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The Hindus

An Alternative History
May 16, 2014i_am rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
(1) Christianity is mainly about the great teachings of Jesus Christ. (2) Christianity is mainly about the inquisition within the Roman Catholic Church. The first statement is a historical fact while second statement is distorted “alternative history”. This simple example illustrates what Wendy Doniger has done to Hinduism in her book. If one wants to know about Hindus and their ancient philosophy from a western perspective, Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell, Alain Danielou and R.C. Zaehner are the gold standard. Ms. Doniger describes her book as an “alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they tell”. However, her book provides no substantive reasoning of why “what she tells” is more accurate than “what they tell”. The attitude that comes through is one of hostility and contempt for Hindus throughout the book. This does not mean that I do not recommend that you read this book. Of course, you should. However, you will get a more balanced perspective on Hinduism by also reading the works of some highly respected scholars on Hinduism and then making up your own mind on what Hinduism means to you. Anyone is free to express his views on anything however cherry-picking to show something in a bad light and presenting heavily distorted views is more like feeling free to express yourself in bad faith. I am not an ‘ill-informed fundamentalist' and have seriously studied many religions in depth. Unfortunately, this is not the only book that deliberately seeks to undermine this ancient religion as I see from: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8129111829/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk