Wendy Doniger

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Wendy Doniger (born November 20, 1940) is an American Divinity Professor, active in international religious studies since 1973. Much of her work is focused on translating, interpreting and comparing elements of Hinduism through modern contexts of gender, sexuality and identity.

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[edit] Background

Doniger holds two doctorates, from Harvard University and the University of Oxford, in Sanskrit and Indian Studies. From 1978, she has taught at the University of Chicago, where she currently is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School, the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the Committee on Social Thought. She is a member of the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica. She is also renowned for her writings on Comparative Mythology, namely commonalities between the myths of Ancient India and Ancient Greece.

Doniger is the author, translator, and editor of almost thirty books in as many years. She has translated many Sanskrit texts including the Rig Veda, Laws of Manu, and Kamasutra. Her current works in progress include a novel, Horses for Lovers, Dogs for Husbands and an interpretive work, The Mythology of Horses in India. Her latest book, The Woman Who Pretended To Be Who She Was, is about the mythology of self-imitation in ancient India, Shakespeare, medieval Celtic, German, and French romances, and Hollywood films. It forms the basis for her lecture, which is entitled "Self-Imitation in Ancient India, Shakespeare, and Hollywood."

Over her long career, Doniger's work has proceeded on two levels. On the first, she has made available to a general readership translations of Hindu texts, offering detailed introductions and notes to facilitate understanding. On the second, she has worked as a mythologist, bringing into comparison a wide range of narratives through the application of various interpretive lenses, such as feminist and Freudian analyses. Although her original research focused on Hindu mythology, reflecting her original training, she has increasingly diversified the field from which she draws her material and the cultures from which they derive. Her approach illuminates the similarities in tensions regarding gender, sexuality, and identity in narratives from a range of cultures.

[edit] Criticism and controversy

Wendy Doniger has been critiqued for her attention to cross-cultural themes at the expense of cultural specificity and historical depth.

In 2003, Microsoft Encarta removed an entry on Hinduism by Doniger. This content was removed after protesters argued that its contents were factually incorrect (see links), prejudiced, deprecating, and revealed an unsympathetic tone. Sankrant Sanu, who initiated the dialogue [1], notes that the article focused on what he said were fringe elements of myth, ritual, blood and gore, giving insufficient space to either the highly developed systems of Hindu theology and philosophy or its most commonplace practices in comparison to the other articles on religion. He claimed that, in contrast to those on other religions, the article on Hinduism was sprinkled with unfavorable editorial asides that strive to negate any potential favourable perceptions the reader may entertain.

It is significant to note that some in the US scholar community have also spoken out against Doniger's writings [2]. They argue that Doniger's knowledge of the Sanskrit language is basic, and accuse her of only re-translating/paraphrasing already translated works while ignoring the large body of work that remains untranslated. Specifically, Doniger has been critiqued for focusing on and presenting subjects such as sex and gender-related interpretations of the Hindu scriptures rather than on more traditional philosophical interpretations.[citation needed]

Her comment that "the Gita is a dishonest book"[3] has also provoked one allegation [4] of an alleged deep-seated prejudice against Hinduism in US academe.

[edit] Effect of her work

Her work is widely read and in many areas her books are the standard works on the subject. Being so influential, her writings have been criticised by Hindus in the US, on the grounds that they have a negative impact on the perception of Hinduism. In the USA, school texts and the general public that rely on these sources for their information are alleged to repeat many misconceptions[5] propogated about the religion. In an instance of this supposed negative downstream effect[6], one US anthropologist, Stanley Kurtz, has strangely concluded that nursing Hindu mothers do not bond with their babies the way "Western" women do. It is important to note that there is nothing in Doniger's writings that would support such a view.[citation needed]

Another layer of controversy has to do with one of her students, Jeffery Kripal, who wrote the controversial book Kali's Child. This book alleges a homoerotic aspect to Ramakrishna's personality and spiritual life, and has led some of Ramakrishna's followers to reply with both academic reviews and scholarly responses. Of the numerous protests, internet responses, and email he received, a few have chosen to attack the personal integrity and character of Kripal. Kripal argues that although there are numerous translation errors in his work, they are minor ones and don't change the broad scope of their work. Kripal is, of course, by no means the first serious scholar to interpret aspects of Ramakrishna's life in the light of Freudian theory [citation needed]. Doniger's influence is seen on Kripal's work by their obsession with sex, as if that is how Ramakrishna attracted followers.

Rajiv Malhotra, founder of the Infinity Foundation [7], and the energetic author of a blog[8], has been her strongest critic.

[edit] Reviews

There are many reviews of her publications in professional journals of religious studies and Asian studies.


[edit] Works by Wendy Doniger

  • "Tales of Sex and Violence : Folklore, Sacrifice, and Danger in the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa" by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva" by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Dreams, Illusions and Other Realities" by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • The Oresteia: A New Translation for the Theater by Aeschylus, translated by Wendy Doniger and David Grene
  • Mythologies (2 vols.) edited by Yves Bonnefoy, translated under the direction of Wendy Doniger
  • The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth by Wendy Doniger
  • The Laws of Manu translated with an introduction by Wendy Doniger and Brian K. Smith
  • Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts edited by Wendy Doniger
  • The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-Imitation by Wendy Doniger
  • "The Concept of Duty in South Asia" edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty and J. Duncan M. Derrett
  • "The Critical Study of Sacred Texts" edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts" by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism" edited and translated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty ; with Daniel Gold, David Haberman, and David Shulman
  • "The Rig Veda : An Anthology : One Hundred and Eight Hymns" selected, translated and annotated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian traditions" edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • "Off with Her Head! : The Denial of Women's Identity in Myth, Religion, and Culture" edited by Howard Eilberg-Schwartz and Wendy Doniger
  • Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit translated with an introduction by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • Other People's Myths: The Cave of Echoes by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • Siva: The Erotic Ascetic by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
  • Myth and Method edited by Laurie L. Patton and Wendy Doniger
  • Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India by Wendy Doniger
  • Bed as Autobiography: A Visual Exploration of John Ransom Philips by John Ransom Philips, introduction by Wendy Doniger, interview by Ariel Orr Jordan
  • "The Bedtrick : Tales of Sex and Masquerade" by Wendy Doniger
  • Kamasutra by Mallanaga Vatsyana, translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar

Additional Biographical Source: Wendy Doniger. "From Great Neck to Swift Hall: Confessions of a Reluctant Historian of Religions." Pp. 36-51 in The Craft of Religious Studies, edited by Jon R. Stone. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

[edit] External links

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