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Wendy Doniger
Born	1940 (age 84–85) New York, New York
Citizenship	United States
Academic background
Alma mater	Harvard University Oxford University
Doctoral advisor	Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr.
Academic work
Institutions	University of Chicago
Doctoral students	David Gordon White, Jeffrey Kripal, David Dean Shulman, Laurie Patton, among others

Wendy Doniger (O'Flaherty) (born in New York City, November 20 1940) is Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the Committee on Social Thought. She has taught at the University of Chicago since 1978. Much of her work is focused on translating, interpreting and comparing elements of Hinduism through modern contexts of gender, sexuality and identity.

Biography

She first trained as a dancer under George Balanchine and Martha Graham, and then went on to complete two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian Studies. She has since been awarded six honorary doctorates. Doniger received her M.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in June 1963. She next studied in India in 1963-64 with a 12-month Junior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. She received her first Ph.D., in Sanskrit and Indian Studies, from Harvard University in June, 1968. She received a D. Phil. in Oriental Studies from Oxford University in February 1973, for which her dissertation was "The Origins of Heresy in Hindu Mythology."

Doniger has taught at Harvard, Oxford, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, the University of California at Berkeley, and, since 1978, at the University of Chicago, where she is at present 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.

In 1984 she was elected President of the American Academy of Religion, in 1989 a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1996 a Member of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1997 President of the Association for Asian Studies. She serves on the International Editorial Board of the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1986 she was awarded the Radcliffe Medal; in 1992 the Medal of the Collège de France; in June 2000, the PEN Oakland literary award for excellence in multi-cultural literature, non-fiction, for Splitting the Difference; and in October, 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay prize from the British Academy, for the best book about English literature written by a woman, for The Bedtrick. The Graham School of General Studies of the University of Chicago gave her the award for Excellence in Teaching in Graduate Studies, November 10, 2007, and the American Academy of Religion awarded her the 2008 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

Doniger has served on History of Religions editorial board since 1979, and is also a member of International Journal of Hindu Studies Advisory Editorial Board.

Reception

Criticism

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A BBC article wrote about Wendy Doniger as, "Professor Wendy Doniger is known for being rude, crude and very lewd in the hallowed portals of Sanskrit academics.

Wendy Doniger has been criticized by some Hindus and academic scholars, including Krishnan Ramaswamy and Antonio T. De Nicolás, for a perceived negative portrayal of Hindus in her writings. Vijay Prashad described 2004 protests against American religious scholarship as stemming from the Hindu right’s “protofascist views.” Shankar Vedantam, writing in the Washington Post, described the more extreme attacks ("tossed eggs to assaults to threats of extradition and prosecution in India") in the following terms:

The attacks against American scholars come as a powerful movement called Hindutva has gained political power in India, where most of the world's 828 million Hindus live. Its proponents assert that Hindus have long been denigrated and that Western authors are imposing a Eurocentric world view on a culture they do not understand."

Doniger described the controversy as "being fueled by a fanatical nationalism and Hindutva, which says no one has the right to make a mistake, and no one who is not a Hindu has the right to speak about Hinduism at all." However, Arvind Sharma downplayed the claims of connection to Hindutva, saying that "There may be a Hindutva connection in what happened in India and the death threats and the person who threw the egg, but there also is a Hindu response."

Nicholas Kazanas, a European Indologist, also criticized Doniger's works and wrote that Doniger seems to be obsessed with only one meaning, the most sexual imaginable. In the Journal of Indo-European Studies, Kazanas wrote, " seems to see only one function ... of fertility and sexuality, copulation, defloration, castration and the like: even bhakti 'devotion' is described in stark erotic terms including incest and homosexuality (1980:87-99:125-129). Surely, erotic terms could be metaphors for spiritual or mystical experiences as is evidenced in so much literature?".

The visibility of Doniger's scholarship led to some protests; in one incident, an egg was thrown and struck a wall behind her during a November 2003 University of London lecture.

In October 2009, Indian journalist Nilanjana S. Roy suggested that what offends Doniger's opponents is that she often knows more about Hindu traditions than Hindus themselves do. Roy also points out that egg-throwing is itself a foreign idea to India, which should be condemned by Indian religious traditions.

Book reviews

Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and the opinions editor at Forbes Magazine, in his April 2009 Wall Street Journal review of her most recent work, The Hindus: An Alternative History, says

Ms. Doniger does a deft job of tracing their few unifying tenets -- those of karma (actions) and dharma (righteousness) and a merit-based afterlife -- and of holding these beliefs up to critical examination against the obvious injustices of the caste system…. Instructively, too…Ms. Doniger trains her light on the use and abuse of Hindu mythology in modern Indian politics, what she calls "the past in the present." It will come as no surprise that she is as unloving of the Hindu Right as she is of the Right in America…Her previous scholarship, one notes, has been derided by "political" Hindus, a cadre notorious for its intolerance of unconventional interpretations of Hindu sacred texts. A militant Hindu once hurled an egg at Ms. Doniger as she lectured in London. Of this episode she writes: "He missed his aim, in every way." Tartness is a quality that Ms. Doniger has in abundance.”

Piali Roy, in a review of her work that he wrote for The Globe and Mail, says

’Follow the horse’ is one approach to determine whether the Vedas, the scriptural bedrock of Hinduism, is indigenous to South Asia. Because its language is particularly horsey, and because horses were always imported to India, Doniger says, there is merit in seeing the people who composed the Vedas just like any other group who came to India and contributed to its many traditions…. Doniger also does a good job tracking how the Vedic era, with its animal sacrifices dependent on Brahmins, was superseded by new movements such as the birth of Buddhism and Jainism in the fifth century BC, and how, in turn, the ideas of non-violence and vegetarianism are reabsorbed into Hinduism, such that even the Buddha becomes an avatar of Vishnu.”

Works

Interpretive works

Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty:

• Served as Vedic consultant and co-author, and contributed a chapter ("Part II: The Post-Vedic History of the Soma Plant," pp. 95-147) in Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, by R. Gordon Wasson (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1968). 381 pp.
• "Asceticism and Eroticism" in The Mythology of Siva (Oxford University Press, 1973). 386 pp.
• The Ganges (London: Macdonald Educational, 1975).
• The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley: University of California, 1976). 411 pp.
• Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980). 382 pp.
• Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984 ). 361 pp.
• Tales of Sex and Violence: Folklore, Sacrifice, and Danger in the Jaiminiya Brahmana (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985). 145 pp.
• Other Peoples' Myths: The Cave of Echoes. (New York: Macmillan, 1988). 225 pp.

Published under the name of Wendy Doniger:

• The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth. The 1996-7 ACLS/AAR Lectures. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998; 200 pp.
• Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India. The 1996 Jordan Lectures. Chicago and London: University of London Press and University of Chicago Press, 1999. 376 pp.

• Der Mann, der mit seiner eigenen Frau Ehebruch beging. Mit einem Kommentar von Lorraine Daston. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 1999. 150 pp.
• The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. 599 pp. Won the Rose Mary Crawshay prize from the British Academy for the best book about English literature written by a woman, 2002.
• La Trappola della Giumenta. Trans. Vincenzo Vergiani. Milan: Adelphi Edizione, 2003.
• The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 272 pp.
• The Hindus: An Alternative History. New York: Penguin Press, 2009. 789 pp.

Translations

Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty:

• Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook, translated from the Sanskrit. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1975; 357 pp.
• The Rig Veda: An Anthology, 108 Hymns Translated from the Sanskrit (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1981).
• (with David Grene) Antigone (Sophocles). A new translation for the Court Theatre, Chicago, production of February, 1983.
• Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, in the series Textual Sources for the Study of Religion, edited by John R. Hinnells (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990). 211 pp.
• (with David Grene). Oresteia. A New Translation for the Court Theatre Production of 1986. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988). 249 pp.

Published under the name of Wendy Doniger:

• Mythologies. A restructured translation of Yves Bonnefoy's Dictionnaire des Mythologies, prepared under the direction of Wendy Doniger (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1991). 2 vols., c. 1,500 pp.
• The Laws of Manu. A new translation, with Brian K. Smith, of the Manavadharmasastra (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1991).
• Kamasutra. Abridged by Wendy Doniger. Philadelphia and London: Running Press, 2003.
• The Lady of the Jewel Necklace and The Lady Who Shows Her Love. Harsha’s Priyadarsika and Ratnavali. Clay Sanskrit Series. New York: New York University Press, JJC Foundation, 2006.

Edited volumes

Under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty:

• The Concept of Duty in South Asia. Edited (with J. D. M. Derrett), with an introduction (pp. xiii-xix) and an essay ("The clash between relative and absolute duty: the dharma of demons," pp.96-106) by W. D. O'Flaherty. (London: School of Oriental and African Studies). 240 pp.
• The Critical Study of Sacred Texts. Edited, with an introduction (pp. ix-xiii). (Berkeley: Graduate Theological Union, Religious Studies Series, 1979). 290 pp.
• Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. Edited, with an introduction (pp. i-xv) and an essay ("Karma and rebirth in the Vedas and Puranas," pp. 1-39). (Berkeley: University of California Press; 1980). 340 pp. Reprinted, Banarsidass, 1999.
• The Cave of Siva at Elephanta. by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Carmel Berkson, and George Michell (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983).
• Religion and Change. Edited by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. History of Religions 25:4 (May, 1986).

Published under the name of Wendy Doniger:

• Animals in Four Worlds: Sculptures from India. Photographs by Stella Snead; text by Wendy Doniger (pp.3-23) and George Michell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
• Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts. Essays by David Shulman, V. Narayana Rao, A. K. Ramanujan, Friedhelm Hardy, John Cort, Padmanabh Jaini, Laurie Patton, and Wendy Doniger. Edited by Wendy Doniger. (SUNY Press, 1993). 331 pp.
• Off with Her Head! The Denial of Women's Identity in Myth, Religion, and Culture. Ed., with Howard Eilberg-Schwartz. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
• Myth and Method. Ed., with Laurie Patton. Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1996.

References

1. BBC's article on Wendy Doniger
2. Invading the Sacred', p.24
3. Demonizing Hindu/Indian image in American academia
4. Krishnan Ramaswamy; Antonio T. De Nicolás; Aditi Banerjee (2007), Krishnan Ramaswamy (ed.), Invading the sacred: an analysis of Hinduism studies in America, Rupa & Co.
5. "There’s a fine line, some scholars say, between legitimate Hindu concerns and the right-wing political wave that has recently hit India. ... the current protests derive from more than a Victorian sense of decorum, says Prashad. The issue seeps deeper, he says, stemming from the Hindu right’s “protofascist views.” Recent events demonstrate the lengths to which some nationalists have taken their protests." "The Interpretation of Gods", by Amy Braverman, University of Chicago Magazine: 97:2 (2004)
6. ^ "Wrath Over a Hindu God: U.S. Scholars' Writings Draw Threats From Faithful", by Shankar Vedantam. Washington Post April 10, 2004.
7. ^ Kazanas, Nicholas. Indo-European Deities and the Rgveda. Journal of Indo-European Studies, vol. 29, nos. 3-4 (Fall & Winter 2001), pp. 257-293. Footnote #14 on page 283.
8. Amy M. Braverman, "The interpretation of gods" The University of Chicago Magazine 97: 2, Dec 2004
9. "Writing about faith: Alternative histories" Business Standard Nilanjana S. Roy / New Delhi October 20, 2009, 0:46 IST
10. Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2009, Page A17, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862874506380449.html
11. The Globe and Mail, Books, Monday, June 08, 2009 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-hindus-an-alternative-history-by-wendy-doniger/article1173253/

External links

• Doniger's homepage at the University of Chicago Divinity School website

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from August 2009
• Articles needing cleanup from August 2009
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from August 2009
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from August 2009
• Living people
• 1940 births
• American Indologists
• Guggenheim Fellows
• University of Chicago Divinity School
• Rose Mary Crawshay Prize