The Hindus : an alternative history

The book is replete with errors on every page - methodological, factual and interpretational. Just to give a few examples:

1. In chapter 5, she claims that the [Rig]Veda has no Shudra gods. Not only is it anachronistic to talk of Varnas of Gods, her claim is quite incorrect. According to Shatapatha Brahmana 11.2.7.16; 6.4.4.13, the devatas are also divided into four castes and Pushan is given the Shudra caste.

2. In chapter 8, she claims that that the Hindus never had anything beyond 3 worlds in their cosmological conceptions. This overlooks the widely pervasive concept of Saptalokas, and also the 14 realms and so on.

3. In chapter 19, she claims that Humayun ruled from 1530-1556. He ruled from 1533-1540 and for a few months in 1555-1556.

4. In chapter 20, she claims that Tulsidas wrote his Ramcharitmanas in Varanasi. But according to the tradition, it was written in Ayodhya.

The book is full of discussions on her favorite topics - sex, rape (mostly imaginary), drugs, liquor, violence (mostly imaginary) and other kinds of sleeze. She has treated Hindus as subjects of a racist anthropological enquiry and has made hundreds of offensive and demeaning remarks against them and their traditions.

The book has either not been proof-read, or careless edited or the author was ignorant. Even maps are full of errors.

The book has four maps immediately after the Index. Unfortunately, the maps are full of errors. We point some of these errors below:

1.       In the first map (‘India’s Major Geographical Features’), the Waziristan Hills area is marked erroneously as ‘Kirthar Range’, which is actually several hundred miles further south.

2.       In the second map (‘India from 2500 BCE to 600 CE), Kashmir is marked north of the river Indus (it should be south of Indus); Baluchistan is marked at the boundary between Sindh and Punjab whereas it is further west; Magadha is marked in northern Orissa and the bordering areas of Bihar (it should be further north, just south of the Ganga); Mithila is marked a bit north-west of its actual location and so on.

3.       In the third map (‘India from 600 CE to 1600 CE), at least four historical sites are marked several hundred miles from their correct geographical location – Janakpur, Nagarkot, Mandu and Haldighati.

4.       In the fourth map (‘India from 1600 CE to the Present’), Kanpur is indicated as the modern name of the ancient city of Kanauj. This is incorrect and the two cities are distinct from each other.

Then, the bibliography has items that cannot be traced (because they do not exist or because the references are full of typos). For eg,

“Kaushitaki Brahmana. 3 vols. Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica, 1903” is an incorrect reference.

“Purva-mimamsa-sutra. Jaiminiya-mimamsa-bhashyam of Shabaraswamin. Hirayana: Ramlal Kapar, 1986.” The correct place of publication is ‘Sonepat, Haryana’ (not ‘Hirayana’), and the publisher’s correct name is ‘Ramlal Kapoor Trust’. This work came out in several volumes printed over several years.

Many journal article references are incorrect. For instance, “Shekhawat, V. “Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Rsearch 7:1 (1900), 63-67.” The correct issue and year of this journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991.

The fact that she either does not understand or ignores the spiritual core of Hindu culture almost completely clearly shows that she has missed her mark in every way. The book is not even history (let alone an 'alternative' history). It is bogus fiction, it is HerStory.