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The Hindus: An Alternative History Kindle Edition

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 710 ratings

From one of the world?s foremost scholars on Hinduism, a vivid reinterpretation of its history

An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world?s oldest major religions,
The Hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds.

Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account: many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated even within a century; its central tenets?karma, dharma, to name just two?arise at particular moments in Indian history and differ in each era, between genders, and caste to caste; and what is shared among Hindus is overwhelmingly outnumbered by the things that are unique to one group or another. Yet the greatness of Hinduism?its vitality, its earthiness, its vividness?lies precisely in many of those idiosyncratic qualities that continue to inspire debate today.

Wendy Doniger is one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world. With her inimitable insight and expertise Doniger illuminates those moments within the tradition that resist forces that would standardize or establish a canon. Without reversing or misrepresenting the historical hierarchies, she reveals how Sanskrit and vernacular sources are rich in knowledge of and compassion toward women and lower castes; how they debate tensions surrounding religion, violence, and tolerance; and how animals are the key to important shifts in attitudes toward different social classes.

The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers?many of them far removed from Brahmin authors of Sanskrit texts?have kept Hinduism alive in ways that other scholars have not fully explored. In this unique and authoritative account, debates about Hindu traditions become platforms from which to consider the ironies, and overlooked epiphanies, of history.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Note that Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of Religions at the University of Chicago and the author of many books. Note that alternative neatly defines her. Learned, fluent, and entertaining in spite of the complexity of this ambitious undertaking, Doniger is also controversial, a role she embraces, confident that fresh viewpoints are essential to understanding the worlds that shaped the Hindu tradition, and the ways Hindus shaped society. While Doniger delves deeply into the Vedas and the “two great poems,” Ramayana and Mahabharata, she searches other spheres for clues to the lives of women and the lower castes. She also analyzes depictions of animals, which are central to Hindu tales and the “cultural ideal” of nonviolence. As she energetically parses the relationships between gods and humans, karma and renunciation, asceticism and sensuality, priests and kings, men and women, she is also seeking glimpses into everyday Hindu life during each of India’s empires. Lavishly detailed, dynamic, and encompassing, Doniger’s multidimensional history celebrates Hindu wisdom, diversity, and pluralism with knowledge, insight, and passion. --Donna Seaman

Review

"Wendy Doniger's enthralling and encyclopaedic book reveals her vision of a Hindu culture that is plural, varied, generous, and inclusive. Hinduism, in her view, is an intricate weave of the diverse localities and communities of Indian culture. This is a rich text that will encourage dialogue and conversation among a wide range of scholars." ―Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

"With her vast erudition, insight, and graceful writing laced with gentle wit, there is no one better than Wendy Doniger to convey the richness, depth, and diversity of Hindu texts and traditions to international audiences. The Hindus is destined to become a classic that will be discussed and debated for many years to come." ―Sudhir Kakar, author of Indian Identity

"This is history as great entertainment! Unlike the usual, arid accounts of dynasties, Wendy Doniger's double vision of Hinduism is about women, merchants, lower castes, animals, spirits and , of course, Dead Male Brahmins. This lively, earthy account explains why ancient India is the world's richest storytelling culture." ―Gurcharan Das, author India Unbound

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001TSZ688
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books (February 24, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 24, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4597 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 804 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 710 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
710 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the writing quality riveting, respectful, and incisive. They also appreciate the author's sense of humor and find the book entertaining and thought-provoking.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

60 customers mention "Writing quality"45 positive15 negative

Customers find the writing style riveting, fun, and engaging. They also say the book is thoughtful, thought-provoking, and a marvellous work. Readers appreciate the sense of humour.

"This is one of most amazing books I have read on Hinduism.This is one of the most thoroughly researched books on Hinduism...." Read more

"I have just had the immense, eye-opening pleasure of reading "The Hindus: An Alternative History" by the well-known scholar Wendy Doniger...." Read more

"...I particularly appreciated her sense of humour and somewhat amused and skeptical evaluation of much that is sacralised in the Hindu traditions...." Read more

"...from cover to cover, and am afraid that it has literally hundreds of factual errors that will be noticed by anyone who has even a..." Read more

6 customers mention "Enjoyment"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining and thought-provoking.

"...(and entertaining) book...." Read more

"...lightly but boldly, and which is at once readable, provocative and fun. Readers owe her a great debt of gratitude now and for years to come." Read more

"...is worth buying for that reason alone, but also it turns out to be an engaging and frequently entertaining discussion of three thousand years of..." Read more

"...I would urge anyone with an open mind to read this revealing, entertaining and though-provoking book." Read more

4 customers mention "Complexity"0 positive4 negative

Customers find the book complex and a total waste of time and money.

"...No wonder why this book went out of print so easily. A total waste of time and money." Read more

"...Also, the book came with some damages, overall waste of time and effort reading this book." Read more

"...Quite a failure. Horrible waste of money." Read more

"Very poor - had great difficulty reading the book on Kindle - mixed message, book clutter with other stuff - food issues and etc." Read more

All questions raised in this book are answered in "Hinduism Vs Liberalism" by Arvind Gejriwal
1 out of 5 stars
All questions raised in this book are answered in "Hinduism Vs Liberalism" by Arvind Gejriwal
Excerpt from "Hinduism Vs Liberalism by Arvind Gejriwal" Hinduism Vs LiberalismI am Kanhaiya Kumar, native of Bitihar. I am doing PhD on a very important subject “Mating habits of gay chimpanzees in West Africa” at PANU University, the best university in India and possibly the best university in the world. My idols are “Faizal Guru”, “Janab Kasab Sahib”, “Focus Carat”, “Baba Badkar”, "Zakir Nalayak", "Dr. Kana Ayyub" and all PhD students who had committed suicide since they failed to solve their PhD problems. I personally feel that, all deprived Indians should automatically be awarded a PhD degree coupled with a free pension of 1 lakh rupees/month to be delivered in cash via post at door step. Till then we are going to fight for azaadi from India.Imagine a day, when no PhD student would have to commit suicide, imagine a day, when no lower caste will be humiliated by upper caste, s/he can use his/her doctorate degree and force others to call him/her Dr. X, Dr. Y ,etc. Imagine a day, when all deprived people can take part in active politics and “Make Communism Great Again” thanks to my “one lakh per month” pension idea.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016
This is one of most amazing books I have read on Hinduism.

This is one of the most thoroughly researched books on Hinduism. The richness of reference material is breathtaking. Every argument Ms. Doniger makes is referenced and supported by established reference.

I personally loved the book for its connectedness, academic rigor, and a viewpoint of Hinduism that is sometimes critical of it but always with an eye towards accuracy.

This book challenges the accepted narrative of Hinduism that is promoted and propagated by media/TV/political parties and many other interested parties, but mainly folklore, TV serials and Amar Chitra Katha. Readers of this book, while criticizing the book, forget the premise of the book: Hinduism today is amalgam of various religious thoughts, practices, and beliefs of many religions that were/are practiced in India.

I have read most of the comments here, denigrating the academic rigor of the book, calling author many names and what not. However, few, if any, have offered any counterpoints other than the folklore that they (we) heard while growing up.

None of the negative comments here have actually cited a reference that is against any of the rich hypotheses in the book. I will cite one doha from Ramcharit Manas that goes to the heart of Hinduism and its views:

ढोल गवार शूद्र पशु नारी,
सकल ताड़ना के अधिकारी!!

Now, you can interpret this anyway you want to. Many "supporters" of Hinduism would take the interpretation that supports their viewpoint. (There are umpteen benevolent interpretations of this on the Internet, so I would not waste anyone's time here). Wendy Doniger would very likely suggest that this be interpreted in the context of 15th century value system in India which may lead to a different inference that the most generous interpretation that it is accorded.

Also, I recommend that readers read Mahabharat, Ramayana, the Vedas, the Puranas; also books on Indian history by Keay, DD Kosambi, Thapar and others to really enrich their understanding of Indian history which is different from history of Hinduism though both are intertwined. Folklore, while an important part of religion (mistaken many times for the Shruti system) is not intellectually valid for it lacks the rigor of the Shruti system of transferring the knowledge.

Are there nits to pick in this book? Sure. I, for one, was slightly disappointed by somewhat flippant similes, examples, etc. that the editorial staff should have taken out given the gravity of the topic. I mean, one can find better examples than "Animal Farm" when trying to explain a concept of Hinduism. However, the fact remains that it is one of the most authoritative books on Hinduism that I have had the opportunity to read.

My recommendation: Read the book with an open mind for what it offers and not for reinforcement of your preconceived beliefs that you are seeking from it.

Thank you for reading.

Swami Agnipath
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Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015
At least from the standpoint of the reviewer who before reading this work was for the most part unacquainted with the history of India, its study assisted to some degree in answering the following questions concerning Indian history and culture:
1. Why do many Western intellectuals who have an aversion for religion find themselves being sympathetic to Hinduism and Indian culture in general?
2. Why does the practice of Hinduism not instill the raising of large armies that cross borders to forcibly proselytize this religion on others who do not practice its tenets, such as commonly the case for Western religions such as Islam and Christianity?
3. Are Brahmins the rich, uppity individuals they are frequently imputed to be by those individuals (such as the reviewer) who have concentrated disdain for the caste system of India?
4. Indeed, what is really the origin of the caste system and are the members of each caste comfortable with their status or do they consider it burdensome and unfair?
5. What is really the origin of vegetarianism and what is the extent of bovine worship in India?
6. When historically did the concept of karma arise, and what motivated it as a belief structure in the minds of Hindus?
7. Does the Hindu religion have a proliferation of different sects as is the case for Western religions or is there a Hindu canon?

The author does a fine job of answering these questions in this sizeable but interesting (and entertaining) book. There is no doubt that the author has some bias in her approach to the reporting of Indian history, but she is aware of this bias and reveals her agenda early on in the book. This involves setting the record straight on the role of women and “Pariahs” in developing Hinduism, and in revealing to what extent Brahmins were always sycophants to the ruling classes in India. The author however does not pull any punches when it comes to the Brahmins, who she describes as “misogynists” and “class-bound.”
That Hindus can engage in violent intolerance is brought out throughout the book, and readers who imagine Hindus via the Hollywood-Gandhi-Johnny Quest point of view will probably be surprised by this. But the breaking down of reader prejudices about Hindus is perhaps the best reason for studying this book, and those readers who decide to finish it will be amply rewarded for their discipline, even though it is not burdensome to study it, thanks to the rich and sometimes biting dialog throughout the book.

That being said, the author does not throw eggs at the reader or at Hindus, in spite of her having some thrown at her, as she alludes to early on in the book. But she does concentrate her attention on what she refers to as the “history of marginalized” Hindus, and not the “mainstream” ones. Her focus in this regard readily explains the subtitle of the book, and for those readers, such as the reviewer, who do not agree with the usual axiom that history = a history of kings and rulers, this approach is refreshing and one that should be emulated throughout the history profession.

But the preservation of history through writing (and coinage) is typically done by kings and rulers, who of course emphasize their own contributions (if they be called that), and not those of the culture at large. So where does an historian go, particularly one who is concentrating on a part of the world where the oral tradition is predominant, to find information on the “history of the marginalized”? The author elaborates on this question in some detail, and points to texts such as the Upanishads as her starting point. And of course, the storytelling and myths, which proliferate throughout Indian history, must be distinguished from the history itself. The study of the impact of ideas goes hand in hand with the history of the ideas, but the former is harder to prove than the latter, and care must be taken not to impute the motivations for taking certain actions solely because ideas were part of the Zeitgeist of the time.

The caste system was “regulated” by religion, the author argues, and if true this is not a surprise, since social hierarchies throughout history have been invented, manipulated, and “regulated” by religion. Kings, tyrants, and every form of despot have found religion convenient and useful for their ends, and they usually find willing supplicants to assist with their strategies and goals. In this respect, Hinduism has much in common with other religions, even though Western intellectuals typically impute to it a level of wisdom not found in Western religions.

There are many surprises in store in this book for the reader not familiar with Hindu history:
- The concept of reincarnation has its origins in the ancient Greeks, not the Hindus.
- People from Africa were the first to settle India.
- There is a flood myth in Hinduism, but it did does not have much intersection with the Biblical myth: only a fish to warn the “Indian Adam” Manu about a upcoming flood, and Manu builds a ship to save himself (all other creatures perished).
- Hinduism, at least in the Upanishads, has a kind of “triadic” metaphysics: three “qualities of matter”, and only the numbers one and two appear (there is a third called “plural” that stands for all those numbers above the number three).
- Loosely speaking, one may say that the “is-ought” problem of Western ethical philosophy is encapsulated in the Dharma, “which is the way things are and the way they ought to be.”
- Just as in the Old Testament of the Bible, absurdly long lifetimes of people were part of the Ramayana, and the cities that Rama ruled are an analog of Eden, where “no one died at the wrong time”, “no living creatures got sick”, and no violation of dharma occurred.
- India had its violent leaders, with Ashoka of northern India, characterized as both a brute and a repentant sinner after he viewed the carnage of march on Kalinga.
- Hindus are forbidden by dharma to have contact with dogs, the latter of which are compared in the Mahabharata to “upwardly mobile Pariahs”.
- The god Shiva is a gambler, according to the Artha-shastra texts, and also cheats at it (such lively gods deserve worship more than the Western ones).
- Alcoholism and various other vices are viewed in the Mahabharata, not as “diseases” but as coming “outside the individual”.
- Women are considered as “addictions” in the Dharma-Shastras, and should be “watched very carefully.”
- Lest the Western reader believe that the Hindus are always compliant to social hierarchies, the author points to the bhakti movement as protesting against “Brahmin exclusivity.”
- The somewhat lengthy discussion of the Tantra sheds light on the actual rituals that were practiced, and that some in the West consider abhorrent or unsanitary.
- Readers will gain a deep appreciation of the current tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and historically between Buddists, Jainas, and Hindus.

The British deservedly take some potshots from the author, and she includes some commentary on Hindus in the United States. The reader may walk away with the impression that those currently in the United States are faring well, but it remains to be seen whether Hinduism, even as the rich tapestry of ideas and practices that the author describes it in the book, will evolve as quickly as the Western religions under the onslaught of science and secularism. But if Hinduism survives pretty much in its current form, there is not much for those hostile to religion to fret about. Its history and the conduct of its practitioners lend credence to the idea that polytheism has a much calmer effect on the human psyche. It seems that when there are many gods and they sometimes fight amongst themselves, their worshippers act in the opposite manner. There seems to be no provocation from these gods for their worshippers to act violently. There seems to be no incentive for these worshippers to cross borders and engage in forced conversion.
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Top reviews from other countries

Jock Fives
3.0 out of 5 stars Smelling of incense
Reviewed in France on July 20, 2019
The book arrived smelling heavily of incense which was amusing. However, I am divided as to content.Doniger's "history" is so subjective it is hard to evaluate. It is interesting and annoying and there are many gaps of convenience. That apart, the main problem is the style. The book is drowned in wordiness. If 20 words suffice Doniger will use 500. It is as if she was paid by the page not the content. For example on page 383, she writes a long and complex paragraph that could be resumed as "The Brahmins translated and transcribed the oral tradition to fit their own ends". Next time she could invest in a friendly editor and save the forests of the world.
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George Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly,yet never dull.
Reviewed in India on December 28, 2016
This is a sweeping, scholarly,panoramic view of the people of India and its major belief system, Hinduism. The author sets the academic tone right in the introduction when she states that this is A view of Hinduism, not THE view of Hinduism, and another scholar with the same set of facts may write quite a different book.Written with verve, humour, empathy and a deep scholarship, the book is a pleasure to read. packed with information, yet never dull. Serious, yet witty. The authors knowledge of Sanskrit and her ability to provide translations of her own are great assets. It is rare to find a book on religion written with such felicity. As an introduction to one of the world's oldest extant belief systems, it would be difficult to find a book to outdo this one. Strongly recommended.
13 people found this helpful
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Chinmoy Banerjee
5.0 out of 5 stars A learned, wide-ranging, challenging, and critically astute book.
Reviewed in Canada on April 19, 2014
Wendy Doniger's book is at once deeply engaged with textual details, historical sweep, theoretical concerns, and contemporary politics. She is scholarly, persuasive in her interpretations, especially bringing to light the suppressed presence of women, tribals, and untouchables, and witty, providing great reading pleasure and knowledge. Despite its obvious love of and dedication to the civilization of India, it is understandable that the Hindu fanatics would want to ban this excellent book and have successfully pressured Penguin to withdraw it. The book offers the challenge of substantial scholarship to their attempt to put Hinduism in a strait-jacket.
9 people found this helpful
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Pradeep Sharma
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2014
I bought this book because it was recalled from the Indian market and, being a Hindu, the title attracted me. The author clearly loves her subject and has dedicated a lifetime researching it (I can't imagine there are many Americans with such an indepth knowledge of Sanskrit - more than most Indians, even the educated ones!).

The content is very interesting and well organised. Simply, a very good read. Whilst I didn't necessarily agree with all the author's interpretations, I don't question her absolute right and authority in making them.

The book brings a fresh angle to a complex and much interpreted subject and therefore provides many interesting insights and perspectives. Above all, it makes it clear that there is no ONE Hinduism or tradition of Hindu thought. As such, there is no one person or body of people who can claim all of Hinduism as their own. Those who have sought the banning of this book have done themselves and the Hindu tradition no favours at all. The very strength of the Hindu tradition has been its tolerance of different ideas and its ability to assimilate them from many sources. Shame on you narrow-minded "Hindus"! And shame on Penguin India for giving in to them.

This book won't be enough on its own to understand Hinduism and its philosophies, but that is not the objective of the book. I believe, as the title suggests, it is intended to be an alternative and thought-provoking work. It certainly achieves that.

A final word on writing style. The book is very clearly written, though I recommend having a good English dictionary to hand for the occasional words that are not in common use (probably not a problem for specialists in the field). At the opposite end of the spectrum, I found it refreshing how the author compared habits from India thousands of years ago with examples of modern American life (yes, the ubiquitous MacDonalds hamburger gets a mention!). A very down to earth approach.
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Harshit Kumar
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
Reviewed in India on April 25, 2023
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Harshit Kumar
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
Reviewed in India on April 25, 2023
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