World > Religious > Hinduism - #7
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > History - #12
in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism
As someone who has grown up in an academic environment, I would like to think of myself as catholic in my outlook; but this book by Wendy Doniger was just off.
To start with I maintain two gold standards of writers from the west
writing on India. The first is Heinrich Zimmer who wrote 'Myths and
Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization' which I have gone back to
repeatedly over the past 20 years. The other is the works of William
Dalrymple and the work of his that I cherish the most is one titled
'White Mughals'.
The former is a scholar who has sought to deeply understand Indian culture and the myths it has evolved and the latter is a fine writer first and foremost with a keen eye and love for all things Indian.
But what really makes their writings classic that wants me to go back
to them repeatedly is their generosity of spirit and largeness of
heart. They do not shy away from the warts, but you know what is
driving them to research and write their material is a genuine desire
to understand and the joy of discovery.
That brings me to Ms Doniger. When I came upon the book after reading a review of it in the NY Times, I rubbed my hands in glee. Ah, here is a book I thought to myself, that is going to present new and important insights, from a seasoned philologist, that is going to enhance
one's knowledge of Indian culture in new and important ways (good or bad - no matter).
What Wendy Doniger does do is that she applies all the tools and techniques and filters of 20th and 21st century social and cultural analysis to bear upon circa 500 BC India and then proceeds to sit in judgment. But it turns out that no wart is unworthy of examination and it is warts that are examined!
If you are drawn to read Wendy Doniger's The Hindus - as I was - because you see in Hinduism an example of a cultural-spiritual tradition that has managed to keep alive - right into modern times - a view of a sacred universe (sacred time, sacred geography, sacred cosmology, sacred social customs and social roles, sacred geometry and architecture, rites, rituals, and celebrations, etc.) and a robust set of experiential spiritual practices (puja, kirtan, yoga, meditation, etc.) then you are likely to be disappointed by this book. It is written, as far as I can tell, entirely from within the same western, modern, secular-academic point of view that has largely rejected a sacred vision of the cosmos and that has largely dismissed whatever tried-and-tested systems of spiritual practice we may once have had. Doniger conveys almost none of the spiritual vitality and seems not to recognize any of the practical spiritual knowledge that other writers and teachers show to be embedded in Hindu scriptures. If anything, she belittles these aspects of Hinduism in just that sort of way that modernized people as a group tend, unfortunately, to do, believing themselves to "know better" and to be more "sophisticated" than people who maintain their ancient traditions. So if you are looking for a view of Hinduism that will lead you beyond the limitations of the modern materialistic-mechanistic worldview, this is not the book for you.
Here is just one example: On page 176, Doniger quotes, from the Kaushitaki Upanishad, a description of the sort of experience one might encounter after bodily death that determines the trajectory of one's soul.
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