BBC Radio: Arundhati Roy on pulping of Wendy Doniger's Hindus 

Pg. 67 - It is claimed that the entire Harappan culture had a population of 40,000! COMMENT: This is estimated as the population of Mohenjo-Daro alone. The population of the entire culture is estimated around 500,000. Pg 112 - Wheat is mentioned as a food item in the Rigvedic period. COMMENT: Wheat is not mentioned in the Rigveda at all. It first occurs in the Maitrayani Samhita of the Yajurveda. Pg 130 - The author claims that there are no Gods in the Vedas who are Shudras. COMMENT: It is anachronistic to assign castes to Rigvedic deities, but nevertheless, Pushan, Vesmapati and others have been considered Shudra deities in later times. Pg 194 fn.- Gandhi's commentary on the Gita (a sacred Hindu scripture) was titled 'Asakti Yoga' (translated as the science of deep attachment). COMMENT: The title of Gandhis work is 'Anasakti Yoga' (trans. Science of non-Attachment). Pg 206 - The book wrongly states that the Hindus had only a triad of passions. COMMENT: Hindu scriptures list six main evils and the concept of shadripus (six internal enemies) is very well known. Pg 441 - The book claims that Firoz Shah redeemed a number of Hindu slaves COMMENT: A misrepresentation of the fact that he employed (not redeemed) 12,000 of his 180,000 slaves forcibly in royal factories for producing articles of consumption by Muslim elites. No manumission was involved. Pg 445 - Dates of Saint Kabir are given as 1450 1498. COMMENT: His demise is believed to have occurred in 1518, and the traditional date of birth is 1398. Pg 448 - In 713 Muhammad ibn Qasim invaded Sind. COMMENT: Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sind in 711. Pg 450- It is claimed that Emperor Ala-ud-Din Khalji did not sack temples in Devagiri. COMMENT: His contemporary Amir Khusro clearly mentions that the Emperor sacked numerous temples and raised mosques instead. Pg 459 - King Ala-ud-din Husain of Bengal patronized Saint Chaitanya. COMMENT: Saint Chaitanya never met the king, and left his kingdom to avoid persecution, as did his disciples. The king had destroyed Hindu temples in Orissa. Pg 532 - Emperor Akbar moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Delhi in 1586. COMMENT: Emperor Akbar moved his capital to Lahore in 1587, and thereafter to Agra. Pg 537-8 - The Sikh teacher Guru Govind Singh was assassinated in 1708, while 'attending Emperor Aurangzeb'. Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707. COMMENT: Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated in 1708 during the reign of Aurangzebs successor, Emperor Bahadur Shah I. It is insulting to say that the Guru was attending on the Emperor. Pg 550 - The book claims that Mirabai lived from 1498-1597, and then on p. 568, the author claims that Mirabai lived from 1450-1525! COMMENT: Both dates are wrong and the commonly accepted dates are 1498-1547. Pg 552 - The book claims that the Ramcharitmanas was written at Varanasi. COMMENT: Both modern scholarship as well as tradition accept that the work (or at least most of it) was written in Ayodhya. Section on Bibliography: Shekhawat, V. Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal. Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research 7:1 (1900), 63-67. COMMENT:The correct issue and year of this Journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991. The bibliography has dozens of errors. Some references cited by Doniger simply do not exist. B. DEROGATORY, DEFAMATORY AND OFFENSIVE STATEMENTS Clumsily written, each chapter is a shocking and appalling series of anecdotes which denigrate, distort and misrepresent Hinduism and the history of India and Hindus. Doniger uses selective quotations from obscure and non-original, peripheral and ignorant references with a bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism. Cited below are only a handful of quotes along with our understanding and interpretation, with references from Hindu scripture. [Page number precedes the quote from the book. This is followed by a rebuttal comment.] Pg 40 If the motto of Watergate was Follow the money, the motto of the history of Hinduism could well be Follow the monkey or, more often Follow the horse. COMMENT: Very derogatory and offensive. The motto of Hinduism is to follow the truth and unite with God. Pg 112 - The author alleges that in Rigveda 10.62, it is implied that a woman may find her own brother in her bed! COMMENT: The hymn has no such suggestion. It is offensive to suggest that the sacred text of Hindus has kinky sex in it. Pg 128 - The book likens the Vedic devotee worshipping different Vedic deities to a lying and a philandering boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend(s). COMMENT: This is offensive and ignores that fact that in the Rigveda, the gods are said to be all united, born of one another, and from the same source. Pg 225 -Dasharathas son is certainly lustful... Rama knows all too well what people said about Dasharatha; when Lakshmana learns that Rama has been exiled, he says, The king is perverse, old, and addicted to sex, driven by lust (2.18.3) COMMENT: Sri Rama is revered and worshipped as a deity. The highly acclaimed and critical edition of Valmikis Ramayana records no such statement attributed to Lakshmana. An imagined phrase, 'kama-sakta' is mistranslated as 'addicted to sex' by the author whereas it normally means filled with desires. Valmiki uses a phrase 'samani-madhah' (trans. Possessed of passion). Pg 467 - Harihara and Bukka (the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire that saved Hindu culture in S India) double-crossed the Delhi Sultan when they reconverted to Hinduism. COMMENT: The brothers committed apostasy as they had been imprisoned and forcibly converted to Islam, and immediately reverted to Hinduism when they were 1000 miles from the Sultan, under the influence of a Hindu ascetic. Pg 468-469 -The mosque, whose serene calligraphic and geometric contrasts with the perpetual motion of the figures depicted on the temple, makes a stand against the chaos of India, creating enforced vacuums that India cannot rush into with all its monkeys and peoples and colors and the smells of the bazaar COMMENT: It is simply unacceptable that a scholar can flippantly, pejoratively and derogatorily essentialize the Hindus as monkeys and peoples, colors and smells.., and chaos in most insulting manner with the aspersion thrown at the entire Hindu culture and community all over the world. Such generalization has no place in serious scholarly work. Pg 509 - Shankara and the philosophers wifeThis tale contrasts sex and renunciation in such a way that the renunciant philosopher is able to have his cake and eat it, to triumph not only in the world of the mind (in which, before this episode begins, he wins a series of debates against the nonrenouncing male Mimamsa philosopher) but in the world of the body, represented by the philosophers wife (not to mention the harem women who clearly prefer Shankara to the king in bed). The author attributes the tale to Shankaradigvijaya of Madhava and to Ravichandra's commentary on Amarushataka. COMMENT: The author concocts the story as a sexual orgy in which the Saint Adi Shankara and King Amruka take turns making love to the latters wives after he is tired. Both her sources however state that the King was already dead and the Saint transferred his soul into the dead Kings body through his yogic powers. There is no suggestion in the texts that the queens prefer Shankara to the king in bed. Pg 571- It is alleged that in a hymn from Saint Kshetrayyas poetry, God rapes the women devotees. COMMENT: The hymn merely presents devotion using spiritual metaphors and the hymns of the Saint seen collectively depict it as a passionate love affair between the God and the devotees. No rape is implied in this hymn at all.

Arundhati- do you really know what was written in the book and do you think that is alright?. why did you not raise your voice when Da Vinci code was asked to be banned and call that against freedom of expression?In this case, proper legal course of action was followed and mind you the kind of content in this book

Arundati Roy, has yet to criticise on when Islam or Christianity is portrayed in the same light. When it is about Islam then she states it is Islamophobia. But if it is Hindus then it is secular!

Why dont you write similarly on islam

Missionary Christianity done that

You deserve an interview with Arundhati.

Is Arundhati Roy a Christian? Is her first name Susan?

Wendy doniger is jew , who gave her views on hinduism as a jew . The reason she likes shiva (because it relates to her own tradition) and not others is very clear. That is the reason she was critical of the rest , it is important to take out a book now by hindus that gives a proper knowledge of hinduism , its spiritual , knowledge traditions , yoga and the vedic culture that was followed by many civilizations.

I, for one, have no issue with anyone writing about Sanatana Dharma. People are people & we all make mistakes. The issue with people like Wendy Doniger & Jeffrey Kripal (or even Max Mueller) is, writing wrong things about ancient Vedic scriptures without even knowing or experiencing it from a Vedic practitioner's point of view, without even having such works examined by scholars in that field & then audaciously claiming it as an authentic scholarly 'research'. In fact, if you look at the research work in science, social studies, humanities & other fields, almost all the research papers by various scholars must be read, analyzed, critiqued by other scholars in the Academia before it gets published. A true scholar must be gracious enough to learn & equally humble enough to admit mistakes. If these, so called, western scholars had done that, it would have increased my respect for them multi-fold. Sadly, Wendy & her children make me sick to stomach with their arrogance & racism.

she thinks she is the lord of things.if she don't like Hindus so much,then please ignore us ,we don't need your support.

absolutely ridiculous

This woman along with others like her insist on villifying Hinduism just because during days of slavery imposed by the very Muslims and Christians who she appears to praise and appreciate, people were suffering from so many psychological issues that it is next to impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff. FIY while bullying and harrassment are crimes, it should be remembered that Varnashram was never about either. It just explains the organisation structure of the entire species that one will see in ANY organisation. ANY normal average office,army,govt, school, college etc. for example will have senior and junior staff, and senior and junior categories based on certain criteria. THAT'S ALL!! Arundhati herself is a privileged class person. Is that not unfair to others who are more capable than her? Yet many just slavishly praise her instead of demanding to take her position. Vedic culture is like a priceless antique. It needs to be cleaned and polished not destroyed. It is going to be upto the youth to do that. Not join the ranks of idiots like Arundhati who will do anything for fame and fortune. Men have always bullied those weaker than them due to many reasons such as lack of resources or even plain malice. The Mahabharat is a story that tells us just that. Our dharma or duty is to try and maintain that delicate balance when sometimes we have to take the difficult decision for the right reason, just like Pandavas. He has to go to war to maintain peace. Everyone likes to study the same ideas when in context of a Western education. Then why criticise our own history and dharma. People need to grow out of their immature sulky juvenile frame of mind and empower the poor by working together, not making division in the ranks. How many times as Arundhati tried to work with decent Hindus who are striving relentlessly for a better future and against any form of discrimination? NEVER! SHAME ON HER!!

some freaks which manage to read and right then they do these magics.

RIP so called Nonsense knowledge , intellectual 💩

U hv always been so darling roy, its bcoz we the secular conservatives.Will never disappoint u.

Do she knows research is a part of collection of data did she gather data myth on aryan invasion

Its kind of sad, that the Indian Media invites Taslima Nasreen ( A Bangladeshi) & Tarek Fatah (A Pakistani) to speak on behalf of Indian Muslims on multiple occasions. Maybe they do so, as it feeds their narrative. The duo demonizes Muslims even more, & that suits the Right wing agenda & makes it even harder for common Muslims in India. Would the media invite Wendy Doniger as a spokesperson for Hindus? No na! They would call someone who speaks in favour of Hinduism ! -Priyanka Ch

Hinduism is a racist religion The purusha sukta verse of rig veda mention caste system Text Thirteen brahmanosya mukhamasit bahu rajanyah kritaha uru tadasya yadvaishyaha padhyagam shudro ajayata From His face (or the mouth) came the brahmanas. From His two arms came the rajanya (the kshatriyas). From His two thighs came the vaishyas. From His two feet came the shudras.