Book reviewed: Academic Hinduphobia by Rajiv Malhotra

The lapdogs are pillaging the Hindu traditions This book is a collection of essays by the author on American scholarship of Hinduism. There are numerous errors in the interpretation of the Hindu sacred texts by leading academics such as the University of Chicago Professor Wendy Doniger, Jeffery Kripal, Paul Courtright and Sarah Caldwell. The one in particular is the use of Freudian psychoanalysis in hermeneutics of Vedic Dharma. Because Wendy Doniger does not have any credentials to make “psychoanalysis” of Hindu theological and metaphysical structure. In the current cancel culture and wokism, Sanatan Dharma is reduced to drinking cows’ urine, idol worshipping, and active practicing of the caste system in India and here in the Western hemisphere. The work of many Western scholars is not gracious towards Hindu culture. This is not only offensive to the practitioners of the faith across the globe but also to ancient Indian traditions. In American academia the teaching of Hinduism and Indian literature is being supervised by Western scholars, and the Indian faculty member, in order to fit in become marginal member of the Western scholarship, and then taunt at Indian culture in the same manner as the English colonialists. This has radicalized the Muslim and Christian populations in India. The cultural appropriation occurs by first a Westerner approaches an Indian guru with some contempt, then studies under him, acquires the knowledge. Once the transfer of knowledge is complete, the former disciple progressively erases the original source, such as omission of the Sanskrit terms and their original meaning. The knowledge gets repackaged as the idea of their own thought and may even proceed to denigrate the Indian tradition. The traditional Indian knowledge is decontextualized and Christianized. In the final stage, the ideas are exported back to India by the former disciple and/or his followers for consumption as Western science or as 'superior' thought. The modern day reimportation of Christian Yoga into India serves as a good example. American academia is consumed with Eurocentric perspective that evaluates the Indian culture to reflect on colonial domination. Their studies are based on the model of Abrahamic traditions which is disrespectful to ancient Indian traditions. The Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are lot more interesting than Old Testament or New Testament or any work of Greek literature. They describe the complexity, a range of the metaphysical and theological ideas. The author is open and honest in evaluating the bias of Western scholarship that has demonized and disrespected Hindu traditions while ignoring the weakness of the Abrahamic texts and its practices.