AVAILABILITY OF GRANTS: Empowerment of Hindu Women in Scholarship

[Guest guest]

Arial">There needs to be a voice of Hindu women in scholarship about their own heritage.

Today, it is Western feminism that is controlling the portrayal of women’s

issues worldwide as a sort of monopoly and with a hegemonic agenda. In the case

of Hinduism, it has turned into Hindu-bashing at human rights events, feminist

events, religious studies and social studies events. Many young Indian women have

joined in – a combination of visa promises, jobs, prestige, sense of enhanced

self-esteem as a woman, and also genuine ideology.

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Arial">It is very difficult for a man to stand up for Hinduism at such events. The

academic fields of Religious Studies, Asian Studies, and Social Studies have a

large number of women when it comes to specializing in Hinduism studies. Women

are very well represented at panels and other forums. But they tend to be very

often devout Christian, along with ‘secular’ or even anti Hindu Indian women.

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Arial">In many cases, the image young Hindu girls develop (especially upon

entering college) is of a religion that is abusive of women – and this type of

scholarship is encouraged by those in control of setting the agenda in the

education system. The main topics of research and teaching are: sati, female infanticide,

dowry deaths, inferiority of Hindu women, caste, etc. The consequence of this

has been that now over 50% of girls raised in Hindu families in USA marry

non-Hindus. What sometimes gets justified as a dual religious marriage turns

into a strictly non-Hindu family since the other religion, typically Christian

or Islamic, is more assertive and the other spouse is better anchored in his

religion. Raised Indian and Hindu at home, they become ‘South Asians’ upon

entering college – an identity concocted by the State Department funded ‘Area

Studies’ to contain the Soviet threat.

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Arial">Hindu women have traditionally been the parent who passes down

traditions, values, culture, and spirituality. Note how Islam is very good in

the US at inculcating a strong sense of pride in its young girls. Why has

Hinduism failed to get its women into prominence given all the reasons cited

above?

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Arial">What would be wonderful would be a counter balancing intellectual force.

I would like to suggest a Hindu Women Scholars’ Association.

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Arial">It would participate in at least 5 academic panels each year in many conferences

ranging from religious studies, women’s issues, human rights, South Asian

studies, anthropology, etc. The idea would be to provide a Hindu voice as

opposed to letting the portrayal get defined and dominated by others, many with

their own ideological agendas.

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Arial">It would provide mentoring of young women scholars so that they do not

go astray, seeking legitimacy emotional/intellectual support, or plain

financial advancement in the hands of others.

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Arial">It would publish high quality challenges to the stereotypical writings,

including reviews of others’ writings and books.

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Arial">It would be non political. In my opinion, the Hindutva leaders have shot

themselves in the foot when it comes to winning over the top intellectual tier

of their own youth, especially women. They are probably doing well in other

demographic segments that are also important, but clearly there is a vacuum

left. As a result of Hindutva, it has become taboo to even call oneself a Hindu

in academic circles. To criticize sloppy and biased scholarship by Western

scholars and their Macaulay followers runs the risk of being labeled a fundamentalist

and being blackballed by one’s peers. In order to focus on their intellectual

arguments and scholarship and not let the politics back home become

superimposed, many Indians distance oneself from any Hindutva-like stance.

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Arial">With this neglect from its own scholars, Hinduism has acquired the image

of meaningless superstitious rituals. Kali and other scary images are deployed

to indicate a negative and violent religion. Simplistic logic is used – Shiva

is evil because he is the destroyer and because destruction is evil. Animal

symbolism is interpreted to indicate animal worship, or worse still, some form

of animism. The whole subversive enterprise has been to depict an unscientific

tradition lacking rational tendencies, compared to European superior intellectual

traditions.

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Arial">To dismiss Hinduism, it is often portrayed as 'world negating' and

socially backward, compared to the ‘rational’ West. It is said to exploit the

underclass. Karma theory is interpreted as fatalism and as accepting one's

plight rather than taking responsibility. Hindu society is depicted as having

been intrinsically poor throughout its history, without factoring in the

massive destruction its academic institutions suffered during multiple foreign

invasions and the decimation of its infrastructure by colonialists. Women’s

issues are common stereotypes that are politicized. They are often out of

context and are rarely compared to women’s conditions in poor Christian

countries or Western nations. Environmental problems in contemporary India are

seen as rooted in India's traditions, rather than a phenomenon over the past

150 years only. The focus is on caste, cows and curry rather than on Indic

ideas presented in a sensible respectful way. The motive is to justify the

Western case that globalization equals Westernization - the indigenous cultures

are positioned as chronically and systemically flawed. What is rarely presented

is that most social ills are either caused by or at least exacerbated by

poverty, and that India’s poverty is relatively recent in its history – hence,

no responsible scholar should simplistically portray Hinduism as the cause for

all the social problems facing India’s society.

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Arial">This must be reversed. What do you think of this need and this proposed

initiative? We would appreciate hearing from any interested persons to help

launch this. The Infinity Foundation could be very interested to provide the initial

funding for this. Basing it in India would make it cost effective, would allow harnessing

the huge talent there, would bring greater authenticity as compared to

Western-based scholarship, and most of all it would strengthen the Hindu

culture at its roots. Such a project should become a worldwide one with centers

everywhere.

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Arial">Namaste.

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Arial">Rajiv

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