Discovery par excellence
Let us assume you don’t know anything about Hinduism, and all you have is the present radicalized climate of India to go by. You would be forgiven for assuming that it is an intolerant and insecure religion, which is against Muslims and Christians, or followers of any other religion for that matter; that it is against homosexuals, and bisexuals, anyone who is not a heterosexual for that matter, in fact against sexuality per se; that it is against women, and against a large section of people put lowest on its archaic caste system. You would wonder as to how this myth of the ‘tolerance of Hinduism’ took birth, when there seems to be just this narrow ‘Hindutva’, and everything that dares go beyond it is met with violence. But then maybe you would pick up “On Hinduism”, a new encyclopedic book from the respected Indologist Wendy Doniger, and you would be surprised as to how much bigger, in all senses of the term, Hinduism really is.
Through its seven sections, containing 63 essays written over four decades, Doniger explores the nature of Hinduism as can be read in the stories its religious texts have contained. This is unique, this focus on stories, and this belief that the essence of the religion lies in the stories told in its tradition. The book begins with an attempt to understand what essentially being a Hindu means, with its pluralism and the ideas of divinity. We then explore the Hindu attitude towards gender and sex, more so the unease-bordering-on-antagonism against all sexes and sexualities apart from the heterosexual male, beginning with Manu’s attitude towards women. A lot of Hinduism, like every other religion, focuses on having desires and controlling them, and Doniger explores its place in Hindu mythology and history. Where Doniger’s writing becomes most intriguing is when she interprets the metaphors in Hindu texts and stories, and through them attempts to understand the gender and caste hierarchies, amongst many other concepts central to the religion. Yet another section studies the question of reality and illusion in the two Hindu epics- Mahabharata and Ramayana, and this leads us yet again to what seems to be clearly the area of great interest to the author; women who challenge patriarchy and the treatment towards the lower castes. The end of the book is a section which makes the book an absolute endearment for me – four short autobiographical pieces tracing her relationship with Orientalism, her critics, and her own life doing what she has done.
Doniger really is a surprising writer. When you are not busy being astounded by her knowledge of the religion and its history, you are left wondering at the beautiful stories she culls out from ancient Hindu texts, and the unexpected connections she draws between pieces which appear centuries apart from each other. But the picture she paints is always complete, and the analysis she draws always fulfilling. She has had more than her fair share of detractors, and this book shall be no exception, but say what they may, Doniger is never prey to convenient writing, or forced logical interpretation. She labours hard to build well rounded arguments, and often unconventional, the essays are always intriguing to read.
Take for instance the section on “Women and other Genders”, a bunch of essays on Hinduism’s relationship with women, and other genders and sexualities including the androgynes, homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. In the chapter dealing with bisexuality, the author looks at how do texts find a way to circumvent their embarrassment and discomfort in acknowledging bisexuality amongst ordinary people, or amongst Gods. The texts do so through stories that speak of Gods splitting into two halves, one of each gender; and of Gods shifting genders, either just a superficial shift of exterior appearance or a complete transformation – thus talking about the presence of both homosexual and heterosexual desires but after putting a cloak over it. We also see the same stories being told and retold in various texts over centuries, and as to how the narrative seems to keep changing, thus pointing to a shift in the society’s outlook at that particular point in time.
However, more than anything else what makes the book a marvel is that Doniger never takes the voice of an instructor. She is always exploring, and doing so with both wit and wisdom.
You are welcome to join her on the complex adventure that Hinduism is for her. The essays provoke, as any rich text on a lively subject should, and they challenge you out of your comfort zone, but in the end you would be happy for she would have made you come home with a little more truth than what you began with.
Let us assume you don’t know anything about Hinduism, and all you have is the present radicalized climate of India to go by. You would be forgiven for assuming that it is an intolerant and insecure religion, which is against Muslims and Christians, or followers of any other religion for that matter; that it is against homosexuals, and bisexuals, anyone who is not a heterosexual for that matter, in fact against sexuality per se; that it is against women, and against a large section of people put lowest on its archaic caste system. You would wonder as to how this myth of the ‘tolerance of Hinduism’ took birth, when there seems to be just this narrow ‘Hindutva’, and everything that dares go beyond it is met with violence. But then maybe you would pick up “On Hinduism”, a new encyclopedic book from the respected Indologist Wendy Doniger, and you would be surprised as to how much bigger, in all senses of the term, Hinduism really is.
Through its seven sections, containing 63 essays written over four decades, Doniger explores the nature of Hinduism as can be read in the stories its religious texts have contained. This is unique, this focus on stories, and this belief that the essence of the religion lies in the stories told in its tradition. The book begins with an attempt to understand what essentially being a Hindu means, with its pluralism and the ideas of divinity. We then explore the Hindu attitude towards gender and sex, more so the unease-bordering-on-antagonism against all sexes and sexualities apart from the heterosexual male, beginning with Manu’s attitude towards women. A lot of Hinduism, like every other religion, focuses on having desires and controlling them, and Doniger explores its place in Hindu mythology and history. Where Doniger’s writing becomes most intriguing is when she interprets the metaphors in Hindu texts and stories, and through them attempts to understand the gender and caste hierarchies, amongst many other concepts central to the religion. Yet another section studies the question of reality and illusion in the two Hindu epics- Mahabharata and Ramayana, and this leads us yet again to what seems to be clearly the area of great interest to the author; women who challenge patriarchy and the treatment towards the lower castes. The end of the book is a section which makes the book an absolute endearment for me – four short autobiographical pieces tracing her relationship with Orientalism, her critics, and her own life doing what she has done.
Doniger really is a surprising writer. When you are not busy being astounded by her knowledge of the religion and its history, you are left wondering at the beautiful stories she culls out from ancient Hindu texts, and the unexpected connections she draws between pieces which appear centuries apart from each other. But the picture she paints is always complete, and the analysis she draws always fulfilling. She has had more than her fair share of detractors, and this book shall be no exception, but say what they may, Doniger is never prey to convenient writing, or forced logical interpretation. She labours hard to build well rounded arguments, and often unconventional, the essays are always intriguing to read.
Take for instance the section on “Women and other Genders”, a bunch of essays on Hinduism’s relationship with women, and other genders and sexualities including the androgynes, homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. In the chapter dealing with bisexuality, the author looks at how do texts find a way to circumvent their embarrassment and discomfort in acknowledging bisexuality amongst ordinary people, or amongst Gods. The texts do so through stories that speak of Gods splitting into two halves, one of each gender; and of Gods shifting genders, either just a superficial shift of exterior appearance or a complete transformation – thus talking about the presence of both homosexual and heterosexual desires but after putting a cloak over it. We also see the same stories being told and retold in various texts over centuries, and as to how the narrative seems to keep changing, thus pointing to a shift in the society’s outlook at that particular point in time.
However, more than anything else what makes the book a marvel is that Doniger never takes the voice of an instructor. She is always exploring, and doing so with both wit and wisdom.
You are welcome to join her on the complex adventure that Hinduism is for her. The essays provoke, as any rich text on a lively subject should, and they challenge you out of your comfort zone, but in the end you would be happy for she would have made you come home with a little more truth than what you began with.
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