Wendy Doniger
If you are looking for more factoids
There was (is?) a huge debate on Sulekha.com and another on OutlookIndia.com about her "scholarly" works on Hinduism. I've read most of the posts. What I didn't know was that she was decent hottie in her prime...
posted by Prashanth Pappu @ 2:21 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I forget the exact details but at one time I was quite impressed by Rajiv Malhotra's articles. They were very well researched. There was one case, where one of Wendy's Children had psycho-analysed Ramkrishna Param Hamsa to suggest that he was a paedophile or homosexual or some such thing. This guy had a very good rebuttal about how psychology was subsumed and not at all sufficient to really interprete his teachings and the related contexts.
The issue is bigger than what is reported in the article. The so called research into religion related stuff is mainly published in American Academy of Religion Journal or some such thing. There are not too many (perhaps none) Indians on the editorial committee.
Now, this is a genuine question. Can a person of non-Hindu upbringing really understand and interprete, say for example the Bhagvad Gita or some such text. Now, it is obviously a shame if they take these texts, subject them to psychoanalysis or some such techniques and report the findings in these journals which by deafult become authoritative. As the article mentions, because of Rajiv Malhotra etc, they removed a biased description from Microsoft Encarat Encyclopaedia and stufff.
This guy might himself not be giving us any final perspective. But in some ways, you can argue that Wendy's Children themselves gave birth to this guy - balancing things out.
true. Very true. The comparison shouldn't be between Wendy herself and Malhotra. I guess I was comparing Malhotras utility as a counter-balance for wendy's children like the Jayant Kriplani guy. This guy, single handedly brought the issue to light. So while we rightly dismiss his techniques and approach, we are, atleast I am, glad that he brought the issue to light. Doniger's work, if refuted, will have to be a lot more thorough and I'm sure it is malhotra's approach that is precisely annoying and in the process stirring a lot more indifferent academics to action. He has his place in the debate though not a respectable one.
Okay folks, I deleted my comments because they were a bit heavy on the hyperbole (and obscenities). Anyway, P puts our conclusions in a nutshell.
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