Invading the sacred : an analysis of Hinduism studies in America

India, once a major civilizational and economic power that suffered centuries of decline, is now newly resurgent in business, geopolitics and culture. However, a powerful counterforce within the American Academy is systematically undermining core icons and ideals of Indic Culture and thought. For instance, scholars of this counterforce have disparaged the Bhagavad Gita as a dishonest book; declared Ganeshas trunk a limp phallus; classified Devi as the mother with a penis and Shiva as a notorious womanizer who incites violence in India; pronounced Sri Ramakrishna a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda; condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than white women; and interpreted the bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the ha in sacred mantras as a womans sound during orgasm. Are these isolated instances of ignorance or links in an institutionalized pattern of bias driven by certain civilizational worldviews? Are these academic pronouncements based on evidence, and how carefully is this evidence cross-examined? How do these images of India and Indians created in the American Academy influence public perceptions through the media, the education system, policymakers and popular culture? Adopting a politically impartial stance, this book, the product of an intensive multi-year research project, uncovers the invisible networks behind this Hinduphobia, narrates the Indian Diasporas challenges to such scholarship, and documents how those who dared to speak up have been branded as dangerous. The book hopes to provoke serious debate. For example: How do Hinduphobic works resemble earlier American literature depicting non-whites as dangerous savages needing to be civilized by the West? Are Indias internal social problems going to be managed by foreign interventions in the name of human rights? How do power imbalances and systemic biases affect the objectivity and quality of scholarship? What are the rights of practitioner-experts in talking back to academicians? What is the role of Indias intellectuals, policymakers and universities in fashioning an authentic and enduring response? Section One: Exposing Academic Hinduphobia: Pandita Indrani Rampersad -- Religious Studies: Projecting One's Shadow On The 'other -- Targeting Sri Ramakrishna -- The Hindu Goddess Reinterpreted As A Symbol Of Sex And Violence -- Abusing Ganesha And Shiva -- Targeting Hindu Mothers And 'hijackers' -- Challenges To Wendy Doniger's Sanskrit -- De-spiritualizing Tantra -- Chakra Hermeneutics -- It's All About Power Section Two: Storming The Fortress -- The Floodgates Of Criticism Are Opened -- Balagangadhara On The Biblical Underpinnings Of 'secular' Social Sciences -- The Children Of Colonial Psychoanalysis / Yvette C. Rosser -- Is The Fight Between Siva And Ganesa An Episode Of Oedipal Conflict? / Yuvraj Krishan -- Kripal On The Couch In Calcutta / Yvette C. Rosser -- Is There Prejudice In Hinduism Studies? A Look At Encarta / Sankrant Sanu -- Paul Courtright's 'ganesa, Lord Of Obstacles, Lord Of Beginnings': An Independent Review Vishal Agarwal And Kalavai Venkat Section Three: Whistleblowers, Witch Hunters And Victims / Aditi Banerjee -- Myth Of The Savage Frontier -- An American Community Gets Awakened -- Attempts To Refocus On The Issues -- Circling The Wagons: Dissent And Censorship -- Character Assassination -- Restoring The Debate: Silenced Voices Speak Out -- Calling Courtright's Bluff Section Four: Media Images: Diasporic 'savages' Versus Academic 'victims' -- Hyping Hindu 'wrath': Mythmaking And The Washington Post / Krishman Ramaswamy -- Muddying The Waters: Doniger Rolls Out The Big Guns / Krishnan Ramaswamy -- The Power Of 'connections': Using The New York Times For Pr / Krishnan Ramaswamy -- University Of Chicago Magazine: Obscuring The Issues / Yvette C. Rosser -- The Diaspora Press: India Abroad Encourages Debate / Krishnan Ramaswamy. Editors: Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonia De Nicolas, Aditi Banerjee. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [525]-534) And Index. 00-Prelims......Page 0 01-Chapter_1_introduction......Page 20 02-Section_1......Page 32 03-Section_2......Page 136 04-Section_3......Page 268 05-Section_4......Page 360 06-Appendices......Page 424 07-Endnote......Page 492 08-Bibliography......Page 543 09-Acknowledgements......Page 554 10-Index......Page 556