The writer Ananya Vajpeyi is one of those leftist/communist/Jehadi-sympathizing writers who believe that everything about Indian civilization is bad and shameful..she has repeatedly written articles about how 'heavens will fall' if Modi comes to power..she just cannot digest that a democratic India did not elect a leftist /communist minded Govt! Not only that, she reportedly has sympathy towards Maoists, a group of radical communist thugs who have murdered thousands of innocent villagers and policemen and women in India...such bigoted person like Ananya has no right to comment on Hinduism.

I was very surprised to read this such an old formal abuse as listening an old fashioned song to look down on rest of the world, Asia, with a disgusting the principle of Europe and America supremacy.
The writer of this article writes as if seemed to become honorary white.
And more over, any way, I was surprised to realize again the editorial policy of "Foreign Affairs". This is just an American!!??
Don't forget the historical relation between India and Japan,especially P.M.Modi's case, special relation with P.M. Abe、when they have to consider about India.
Japan fought with India with hand against White Imperialism more 70 years ago.

Wendy Doniger's out dated Freudianism renders her books absurd. Indians have 'overlapping consensus' that venerable figures or belief systems not be depicted as Bacchanalian because this poses a hazard to young people of all communities. This is because kids might see sex & drugs as a short cut to greatness, if not within their own community then in that of a rival. Of course, back when Doniger started her career, Sex & Drugs looked like a good thing. Doniger isn't saying 'boo to Hindus' , she's saying 'Hindus are cool- they have lots of sex and drugs.'- unfortunately, this simply isn't true now nor has it ever been true. India is a deeply boring place.
Ananya Vaypeyi is a high caste Hindu, married to a Muslim separatist (nothing wrong with that) who has been trying to carve out a niche for herself as a scholar of the low caste genius Dr. Ambedkar. Hilariously, she has been caught trying to get Arundhati Roy's book on Ambedkar banned on the grounds of some totally spurious breach of copyright.
Turning to the meat of this article, Vajpayei says Modi's Govt is the most right wing ever. This isn't true. It was the first Govt. in Independent India which ruthlessly suppressed the Muslim rezakars in Hyderabad and imprisoned the Communists. That was the most right wing Govt India ever had. The RSS/Hindu Mahasabha was completely eclipsed because the Congress Party was far more hawkish than it was itself. Furthermore, since the Right had supported Churchill against Hitler, while the Congress had gone the other way (Subhas Bose who actually went to Germany and then joined forces with Japan was not Right Wing, he was Left Wing) it was no wonder that the Right was out in the cold.
Vajpayei's husband, who is from Kashmir, will know that whereas (the Hindu Right Wing) Shyamprasad Mukherjee protested special status for the Valley, he failed whereas Nehru's close friend the leftist Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (a Muslim) was the one who plunged the knife into Sheikh Abdullah.
The last BJP Govt was more Right Wing and 'Hindutva' than this one. That's not why they lost last time. Modi knows that the only thing that can get him re-elected is Governance. In his Republic day speech, he shocked the old loony toons Hindutva nutjobs by speaking not of the imaginary glories of Ind's golden age, but the lack of toilets.
Vajpayei is a careerist whose writing is not even partisan, it's just irrelevant. She won't succeed in cornering the market in Ambedkar because she is high caste. Waxing indignant re. the suffering of Muslims won't buy her credibility either because it is not apparent that she has actually converted to that Religion- in which case her husband is guilty of a crime according to traditional Imams- i.e. she is illegally raping a Muslim boy. Of course, if she is a Christian or a Jew, that is okay. However, even then, best practice- e.g. Jemima Khan- is to convert.
It is typical of the High Caste Hindus that they rape Muslim boys and try to monopolize Ambedkar. His second wife, it will be remembered was a Brahmin. She, quite rightly, was ostracized and accused of poisoning the great man by his son.

brilliant rebuttal.

I'm not following your argument. What do the Jews have to do with a leftwing wackjob who married a Muslim?

Muslim men are allowed to marry Jews and Christians (though best practice is for the wife to convert). They aren't allowed to marry Hindus or Zoroastrians. If Ananya has converted to Islam, and taken a Muslim name, she ceases to be an authority on Hinduism because her scholarship isn't up to snuff- in other words, she doesn't deserve to be published in these august pages. (I should explain, 'Ananya Vajpeya' is a name like 'Shulamith Kohain'- it creates the impression that the owner of the name knows something about Hinduism in the former case and Judaism in the latter. By contrast the name 'Betty Bin Laden' or 'Eva Braun' suggests no similar emic knowledge of Hinduism or Judaism respectively)
If Ananya hasn't converted to Islam, then in the eyes of the devout, she is guilty of seducing her husband away from the path of orthodoxy and could get fatwa'd. Indeed, since she has deprived a nice Muslim girl of a highly eligible husband- her actions look like Hindutva Imperialism. Similarly, her attempt to stop other writers, like Arundhati Roy, writing about Ambedkar (the leader of the 'Untouchables') looks like a High Caste attempt to appropriate and monopolize a resource belonging to the Lowest Caste.
The comic aspect of Ananya's ire against Penguin for pulping Doniger's book is that she herself was trying to find a way to get Arundhati Roy's book on Ambedkar (Ananya is writing one herself) banned for breach of copyright. In other words, she is a self serving careerist- and a deeply ignorant and stupid one at that.

In a sentence like 'Jews are not allowed to pork' or 'Christians are not allowed to have more than one wife at a time', it is the Religion mentioned which does the forbidding.
Indian secular law does place certain restrictions on Civil Marriage. However, as you point out. inter-faith marriage is permitted.

Ananya Vajpeyi is just another stooge of Wendy & Co. It's pathetic to see her rubbing her nose in the ground by publishing rubbish against Hindus & Modi per se, to please her Colonial Masters in the West & her ISI handlers. No wonder her anti-Hindu and pro-Pak stances have landed her and likes of her under the scanner of Indian Intelligence Bureau. There are many journos like her in the Indian media world and liberatti. Bunch of pseudo-secular sellouts with a clear agenda of propagating distorted narratives. The fact that foreign affairs gave her a space in their magazine is pathetic.

Ananya dear, why not try to live in a Communist paradise like N Korea or an Islamic heaven like Saudi Arabia where freedom of speech is guaranteed.

Lol!...she won't. Those places are like heaven for her. No one writes articles against the places they perceive as heaven. These people sit in India and then become tools of Anglos and Arabs. Now this is not to say India does not have issues...everyone has issues.

Seriously so I can write a book saying christ didnt exist??? and that islam was actually a political weapon used to colonise other countries. Oh wait no!!!! even da vinci code and wait.. harry potter was denounced by the church ???? I read the book by wendy... I have no words for her..If hindus assert their heritage we are communal? Christian values and way of life is exerted in every aspect of life in the USA and UK. I dont even live in India and am losing my patience with all this hypocrisy. Live and let live.I would like wendy to go find something else to be a expert on. Please !! and also tell me if US has ever had a minority president. Obama is the first african american and you havent even had an woman president.... maybe wendy needs to look at minority interests in the USA?...who made her a prominent scholar??? and who are you ananya?? I'm lost.....

What are you talking about? Since when have antichristian books been banned in the United States? The political and social elite are just as rabidly antireligious as their Western European counterpart. If anything, they do their best to prevent the discussion of religion or moral values in the public arena. Have you been to a so called " institution of higher learning " in the U S. In the past thirty years. The rank and file that teach at these institutions can hardly be described as " right wing Christians ". I think your letting your anti white bias get the better of you.

Your correct in your assertions of pervasive racism amongst America's leftist intelligentsia. Of course, they don't see it that way.

Obama is only half black...his mother was white. So that's as far as they have gone, One half black president and ZERO women presidents...but they have the IP on lecturing everyone on how to live life .....We have had more women rule (Indira, Sonia ..abt 25/67 yrs), we have almost every religion on the planet here living peacefully and yet we are being lectured by stooges of the west

All hindu traditions accept the authority of Vedas. Where does this lie come that you cannot find any central authority in Hinduism.

What idiocy ... why to point out Hindu Right only?? The Satanic Verses was also banned; you should just learn the simple fact that Indians are very intolerant when it comes to religion.

Her book was not banned but withdrawn for corrections ! All done legally without any threats or pressures.

I guess because she is a typical type of very old fashioned American liberal and left wing, may be.
Or it indicates the limit of understanding level by white American editorial sense for Asian world.

Yes,indeed,they are nothing more than racist.
We can realize the huge problem that white "liberal fascism" or white left-wing has hegemony on media, academia, internet as you pointed out.
But I would like to say Japan has been holding her own liberalism for long time,1000 years which is quite different concept from western world's own. And of course India has own from ancient age.

By marrying a Kashmiri Muslim, Ananya has renounced her Hindu religion What business has she now to criticize this religion. A Muslim's views about Hinduism are well known. He or She considers us as kafirs.

I have said this before and say it again: it is high time Foreign Affairs checked the merits of the authors it commissions to write on India. Ananya Vajpeyi is just one of those spurious commentators on India who have got the benefit of good education denied to most Indians she writes about but who have hardly used that education to take a kinder look at her own people. Add to this patronizing tone the careless edge of Left-wing liberalism which in effect means support everything critical of Hinduism and curb anything even mildly critical of Christianity and Islam. The potion is deadly but hardly true. What Foreign Affairs editors need to understand that such kind of thuggish commentary on Indian affairs misleads FA readers in other parts of the world not only about India but one of the world's most ancient and greatest civilizations. This hardly harms Hinduism but it does a monumental harm to Foreign Affairs' credibility. There are mistakes, prejudices, slanderous comments, and absolutely unsubstantiated claims that prove the author is not just an intellectual delinquent but also someone unarguably ineligible to write on anything Indian. This moron claims Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a revisionist figure. If the author knew one good scholar in India or the Indian state of Maharashtra Savarkar belonged to and if she had taken the trouble to talk to this scholar she would have discovered to her great service that Savarkar was one of the brightest, most scientific, and rationalist minds India has ever seen. Then the author calls Mahatma Gandhi the most popular leader during India's freedom movement which is undisputed but the model of social reforms Mahatma Gandhi employed itself patronized the Hindu caste hierarchy. Dr B R Ambedkar, a far greater mind than Gandhi, objected to this, and wanted Gandhi to be more radical in fighting caste prejudices. Gandhi not only ignored this but virtually blackmailed Dr Ambedkar into accepting what is known as the Poona Pact in India. In doing all this Gandhi chose to take a very benign, forgiving, and ultimately disastrous view of the Indian society's visceral caste politics. Savarkar and Ambedkar opposed Gandhi on this. Again, who linked Indian Muslims to their global counterparts for an obscurantist agenda? Mahatma Gandhi. India is still paying for this great blunder but fake liberals like Vajpeyi would never blame Gandhi for this. Every rational mind including Mohammed Ali Jinnah in those days opposed Gandhi but the great dictator prevailed. This was India's most illiberal, dictatorial, and disastrous extreme Right Wing government--Mahatma Gandhi. Again, if the author really wanted to celebrate India's inevitable and remarkable social progress on the basis of the great Constitution that Dr Ambedkar drafted, she would have at least acknowledged that the RSS, which she calls revisionist, has made a lower caste India's prime minister. Did Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress not have this chance? Why did they not make a Jinnah or an Ambedkar the first prime minister of the Independent India? The Congress ruled India for 60 years since independence, the long period that the author wants the world to believe that was the great age of liberalism and secularism in India which has now suddenly ended with the advent of Modi and the BJP. No books were banned in this liberal India or so the author believes. Dissent was happily tolerated or so the author believes. All castes progressed or so the author believes. And above all the Muslims in India progressed as much as the Hindus and Christians and the Buddhists and the Sikhs did. Or so the author believes.

Sir,
I beg to disagree when you write:
“it is high time Foreign Affairs checked the merits of the authors it commissions to write on India.”
The reason is very simple: FA doesn’t have the expertise to sort out the authors on India and basically on anything else. They have to rely on credentials acquired in our educational system, and I don’t see a better alternative.
However, the moment they opened the “Comments” to any article, we entered an era where readers correct immediately people with pompous credentials, self-appointed experts in everything, who also built over time a web of cross references of dubious quality. Without your post I would be forced to believe whatever local "scholars" write.
I was sure before that Wendy Doniger can’t be a scholar in a culture as old as human civilization; she is for sure trying to learn, but as the many posts of people part of that culture, she failed.
I have learned a lot from your post and many more, and I have reached the conclusion, which I shared in many of my posts, that India could become one of the super hyper powers of the future. India should build this future following her own path, carved by her people, not by people from remote shores.

Dear

Thanks for reading and reacting. I am really sorry for responding late. Yes I take your point that Foreign Affairs may not be able to check the credentials of people who write for it. My reaction was more out of personal angst. I quite agree when you say that people not living in India or not very familiar with Indian history and contemporary politics would take whatever credible publications like Foreign Affairs write. That's what creates confusion and contradictions.

she is related to kavita 'i am so marxist' krishnan These girls really make me vomit..they need some BF

Does the writer understand the concept of democracy? The majority rules. The will of the majority prevails. Hindus have seen through the dirty games of the Congress. If the writer has any issues with this, let her try her luck in the paradise next door. What does the writer feel about the genocide of Hindus in Kashmir? What does the writer feel about the status of minorities in the neighbouring paradise and Bangladesh? What does the writer feel about minorities being given haj subsidies in a 'secular' country? If this is secularism to hell with it. it s time to fix things before we all become halal. Hindus cannot be treated as stray dgos any longer.

Necessary disclosure - I have not read the book nor I am planning to do read these' we want to say something that we dont know yet' books ,but as Hindu and Bramhin by caste , I dont think we suppress the criticism ,however irrational and absurd that might be ,the problem with these western pundits and their left lackeys is that they are not able to comprehend the nature of Hinduism -it is much less a religion and more a philosophy ,you can not compare Hinduism with the Semitic religions in the sense that the objectives and approaches are quite different and in all respects for example there is no GANG-BANG like day called judgement day ,it is individual soul that will be called for account itself and the doctrines are more rational than revelations given to chosen one ,failure to understand this and effort to tarnish this is the hallmark of western scholars,being said that ,we Hindus need to take these criticisms with a pinch of what ever near to hand and sit back and ponder over

Seriously asking - are these articles paid for? Even a 8 year Hindu kid will know Hinduism more than Wendy & Ananya. Why should they expect any readership? We know controversy sells, but the world has moved ahead. People have multiple sources to check the source of controversy. Stop this please.

The comments here are a tight slap for both the author and the publisher of this wretched article, written by a committed anti-Indian. Ananya, Angana, et al are at this venomous game and hope to spread the poison of their minds among saner elements. However, they will bite the dust surely as their patrons too will.

An expert on Hinduism is one who has 'realized' the ultimate and attained 'Moksha' or salvation. we call them the saints, not like Abrahamic religions, in dharmic, they are not 'awarded' sainthood. They attain Moksha. Now, tell me how Doniger is an expert on Hinduism and also quote the verses from Vedas, which back-up her imagination. Most often, the Śastras can only be understood by qualified, like a layman can't read medicine literature. To be qualified, you need a Guru, under whose guidance you understand Shastras. Self-study will only be self-serving, will not give Moksha.
By the way, do not drag Modi into this, her book was banned even before he became PṂ. He's is on his mission to fulfill his election promises and let him do that.

Bendy Porniger is someone who bends Hinduism to write porn, clever trick since it is ancient & vast. When some one comes to her defence, that individual exposes herself.

Plus this Ananya's agreement with Porniger about Hinduism having no centre is absurd because it is in fact, the opposite, proven over centuries by the co-existence of its multitude of flavours under a common theme, Hinduism. Its literature is considered central to living a high life & an enabler in one's pursuit of the truth.

Finally, there have been many books banned violently by Muslims in India, which this Ananya conveniently side steps to blame it all on (the extremist) Hindus. So if one set of books can be banned then another set can also be. This right to freedom cannot be applied according to Ananya's _personal_ persuasions.
Bendy's book was legally challenged for the lies it was trying to spread by someone having knowledge of the subject & Ananya also avoids giving credit to the publisher that withdrew it. Did she ever wonder that the publisher withdrew it because they didn't find the content worth fighting for?

As a Hindu, I do not need some sexually frustrated Jewish woman to come and teach me about my religion, Mr. Vajpeyi!
What do you yourself know about Hinduism, except to defend her warped interpretation of my religion?
You may need three lifetimes to even try to understand what Hinduism is all about!
For your information, I am an atheist and still very much a Hindu. Go figure!

Sorry, looks like Vajpeyi is a woman.

That's right genius. Blame the Jews.

Smarty pants, where do you see me coming blaming Jews in general. Its this fake who is parading herself as an authority on my religion? What does this dumbass know about the Upanishads, the Vedas? Tell her to go fly a kite somewhere. Idiot dabbles a little bit about Hinduism and lo and behold, all of a sudden she starts talking authoritatively.

this writer has a very poor knowledge of india

Lol so funny that all the comments only makes Ananda Vajpeyi's argument all the more potent. Keep trolling guys, it's good for health.

Way to go ananya... we're with you. seeing the comments, i'm forced to say-the majority is not always right! specially when all of them pretend to be specialists in hinduism. to the haters-guys, please learn to take criticism positively.

Good read. The hindutards trolling here will only make your arguments stronger.

Good read? Have you 'Liberals' even read anything worthwhile in your life to comment about others?

these fake secular liberals must be exposed ...why such a esteemed portal is allowing such a derogatory article against hinduism by jehadi sympathizer ananya vajpeyi

As a proud Hindu Indian, I find myself largely in agreement with Ananya, though I have not read the book of Prof Wendy Doniger.
Some arguments against the book & article are amusing.
1. If Satanic Verses is banned why not On Hinduism? Does one wrong justify another?
2. Let her try this in Pakistan. For India, is Pakistan the right example to follow?
3. This book may encourage Hindu youngsters towards sex & drugs- Teenagers are not likely to read such books. In any case, there is much more on net to guide/ misguide them.
Hindus must separate core of their religion from mythology (with quite a few erotic stories) which is a partly distorted history & partly fiction. They must use this book to understand & discard the weaknesses of their society (caste system, stress on rituals over Karma/ duty ..) and build on their strengths ( Religious tolerance, Respect for living things & nature, Yoga & Meditation, Art & Culture in religion..)

In any case, Books like Satanic verses & On Hinduism are available on net, even in India. Ban has only created publicity for these books and hurt India's reputation on Freedom of speech. Not a big achievement Mr Batra.

Some proud Hindu you are! Find yourself largely in agreement with Hindu hater Ananya!

Why does this writer neglect the strong bondage containing the value in both Freedom of Speech and Spritual world between P.M. Modi & P.M.Abe of JPN which moves and inspires geopolitics,and new concept of diplomacy in Asia.

I don't even have to read her article. Ananya Vajpayee is the black sheep( a sepoy) who is disgrace to India and Hindu's. i am glad that she is out of India and I would only comment that it doesn't matter what she says about Modi as

Modi has support of majority in India and among Indians abroad that proves that Modi and his agenda is winning(BJP has clear majority in India and they will clean up the corrupt secularist state). India is on course to take US in as many as 15-20 years as the second biggest financial powers of the world. Most honest economist should agree to this.

Ananya should get ready to taste her own medicine soon what she is trying to feed others. Indian and Hindu's now have enough money and time to show these congressi sepoys that country and cultural heritage belong to them not to sepoys on western payroll.

the woman has consistently attacked indian establishment and its prime minister
these secular liberals who have long supported maoism and jehad ,and have been maligning BJP and RSS since their birth, have now become preacher trying to manipulate the reality but instead they are exposing their own hypocrisy.
they think readers are fools.and we will swallow their every crap articles

Just the sort of thing that belies the slave mentality. Just the sort of people that Lord Macaulay wanted to have as British subjects. Look at how coolly you slip in misinformation- RSS (National Patriotic Organization) but not National Volunteer Organization. Veer Savarkar mentioned pitrabhumi as in the land of one's forefathers- so don't try to bring in gender issues where none exists - India will always remain Bharat Mata.