Mumbai, Jul 1 (PTI) Scholars working on religious and
cultural studies in US have continued to perpetuate myths and
biases about Indian culture and religion because of
misintrepatation and lack of quality in academics, according
to experts here.
"There is a need for more rigorous quality control and
peer-review in academic research in religion and culture
especially in US, otherwise such misinterpretation and
mistransaltaions could be a deterrent for a healthy
understanding between the two nations," experts warned in a
book "Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in
America."
America looks at India from many perspectives but an
important one is the religio-cultural. Although, of late,
there are some token efforts to recognide and honour Hindus in
US through Hindu prayers in the legislative assemblies and in
US Senate (slated for July 12), the picture seems more complex
when analysed academically, one of the editors of the book,
Krishnan Ramaswamy, said.
"Unlike in India, the academic study of religion is an
important undertaking for intellectuals in America and few
hundred scholars study Hinduism and other Indian religions.
Many of them have continued to perpetuate myth and biases
about Indian culture and religion," he observed.
These are in line with colonial and missionary caricature
of India and the authors of the book fear that this might
affect both young Indian Americans and even Indo-US relations.
The book was released here today and will be out in New
York next week.
"Invading the Sacred" is product of an intensive
multi-year research project that uncovered shoddy and biased
scholarship driven by certain power cartels, its authors said.
The book narrates the Indian Diaspora's challenges to
such scholarship, and documents how those who dare to speak
up have been branded as `dangerous'.
Edited by Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas, a professor,
and Aditi Banerjee, the book brings together essays by well-
known scholars and seeks to facilitate a debate to challenge
the systematic misrepresentation of Indian culture and
philosophy by certain American academicians.
Some disturbing examples identified in this book include
scholars using Freudian psychoanalysis and field research and
mistranslations to claim that Indian mothers are less loving
of their children than white mothers.
Influential scholars like Wendy Doniger are quoted in
several places criticising elements of Hindu culture like the
`Bhagvad Gita' (in the `Philadelphia Inquirer' in 2000) and
the worship of goddesses (in the `Washington Post' this year).
The editors have pointed out that some US scholars, who
claim to have studied Indian languages and culture, relate
many normal every-day things like keeping children on the lap,
petting and caressing them to sexuality.
But these mistranslations and interpretations are never
checked and corrected as part of the peer-review process of
the academic exercise, the editors lamented.
One of the editors, de Nicolas, an eminent and
distinguished professor of philosophy, has pointed out that
freedom of speech and academic freedom are both in jeopardy
when scholars act in an irresponsible and unscholarly manner.
Nicolas, who has taught Indian philosophy at the State
University of New York, encountered many culturally arrogant
American scholars who pooh-poohed the idea of India ever
having "any philosophy worth the name".
Even when numerous evidence-based and scholarly works
exposed the errors in the work of many US scholars, the
academic establishment did not take action and instead the
establishment tried to protect them by conducting a campaign
that accused the critics of being Hindu radicals, he said.
Banerjee has also pointed out that this bias of the
academics spills out from the universities to the popular
level - including school children. For instance, Microsoft's
popular encyclopedia, Encarta, which is used by school and
college students around the world, had a very biased essay
that portrayed Hinduism as violent and superstitious.
The book records that after a former Microsoft engineer,
Sankrant Sanu, published a detailed comparison of Encarta's
treatment of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, Microsoft
agreed that there was bias and replaced the chapter on
Hinduism with a balanced one.
Indian academics should rise to the occasion and do a
better job of critiquing and debating Western scholarship on
India, the authors said.
"Enough funds should be made available for scholars so
that such detailed work can be carried out in India to counter
such misrepresentations," says Rajiv Malhotra, a US-based
diaspora intellectual who first exposed many of these biases.
