Hindu studies

Hindu studies is the study of the traditions and practices of the Indian subcontinent, especially Hinduism. Beginning with British philology in the colonial period, Hindu studies has been practiced largely by Westerners, due in part to the lack of a distinct department for religion in Indian academia. Since the 1990s this has caused some dissent from Hindus, raising questions in academia about the role of Hindu studies in creating postcolonial images of India.

Between the period 1789 and 1832, British perceptions of Indian culture were completely reversed. Before that time, the British viewed Indians as disorganized and lacking a coherent philosophy. After the mid-19th century, however, the term "Hinduism" became acceptable in English use to refer to an overarching religious structure that spanned India. This was not a one-sided fabrication, since self-identified Hindus met the British challenge with a reappropriation of "Hinduism" and defense of their own culture.

The early study of Hinduism chiefly constituted translations of and commentaries on Sanskrit texts, rather than observation of present-day Hindu life. This historical emphasis on philology has had a strong influence on present day Hindu studies, which often emphasizes medieval and classical period Hinduism.

By the time Wendy Doniger became involved with Hindu studies, the nature of Hinduism as a single category was already in question, having been discussed in Wilfred Cantwell Smith's The Meaning and End of Religion (1962). In a general-audience response, she claimed in the Wilson Quarterly (1991) that Hinduism could be imagined as a "Venn diagram" which together constituted a whole, or akin to light being both a wave and a particle.

Since the mid nineteen nineties, some universities have started to offer doctoral programs in Hindu Theology. One of the universities is Hindu University of America, accredited by the National Public Schools Alliance which is not recognized as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education.

Beginning in the 1990s, North American Hindu groups began protesting the academic portrayal of their culture. This began in 1995 with the publication of Kali's Child, Jeffrey Kripal's psychoanalytic biography of Ramakrishna. In 1995, the book won the American Academy of Religion award. The book became controversial and Kripal himself became deeply involved in discussing the book with Hindu critics and western scholars. Another controversial psychoanalytical is by Paul B. Courtright's Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings. Courtright responded that he did not see anything coming out of the Hindu criticism that was worth responding to; Wendy Doniger, for her part, quickly stopped responding to Hindu complaints, and after being egged at a lecture in Britain canceled a talk in Bengal. At the same Britain conference, Wendy Doniger was questioned about her qualifications to speak on Hinduism. According to witnesses, she avoided giving an answer when asked whether she had herself been psychoanalyzed.

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