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Wendy Doniger
Wendy Doniger at Shimer College in 2012.
Born	(1940-11-20) November 20, 1940 (age 84) New York City
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Harvard University Oxford University
Scientific career
Fields	History of Religions, Hinduism, Sanskrit literature, Mythology
Institutions	University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor	Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr.
Doctoral students	Over 100, including: David Gordon White, Jeffrey Kripal, Laurie Patton

Wendy Doniger (O'Flaherty) (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist and 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 Hindu theories through modern contexts of gender, sexuality and identity. She describes herself as "a Sanskritist, indeed a recovering Orientalist" and "an old-fashioned philologist". Her use of psychoanalysis is widely considered controversial.

Biography

Doniger was born in New York City to immigrant non-observant Jewish parents, and raised in Great Neck NY, where her father, Lester L Doniger (1909–1971), ran a publishing business. While in high school, she studied dance under George Balanchine and Martha Graham. She graduated summa cum laude in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Radcliffe College in 1962, and received her M.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in June 1963. She then studied in India in 1963–1964 with a 12-month Junior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. She gained her first PhD from Harvard University in June 1968, with a dissertation on 'Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of Siva,' supervised by Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr.. She obtained her second, a D. Phil. in Oriental Studies from Oxford University, in February 1973, with a dissertation on ‘The Origins of Heresy in Hindu Mythology,’ supervised by R.C.Zaehner. She has since been awarded six honorary doctorates.

Doniger holds the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Chair in History of Religions at the University of Chicago, and has served on the editorial board of History of Religions since 1979, as well as editing a dozen other publications over her lifetime. In 1984 she was elected President of the American Academy of Religion, and in 1997 President of the Association for Asian Studies. She serves on the International Editorial Board of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

In June 2000, she was awarded the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles 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 American Academy of Religion awarded her the 2008 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. She was invited to give the 2010 Art Institute of Chicago President's Lecture at the Chicago Humanities Festival, which was entitled, "The Lingam Made Flesh: Split-Level Symbolism in Hindu Art"

Reception

Since she began writing in the 1960s, Doniger has gained the reputation of being "one of America's major scholars in the humanities". Her books both in Hinduism and other fields have been positively reviewed by Indian scholar Vijaya Nagarajan and American Hindu scholar Lindsey B. Harlan, who noted as part of a positive review that "Doniger's agenda is her desire to rescue the comparative project from the jaws of certain proponents of postmodernism". Of her Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit, Indologist Richard Gombrich wrote: "Intellectually, it is a triumph..." Gombrich called Doniger's Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva "learned and exciting". Doniger's Rigveda, a translation of 108 hymns selected from the canon, was deemed among the most reliable by historian of religion Ioan P. Culianu She has also been called "one of the most distinguished mythologists of our time" by Sudhir Kakar.

Doniger's 2009 book The Hindus: An Alternative History received many positive reviews, e.g. from the Library Journal, the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, and The Hindu. According to the Hindustan Times, The Hindus was a No. 1 bestseller in the non-fiction category in India in 2009. In January 2010, the National Book Critics Circle named The Hindus as a finalist for its 2009 book awards. The Hindu American Foundation protested this decision, alleging inaccuracies and bias in the book. The book was recalled by Penguin India in February 2014 due to political pressure.

Controversy

Beginning in the early 2000s, a disagreement arose within the Hindu community over whether Doniger accurately described their traditions. Together with many of her colleagues, she was the subject of a critique by Rajiv Malhotra for using psychoanalytical concepts to interpret non-Western subjects. Malhotra claimed that Hinduism was being demonized to create shame amongst Hindu youth. Christian Lee Novetzke, associate professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Washington, summarizes this controversy as follows: "Wendy Doniger, a premier scholar of Indian religious thought and history expressed through Sanskritic sources, has faced regular criticism from those who consider her work to be disrespectful of Hinduism in general." Professor Novetzke cites Doniger's use of "psychoanalytical theory" as

a kind of lightning rod for the censure that these scholars receive from freelance critics and 'watch-dog' organizations that claim to represent the sentiments of Hindus.

Martha C. Nussbaum, concurring with Novetzke, adds that while the agenda of those in the American Hindu community who criticize Doniger appears similar to that of the Hindu right-wing in India, it is not quite the same since it has "no overt connection to national identity", and that it has created feelings of guilt among American scholars, given the prevailing ethos of ethnic respect, that they might have offended people from another culture. While Doniger has agreed that Indians have ample grounds to reject postcolonial domination, she claims that her works are only a single perspective which does not subordinate Indian self-identity.

In March 2010, Hindu American Foundation co-founder and urologist Aseem Shukla debated elements of the book The Hindus: An Alternative History with Doniger on a Washington Post-sponsored blog on faith and religion, and accused her of sexualising and exoticising some of the holiest passages in the Hindu scriptures. Doniger replied that her book has sold well in India and asked her critics to show specifically where her interpretations of texts were wrong.

Earle Waugh, Professor Emeritus of Divinity at the University of Alberta, refers to the controversy as an example of the conflict between religious tradition and the use of Western analytic tools such as Freudian psychology.

Works

Doniger has written 16 books, translated (primarily from Sanskrit to English) with commentary 9 other volumes, has contributed to many edited texts and has written hundreds of articles in journals, magazines and newspapers. These include New York Times Book Review, London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Times, The Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, International Herald Tribune, Parabola, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Daedalus, The Nation, and the Journal of Asian Studies.

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 1996–1997 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).
• Vātsyāyana Kāmasūtra. A new translation by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
• 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

Published 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.
• Elephanta: The Cave of Siva. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Carmel Berkson, and George Michell (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983). ISBN 0691040095
• 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.

See also

• Invading the Sacred

Notes

1. ^ Wendy Doniger, Curriculum Vitae.
2. Doniger, The Hindus, 35
3. Doniger, The Bedtrick, p. xxii.
4. http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0412/features/
5. Chicago Humanities Festival | Art Institute of Chicago President's Lecture: Wendy Doniger, The Lingam Made Flesh
6. Martha Craven Nussbaum, The clash within: democracy, religious violence, and India's future, Harvard University Press, 2007 p.249.
7. Vijaya Nagarajan, 'Review of The Bedtrick,' in Journal of Religion 84.2 (April 2004).
8. Lindsey B. Harlan, 'Review of The Implied Spider,', in Church History 68.2 (June 1999)
9. ^ Richard Gombrich, Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty Religious Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun. 1978), pp. 273–274
10. Ioan P. Culianu, "Ask Yourselves in Your Own Hearts..." History of Religions, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Feb. 1983), pp. 284–286

    That is why, with the exception of Geldner's German translation, the most reliable modern translations of the Rgveda-W. O'Flaherty's being one of them-are only partial. However, W. O'Flaherty has, in her present translation, a wider scope than other scholars – Louis Renou, for instance, whose Hymnes speculatifs du Veda are a model of accuracy – who prefer to limit their choice to one thematic set of hymns.

11. Sudhir Kakar, untitled review of Other People's Myths: The Cave of Echoes by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty The Journal of Religion, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Apr. 1990), pp. 293–294 The University of Chicago Press
12. James F. DeRoche, Library Journal, 2009-02-15
13. David Arnold. "Beheading Hindus And other alternative aspects of Wendy Doniger's history of a mythology", Times Literary Supplement, July 29, 2009
14. David Dean Shulman, 'A Passion for Hindu Myths,' in New York Review of Books, Nov 19, 2009, pp.51–53.
15. Pankaj Mishra, "'Another Incarnation',", in New York Times, April 24, 2009
16. A R Venkatachalapathy, "Understanding Hinduism" The Hindu March 30, 2010
17. "Top authors this week" Hindustan Times Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, October 15, 2009
18. "National Book Critics Circle Finalists Are Announced" New York Times January 23, 2010
19. HAF Urges NBCC Not Honor Doniger's Latest Book, as reprinted in LA Times, New Yorker, Sify
20. "Penguin to destroy copies of Wendy Doniger's book 'The Hindus'" The Times of India
21. "Penguin to recall Doniger’s book on Hindus" The Hindu
22. The interpretation of gods
23. The axis of neo-colonialism, Malhotra Rajiv, World Affairs, Year : 2007, Volume : 11, Issue: 3, Print ISSN: 0971-8052.
24. Prema A. Kurien, A place at the multicultural table: the development of an American Hinduism,Rutgers University Press, 2007 p.202
25. Christian Lee Novetzke, "The Study of Indian Religions in the US Academy", India Review 5.1 (May 2006), 113–114
26. Martha C. Nussbaum, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), p. 248
27. "I don't feel I diminish Indian texts by writing about or interpreting them. My books have a right to exist alongside other books." Amy M. Braverman. "The interpretation of gods". University of Chicago Magazine, 97.2 (December 2004).
28. Aseem Shukla, 'Whose history is it anyway?', Washington Post, March 17, 2010.
29. Engler, Steven; Grieve, Gregory P. Historicizing Tradition in the Study of Religion, pp. 261–263.

References

• Wendy Doniger, Curriculum Vitae
• Wendy Doniger, Publications

External links

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

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• Living people
• 1940 births
• American Indologists
• American Jews
• Guggenheim Fellows
• University of Chicago Divinity School
• Rose Mary Crawshay Prize winners
• Sanskrit–English translators
• University of Chicago faculty
• Writers from New York City
• Harvard University alumni
• Alumni of the University of Oxford
• Hindu studies scholars
• Historians of religion