New York Hindus denounce book , USA

Source http://sify.com/news
Thusday,March18,2010

New York:  A consortium of Hindu organisations and temples in New York and New Jersey organised a protest demonstration here recently against the decision of the National Book Critics Circle to consider honouring Dr. Wendy Doniger for her book Hindus: An Alternative History.

The protesters argued that Doniger’s book contained numerous factual errors and showed an "undercurrent of deep contempt for Hindus".

For decades Doniger had been masquerading as a scholar on Hinduism and in the Sanskrit  language, said  Narain Kataria, president of the Indian American Intellectuals Forum.

Hindus in US urge Penguin to withdraw book on them

“We condemn this book for its gross factual errors and gratuitously hurtful and contemptuous depictions like comparing revered Hindu goddesses to Playboy models, mocking Hindus as unfaithful serial monogamists, ” said Kataria, noting that the book caricatured Hinduism in a grossly offensive and degrading manner.

He said Doniger wanted this book to be used as a “basic textbook” on Hinduism and India. “Not only would this book subject students to a warped, false and bigoted version of Hinduism, it will also expose Indian-American youth to ridicule and bigotry,” he said.

It may be recalled what Doniger had said in a recent interview to Outlook magazine: “There’s no point in writing a book if you don’t say what you believe. Otherwise you have to stop writing, and I didn’t want to do that.”