The Hindus: An Alternative History
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| Author | Wendy Doniger |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Hinduism |
| Published | 2009 (Viking Press) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 800 |
| ISBN | |
The Hindus: An Alternative History is a book by American Indologist, Wendy Doniger which the author describes as an "alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they tell". The book was initially published by Viking Penguin in 2009 and later in India by Penguin's Indian subsidiary, Penguin India.
The book was criticized in India, and in February 2014 it was the subject of litigation in India for "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the feelings of any religious community". As a result of the lawsuit, the book was withdrawn from the Indian market by its Indian publisher, prompting widespread concerns about the state of free speech in India. Twenty months later, the book returned to the Indian market under a different publisher, Speaking Tiger Books.
The book, published in 2009 by Viking/Penguin, was explicitly intended as an alternative history of Hinduism, the mainstream history being (in the author's view) written from a male Brahminical and white Orientalist perspectives. Doniger instead portrays the history of Hinduism from the point of view of women, dogs, horses and outcastes in a "playful, iconoclastic, and inherently controversial" style.
According to the Hindustan Times, The Hindus was a No. 1 bestseller in its non-fiction category in the week of October 15, 2009. Two scholarly reviews in the Social Scientist and the Journal of the American Oriental Society, though praising Doniger for her textual scholarship, criticized factual errors in her coverage of British colonialists in India and her lack of focus.
In the popular press, the book has received many positive reviews, for example from the Library Journal, the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, and The Hindu.
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