New Delhi: Hinduism embraces many religious ideas as it’s not a single religion but a compilation of many traditions and philosophies which has shattered now and adopted an extremist’s agenda. US scholar from University of Chicago ‘Wendy Doniger’ researched Hinduism in India and depicted emergence of Hindutva in her book ‘An American Girl in India – Letters and Recollections (1963-64)’.
Earlier, she was believer of liberal essence of Hinduism but now she has changed her mind due to activities of hardliner Hindus against others. She is following today’s India through the media and gave her analysis that “India has changed from a place where multiplicity thrived to a uni-dimensional society over the years. In the sixties, the mood was much different from that of what it is now. There was a happy atmosphere in India, openness among people, and they made friends with different people,” whereas now there is hyper-sensitivity about religion that is Hinduism”.
She further said, “Right now, people are really worried about what’s happening in India” and what has spurred “this tremendous outpouring of indignation, as Indain politics has too changed from ‘Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava’ to religious exclusiveness which led to the change in people’s perception about one another”.
Wendy Doniger, who finished teaching Hinduism at the University of Chicago, was worried about the wanton abuse of laws restricting freedom of speech and creating a climate of fear.” The “enemies of free speech have Divinity School in India today”, she made a pun on ‘Hindutva’. As a whole, Hindus have become more fanatics due to easy access of electronic and social media besides its modernization.
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