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Wendy Doniger (born November 20, 1940) is a scholar of Hinduism.

Since her first critically lauded book, Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva in 1973, Wendy Doniger has been active in international religious studies.

Doniger holds two doctorates, from Harvard and Oxford, in Sanskrit and Indian Studies. Doniger is the author, translator, and editor of almost thirty books in as many years.

From 1978, Doniger 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 of Social Thought.

Wendy Doniger has translated many Sanskrit texts including the Rig Veda, Laws of Manu, and Kamasutra. Erotic spirituality and the Kamasutra is one of her most famous books. She is a member of the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica.

Doniger's 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 (due to be published later this year), 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.”

Controversy

It is significant to note that a number of members of the Hindu community, some from the Ramakrishna Mission, have spoken out against Doniger's writings. These individuals argue that Doniger's knowledge of the Sanskrit language is basic (at best), and accused her of only re-translating/paraphrasing already translated works while ignoring the large body of work that remains untranslated. Specifically, Doniger has been attacked for focusing on the much taboo subjects of sex and gender in the Hindu scriptures. Doniger's explicit analysis on these two subjects is offensive to many Hindu sensabilities.

Another layer of this controversy has to do with one of her most popular students, Jeffery Kripal, who wrote the controversial book Kali's Child. This book focused on the homoerotic nature of Ramakrishna's personalisty and spiritual life, and has led some of Ramakrishna's followers to reply with academic reviews and responses. Others have chosen to attack the character and personal integrity of both Wendy Doniger and Jeffery Kripal.

As a result of these protest by many members of various Hindu communities, in 2003, Microsoft Encarta removed an entry on Hinduism by Doniger. This content was removed after protesters argued that its contents were offensive.

As there are translation issues within both Doniger and Kripal's works, the question remains if these errors change the broad scope of their work, or if they are minor errors. There is no objective answer to this question, as of yet, and this discussion has become a part of an ongoing academic dialogue.

Works by Wendy Doniger

1. The Oresteia A New Translation for the Theater by Aeschylus, Translated by Wendy Doniger and David Greene

2. Mythologies (2 vols.) Edited by Yves Bonnefoy, Translated by Wendy Doniger

3. The Place of the Hidden Moon Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya Cult of Bengal by Edward C. Dimock and Wendy Doniger

4. The Bedtrick Tales of Sex and Masquerade by Wendy Doniger

5. Greek and Egyptian Mythologies Translated by Wendy Doniger

6. The Implied Spider Politics and Theology in Myth by Wendy Doniger

7. The Implied Spider Politics and Theology in Myth by Wendy Doniger

8. Kamasutra The Acclaimed New Translation Translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar

9. The Laws of Manu Translated by Wendy Doniger, by Brian K. Smith

10. PUARANA PERENNIS Reciprocity and Transformation in Jindu and Jaina Texts: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts Edited by Wendy Doniger

11. Roman and European Mythologies Translated by Wendy Doniger

12. Splitting the Difference Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India by Wendy Doniger

13. The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was Myths of Self-Imitation by Wendy Doniger

14. A Dog's Head by Jean Dutourd, Translated by Robin Chancellor, Foreword by Wendy Doniger

15. Shamanism Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade, Translated by Willard Trask, Foreword by Wendy Doniger

16. Beyond Hindu and Muslim Multiple Indentity in Narratives from Rural India by Peter Gottschalk and Wendy Doniger

17. The Ritual of Battle Krishna in the Mahabharata by Alf Hiltebeitel and Wendy Doniger

18. Kali's Child The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna by Jeffrey John John Kripal and Wendy Doniger

19. Kali's Child The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna by Jeffrey John John Kripal and Wendy Doniger

20. Myth and Meaning Cracking the Code of Culture by Claude Levi-Strauss and Wendy Doniger

21. Death, War, and Sacrifice Studies in Ideology and Practice by Bruce Lincoln and Wendy Doniger

22. Hindu Myths A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty and Thomas Wyatt, Translated by Wendy Doniger

23. Other People's Myths The Cave of Echoes by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty and Wendy Doniger

24. Siva The Erotic Ascetic by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty and Wendy Doniger

25. Myth and Method Edited by Laurie L. Patton and Wendy Doniger

26. Bed as Autobiography A Visual Exploration of John Ransom Philips by John Ransom Philips, Introduction by Wendy Doniger, Interview by Ariel Orr Jordan

27. Other Men's Daughters by Richard Stern, Foreword by Wendy Doniger

28. Kamasutra by Mallanaga Vatsyana, Translated by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar

External Links

• Wendy Doniger is one of the foremost scholars of Hindu mythology
• Politically correct' Hindu scriptures?
• Textuality, Sexuality, and the Future of the Past: A Response to Swami Tyagananda
• Sudhir Kakar is widely known as the father of Indian psychoanalysis
• Do leading religious scholars err in their analysis of Hindu texts
• Right-wing Hindu groups, in India and the diaspora, have increasingly asserted their wish, indeed their right, to control scholarship about Hinduism
• Scholars of Hinduism Under Attack
• Wendy Doniger's homepage at the University of Chicago
• Encyclopædia Britannica editorial board members
• Are Hinduism studies prejudiced? A look at Microsoft Encarta
• U.S. Hinduism Studies: A Question of Shoddy Scholarship
• Biases in Hinduism Studies
• Sample errors from Wendy's Rgveda Translations
• Sample errors from Wendy's Translations on The Laws of Manu

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