{{Undue|date=August 2009}}
Wendy Doniger (O'Flaherty) (born in New York City, November 20 1940) is
Mircea EliadeMircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
Distinguished Service Professor of the
History of ReligionsThe history of religion refers to the written record of human religious experiences and ideas. This period of religious history typically begins with the invention of writing about 5,000 years ago in the Near East. The prehistory of religion relates to the study of religious beliefs that existed...
at the
University of Chicago Divinity SchoolThe University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries...
, the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the
Committee on Social ThoughtThe Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and University President Robert Maynard Hutchins.The committee is...
. She has taught at the University of Chicago since 1978. Much of her work is focused on translating, interpreting and comparing elements of
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
through modern contexts of gender, sexuality and identity.
Biography
She first trained as a dancer under George Balanchine and Martha Graham, and then went on to complete two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian Studies. She has since been awarded six more doctorates, and to the extent that being awarded eight Ph. D.’s in the subject is held to be a measure, has a distinguished scholarly background in Sanskrit and South Asian religions. She has a long list of academic accomplishments, as evidenced by the number of books and articles published, and academic appointments, awards and honors received. Doniger received her M. A. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in June, 1963. She next studied in India under a 12-month Junior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, 1963-64. She received her first Ph. D., in Sanskrit and Indian Studies, from Harvard University in June, 1968. She received a D. Phil. in Oriental Studies from Oxford University in February 1973, for which her dissertation was "The Origins of Heresy in Hindu Mythology."
In addition to her Ph.D. from Harvard and her D. Phil. From Oxford, Doniger holds 6 honorary doctorates:
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1833, the institution was American Baptist in origin, and acknowledges its historical relationship with that denomination, but today maintains no...
, Michigan, January 18, 1985;
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860, is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:Bard has a 600-acre campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, near the town of Red Hook, overlooking the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, within the Hudson River Historic District,...
, May 25, 1996;
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
, June 5, 1997;
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Northwestern University
{{Infobox university|name = Northwestern University|image_name = NU seal.png|motto = Quaecumque sunt vera |mottoeng =Whatsoever things are true |established = 1851|type = Private|calendar = Quarter...
, June 18, 1999;
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Lehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school and has grown to include four diverse colleges...
, May 18, 2009;
- Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Harvard University
Harvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
, June 4, 2009.
Doniger has taught at Harvard, Oxford, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, the University of California at Berkeley, and, since 1978, at the University of Chicago, where she is at present 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 on Social Thought.
As a professor she has mentored over 60 students through their PhDs and now has many (doctoral) grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In 1984 she was elected President of the
American Academy of ReligionThe American Academy of Religion is the world's largest association of scholars in the field of religious studies and related topics. It was founded in 1909 as the Association of Biblical Instructors in American Colleges and Secondary Schools. The name was changed to National Association of...
, in 1989 a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, in 1996 a Member of the
American Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as an offshoot of his earlier club, the Junto...
, and in 1997 President of the
Association for Asian StudiesThe Association for Asian Studies is a U.S. society focused on facilitating contact and information exchange among scholars of Asian fields. It is the self-proclaimed largest society of its kind. The Association consists of eminent Asianists, and is a non-profit organization...
. (She is the only person to have been President of both the AAR and the AAS). She serves on the International Editorial Board of the
Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1986 she was awarded the Radcliffe Medal; in 1992 the Medal of the Collège de France; in June 2000, the PEN Oakland 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 Graham School of the University of Chicago gave her the award for Excellence in Teaching in Graduate Studies, November 10, 2007, and the American Academy of Religion awarded her the 2008
Martin E. MartyMartin Emil Marty is an American Lutheran religious scholar who has written extensively on 19th century and 20th century American religion. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1956, and served as a Lutheran pastor from 1952 to 1962 in the suburbs of Chicago...
Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.
Doniger has served on
History of ReligionsThe history of religion refers to the written record of human religious experiences and ideas. This period of religious history typically begins with the invention of writing about 5,000 years ago in the Near East. The prehistory of religion relates to the study of religious beliefs that existed...
editorial board since 1979, and is also a member of
International Journal of Hindu Studies Advisory Editorial Board, and has served in an official editorial capacity to:
Journal of the American Academy of Religion (associate editor), 1977-82; Berkeley Religious Studies Series (advisory editor), 1979-83; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, publication series in religion (advisory editor), 1979-85; Delegate for history of religions, Oxford University Press, New York, 1984-1996; SUNY series on Kashmiri Saivism (advisory editor), 1983-88; Editorial Advisory Board, Asian Religious Studies Information Bibliography, SUNY Institute for the Advanced Study of World Religions, 1985-90; Editor of Hinduism Series, SUNY Press, 1989-; Corresponding Editor, South Asia Research, 1994-; and Editorial Board, Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition.
Doniger’s research and teaching interests revolve around two basic areas, Hinduism and mythology. Her courses in mythology address themes in cross-cultural expanses, including death, dreams, evil, horses, sex, and women. Her courses in Hinduism cover a broad spectrum that, in addition to mythology, considers literature, law, history, and gender.
Some of the invited lectures that she has given include:
- "Indian mythology" at The Asia Society, New York;
- "Impermanence and eternity in Indian art and literature" to the Canvas of Culture Symposium at the Festival of India, Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
;
- Radhakrishnan Lectures, All Souls College, Oxford University, Trinity Term, May 1986;
- "Myths about Myths about Rituals", Inaugural lecture for the Mircea Eliade Professorship in History of Religions, University of Chicago;
- "Religious and non-religious arguments in the Laws of Manu," general lecture at the Sixteenth Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Rome;
- "Aspects of the Transmission of Knowledge in Ancient India”, Annual South Asia Lecture, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.
Doniger has been on faculty at the University of Chicago for over 30 years. Representative of her numerous courses are: Hindu Mythology; Mythology in the Brahmanas; Translation of Religious Texts: the Rig Veda; The Mahabharata and the Odyssey; Readings in the Yogavasistha (in Sanskrit); Readings in the Puranas (in Sanskrit); The Ramayana (in Sanskrit); The Upanishads: Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya; Greek Tragedies: Prometheus Bound, Baccahe, Trachiniae, Alcestis; The Doctrine of Illusion and the Yogavasistha; The Odyssey; Plato's Timaeus; Classics in the Literature of Religion; The Iliad; Contemporary Issues in the Study of Religion; Myth and Law in Hinduism (Manu and Puranas); Authorship and Authority in Myth and Epic; Shakespeare's Black Comedies: Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida; The Kamasutra and the Laws of Manu [Sex and Religion in Ancient India]. This gives some idea of the breadth of her areas of expertise.
She has authored 16 books; translated (primarily from Sanskrit to English) with commentary 9 other volumes; provided text for and edited another dozen (all listed elsewhere on this Wikipedia page); and been the author of many hundreds of articles published in prestigious journals and popular magazines and newspapers too numerous to list but including New York Times Book Review,
London Review of BooksThe London Review of Books is a fortnightly British literary and political magazine.The LRB was founded in 1979 during the year-long lock-out at The Times...
, The Times Literary Supplement, Times of London,
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
, U. S. News and World Report,
International Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English-language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 35 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 180 countries...
, Harvard Divinity School Bulletin,
ParabolaIn mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
,
The Chronicle of Higher EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. The Chronicle of Higher Education is the major news service in the United States academic world...
,
DaedalusIn Greek mythology, Daedalus was a most skillful architect, or artificer, or craftsman, so skillful that he was said to have invented images that seemed to move about. Daedalus had two sons: Icarus and Iapyx, along with a nephew, whose name varies...
, Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, New Encyclopaedia Britannica (Macropaedia),
The NationThe Nation is a weekly United States periodical devoted to politics and culture, self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865 at the start of Reconstruction as a supporter of the victorious North in the American Civil War, it is the oldest continuously published weekly...
,
Journal of Asian StudiesThe Journal of Asian Studies is a quarterly journal published by the Association for Asian Studies , a scholarly, non-profit organization which brings together the shared interest of scholars in Asian studies. The journal was first issued in November 1941, under the title The Far Eastern...
, Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Science, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the SUNY Series in Hinduism.
Criticism
{{Cleanup-section|date=August 2009}}
A
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
article wrote about Wendy Doniger as, "Professor Wendy Doniger is known for being rude, crude and very lewd in the hallowed portals of
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
Academics. All her special works have revolved around the subject of sex in Sanskrit texts ranging from
Siva: The Erotic Ascetic to
Tales of Sex and Violence."
Wendy Doniger has been criticized by some Hindus and academic scholars, including Krishnan Ramaswamy and Antonio T. De Nicolás, for a perceived negative portrayal of Hindus in her writings. Her article on Hinduism for Microsoft's Encarta encyclopaedia was so criticised and replaced with an article by
Arvind SharmaArvind Sharma is an author whose books and articles focus on comparative religion, Hinduism, and the role of women in religion. Some of his more famous works include Our Religions and Women in World Religions. Feminism in World Religions was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Book...
.
Vijay PrashadVijay Prashad is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He is the author of eleven books, most recently The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World...
described 2004 protests against American religious scholarship as stemming from the
Hindu rightHindutva is the term used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism....
’s “protofascist views.” Shankar Vedantam, writing in the
Washington Post, described the more extreme attacks ("tossed eggs to assaults to threats of extradition and prosecution in India") in the following terms:
- The attacks against American scholars come as a powerful movement called Hindutva
Hindutva is the term used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism....
has gained political power in India, where most of the world's 828 million Hindus live. Its proponents assert that Hindus have long been denigrated and that Western authors are imposing a Eurocentric world view on a culture they do not understand."
Doniger described the controversy as "being fueled by a
fanaticalFanatical is a Canadian half-hour documentary television series produced by Peace Point Entertainment Group and currently airs on TVtropolis and DejaView. FANatical explores the motivations and activities of people involved with the fandom of various television series...
nationalismNationalism is an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation...
and Hindutva, which says no one has the right to make a mistake, and no one who is not a Hindu has the right to speak about Hinduism at all." However,
Arvind SharmaArvind Sharma is an author whose books and articles focus on comparative religion, Hinduism, and the role of women in religion. Some of his more famous works include Our Religions and Women in World Religions. Feminism in World Religions was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Book...
downplayed the claims of connection to Hindutva, saying that "There may be a Hindutva connection in what happened in India and the death threats and the person who threw the egg, but there also is a Hindu response."
Professor Michael Witzel of
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
has claimed that Wendy Doniger's knowledge of Vedic Sanskrit is severely flawed. When Witzel was publicly challenged to prove this claim, he posted examples of Doniger's
translationTranslation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation," that communicates the same message in another language...
s to a
mailing listAn electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users...
and called them "UNREALIABLE" [
sicSic is a Latin word meaning "thus", "so", "as such", or "in such a manner". In writing, it is placed within square brackets and usually italicized – [sic] – to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, punctuation, and/or other preceding quoted material has been reproduced verbatim...
] and "idiosyncratic".
Nicholas Kazanas, a European Indologist, also criticized Doniger's works and wrote that Doniger seems to be obsessed with only one meaning, the most sexual imaginable. In the
Journal of Indo-European StudiesThe Journal of Indo-European Studies is a journal of Indo-European studies, established in 1973. It aims to serve "as a medium for the exchange and synthesis of information relating to the anthropology, archaeology, mythology, philology, and general cultural history of the Indo-European speaking...
, Kazanas wrote, "[Doniger] seems to see only one function ... of
fertilityFertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. This is different from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
and
sexualitySexuality may refer to:*Human sexuality**Human male sexuality**Human female sexuality*Sex in biology*Gender identity; how someone identifies themselves in terms of gender*Sexual orientation*Animal sexual behaviour*Plant sexualityIn music:...
, copulation, defloration,
castrationCastration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries...
and the like: even
bhaktiBhakti in practice signifies an active involvement by the devotee in divine worship. The term is often translated as "devotion", though increasingly "participation" is being used as a more accurate rendering, since it conveys a fully engaged relationship with God...
'devotion' is described in stark erotic terms including
incestIncest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
and
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
(1980:87-99:125-129). Surely, erotic terms could be metaphors for spiritual or mystical experiences as is evidenced in so much literature?".
The visibility of Doniger's scholarship led to some protests; in one incident, an egg was thrown and struck a wall behind her during a November 2003
University of LondonBased primarily in London, England, United Kingdom, the University of London is a federal mega university made up of 31 affiliates: 19 separate university institutions, and 12 research institutes...
lecture.
Book reviews
Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and the opinions editor at Forbes Magazine, in his April 2009 Wall Street Journal review of her most recent work, The Hindus: An Alternative History, says “Ms. Doniger does a deft job of tracing their few unifying tenets -- those of karma (actions) and dharma (righteousness) and a merit-based afterlife -- and of holding these beliefs up to critical examination against the obvious injustices of the caste system…. Instructively, too…Ms. Doniger trains her light on the use and abuse of Hindu mythology in modern Indian politics, what she calls "the past in the present." It will come as no surprise that she is as unloving of the Hindu Right as she is of the Right in America…Her previous scholarship, one notes, has been derided by "political" Hindus, a cadre notorious for its intolerance of unconventional interpretations of Hindu sacred texts. A militant Hindu once hurled an egg at Ms. Doniger as she lectured in London. Of this episode she writes: "He missed his aim, in every way." Tartness is a quality that Ms. Doniger has in abundance.”
Pankaj Mishra, in his review of Doniger’s The Hindus in The New York Times Sunday Book Review (April 26, 2009), says “As Wendy Doniger, a scholar of Indian religions at the University of Chicago, explains in her staggeringly comprehensive book, the British Indologists who sought to tame India’s chaotic polytheisms had a “Protestant bias in favor of scripture.” In “privileging” Sanskrit over local languages, she writes, they created what has proved to be an enduring impression of a “unified Hinduism.” And they found keen collaborators among upper-caste Indian scholars and translators. This British-Brahmin version of Hinduism — one of the many invented traditions born around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries — has continued to find many takers among semi-Westernized Hindus…The Hindu nationalists of today, who long for India to become a muscular international power, stand in a direct line of 19th-century Indian reform movements devoted to purifying and reviving a Hinduism perceived as having grown too fragmented and weak. These mostly upper-caste and middle-class nationalists have accelerated the modernization and homogenization of “Hinduism.”… Doniger, who cannot but be aware of the political historiography of Hindu nationalists, the most powerful interpreters of Indian religions in both India and abroad today, also wishes to provide an “alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they tell.”…She doesn’t neglect high-table Hinduism. Her chapter on violence in the “Mahabharata” is particularly insightful, highlighting the tragic aspects of the great epic, and unraveling, in the process, the hoary cliché of Hindus as doctrinally pacifist.”
V. V. Raman, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Physics and Humanities, Rochester Institute of Technology, and associate editor in the eighteen volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism Project, says: “While I can well understand why and how a great many Hindus may be outraged and infuriated by Doniger’s frequent Freudian interpretations, upon reading this book, I am inclined to trust her when she says: “… I intend to go on celebrating the diversity and pluralism, not to mention the worldly wisdom and sensuality, of the Hindus that I have loved for about fifty years now and still counting (p. 16).” By the way, surprise of surprise, there is not one hint of a Freudian perspective in the whole book.”
Piali Roy, in a review of her work that he wrote for The Globe and Mail, Monday, June 08, 2009, says “’Follow the horse’ is one approach to determine whether the Vedas, the scriptural bedrock of Hinduism, is indigenous to South Asia. Because its language is particularly horsey, and because horses were always imported to India, Doniger says, there is merit in seeing the people who composed the Vedas just like any other group who came to India and contributed to its many traditions…. Doniger also does a good job tracking how the Vedic era, with its animal sacrifices dependent on Brahmins, was superseded by new movements such as the birth of Buddhism and Jainism in the fifth century BC, and how, in turn, the ideas of non-violence and vegetarianism are reabsorbed into Hinduism, such that even the Buddha becomes an avatar of Vishnu.”
Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University, has said of Doniger’s recent work that “her vision [is] of a Hindu culture that is plural, varied, generous, and inclusive. Hinduism, in her view, is an intricate weave of the diverse localities and communities of Indian culture.”
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. Reprinted Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1971; paperback, 1973). 381 pp.
- "Asceticism and Eroticism" in The Mythology of Siva (Oxford University Press, 1973; OUP India, 1975; paperback Galaxy, New York, retitled: Siva: The Erotic Ascetic, 1981). 386 pp. Translated into French by Nicole Ménant and published (as by Wendy Doniger) as Siva: érotique et ascétique by Editions Gallimard (Paris: 1993). 474 pp. Italian translation (as by Wendy Doniger) by Francesca Orsini: Siva: L'asceta erotico. Adelphi Edizioni, Milan, 1997.
- The Ganges (London: Macdonald Educational, 1975).
- The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology (Berkeley: University of California, 1976; Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass
Motilal Banarsidass is a leading Indian publishing house on Sanskrit and Indology since 1903, located in Delhi, India. It publishes and distributes serials, monographs, and scholarly publications on Asian religion, philosophy, history, culture, arts, architecture, archaeology, language,...
, 1976; paperback, 1980). 411 pp. Italian translation, Le Origini del male nella mitologia indu, Adelphi Edizioni: Milan, 2002.
- Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980; Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1980; paperback, 1982). 382 pp.
- Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984; reprinted, paperback, 1985; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987). 361 pp. Portugese edition, translated by Manuel Joao Magalhae, Sonhos, Ilisao, e Outra Realidades (Lisboa: Assirio & Alvim), 2004. Italian edition, trans. Anna Bertolino, Sogni, illusioni e alter realta (Milan: Adelphi Edizione, 2005).
- Tales of Sex and Violence: Folklore, Sacrifice, and Danger in the Jaiminiya Brahmana (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987). 145 pp.
- Other Peoples' Myths: The Cave of Echoes. (New York: Macmillan, 1988; second printing, 1989; paperback, 1990; reprinted, University of Chicago Press, 1995). 225 pp. Italian translation: I Miti degli Alteri, Milan: Edizione Adelphi, 2003. Spanish translation by Maria Tabuyo and Agustin Lopez, Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 2005. Korean translation forthcoming.
Published under the name of Wendy Doniger:
- The Implied Spider: Politics and Theology in Myth. The 1996-7 ACLS/AAR Lectures. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998; paperback, 1999. 200 pp. Korean translation, published by Chungnyunsa, is forthcoming.
- 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. Indian Edition, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2000; paperback, 2002. Italian edition, Edizione Adelphi, 2009. Won the PEN Oakland literary award for excellence in multi-cultural literature, non-fiction, 2000.
- 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. Paperback edition, 2005.
- Holocaust, terreur en galgenhumor. [Huizinga-lezing 2001]. Amsterdam/Rotterdam: Prometheus/NRC Handelsblad, 2001. 55 pp. [Dutch]
- La Trappola della Giumenta. Trans. Vincenzo Vergiani. Milan: Adelphi Edizione, 2003. (Chinese translation forthcoming.) Also: Le Kama Sutra de Bikaner. Trans. Fabienne Durand-Bogaert. Paris: Gallimard, 2004. La trampa de la Yegua. Traducción de Damián Alou. Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama, 2004.
- 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.
In Press:
- "Hinduism", for the Norton Anthology of World Religions (2011)
In progress:
- Rings and Ringers: The Masquerades of Circular Jewelry
- Horses for Lovers, Dogs for Husbands
- A translation of the last four books of the Mahabharata.
- The Late Rita Doniger
- The Political Manipulation of Religion and Sex in Ancient India: A Study of Kautilya’s Arthashastra.
Translations
Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty:
- Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook, translated from the Sanskrit. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1975; reprinted 1976; second edition, 1979; reprinted 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, etc. 357 pp. Translated into Italian by Mario Piantelli and Alberto Pelissero, and published under the title of Dall'Ordine il Caos (Biblioteca della Fenice, Parma: Ugo Guanda Editore, Parma, 1988; reissued, with a new introduction by Mariasusai Dhavamony, and a new title, Miti dell'induismo; Garzanti, 1997). Spanish translation by Maria Tabuyo and Agustin Lopez, Mitos hindues. Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 2004. German translation for WBG Wissenverbindet, 2010.
- The Rig Veda: An Anthology, 108 Hymns Translated from the Sanskrit (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1981. Reprinted 1982, 1984, 1986, etc.). 343 pp. Plagiarized translation into Dutch, by H. Verbruggen (The Hague: Mirananda, 1993). Revised second edition, 2005. Translation of Rig Veda 10.129 used as the opening text of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, premiered August 31, 1999.
- (with David Grene
David Grene was a professor of classics at the University of Chicago from 1937 until his death. He was a co-founder of the Committee on Social Thought and is best known for his translations of ancient Greek literature....
) Antigone. 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 (Manchester: Manchester University Press; Totowa, New Jersey, Barnes and Noble, 1988; paperback, 1989; 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. Reissued in four separate volumes in paperback, 1993: Greek and Egyptian Mythologies; Roman and European Mythologies; Asian Mythologies; and American, African, and Old European Mythologies.
- The Laws of Manu. A new translation, with Brian K. Smith, of the Manavadharmasastra (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1991). Italian translation by Tiziana Ripepi, Le Leggi di Manu, Adelphi Edizioni: Milan, 1996. 440 pp.
- The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana. A new translation, introduction, and commentary. With Sudhir Kakar
Sudhir Kakar is a Freudian psychoanalyst and writer. He studied in Gujarat, Mannheim, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna. Kakar received a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s degree in business economics and became Doctor of Economics...
. London and New York: Oxford World Classics, 2002. 231 pp. Italian translation, Milan: Adelphi Edizione, 2003. Norwegian translation, Oslo: Kagge Forlag, 2004. German translation, by Robin Cackett, Berlin: Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, 2004; paperback, 2008. Latvian translation by Andzela Suvajeva. Riga: Zvaigzne ABC, 2004. Spanish translation by Mariano Vazquez, Madrid: EDAF, 2005. French translation by Alain Porte,Paris: Seuil, 2007. Portuguese translation forthcoming.
- Kamasutra. Abridged by Wendy Doniger. Philadelphia and London: Running Press, 2003.
- 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. Indian edition, with an introduction by Anita Desai, forthcoming.
In progress:
- Mahabharata, books 15-18, translated from the Sanskrit. University of Chicago Press.
Edited volumes
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; Delhi: Vikas Publishing Company; Columbia, Missouri: South Asia Books, 1978). 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; Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1980). 340 pp. Reprinted, Banarsidass, 1999.
- The Cave of Siva at Elephanta. Photographs by Carmel Berkson, text by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Carmel Berkson, and George Michell (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987). Introduction (pp. xi-xiii) and an essay ("The myths depicted at Elephanta," pp. 27-39) by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty.
- Religion and Change. Special issue to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the American Association for the Study of Religion, and in honor of Joseph M. Kitagawa. 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.
In progress:
- With Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum is an American philosopher with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy and ethics....
. India: Implementing Pluralism and Democracy. Ed. Martha Nussbaum and Wendy Doniger. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- With Christian Wedemeyer. Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions: he Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade. Ed. Christian Wedemeyer and Wendy Doniger. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- For Additional Biographical Information, see: Wendy Doniger. "From Great Neck to Swift Hall: Confessions of a Reluctant Historian of Religions." Pp. 36-51 in The Craft of Religious Studies, edited by Jon R. Stone. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
External links
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University of Chicago Divinity SchoolThe University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries...
|list1 = Wendy Doniger{{·}} Richard P. Fox{{·}}
Bruce LincolnBruce Lincoln is Caroline E. Haskell Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.His primary scholarly concern was for many years the study of Indo-European religion...
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Christian K. WedemeyerChristian Konrad Wedemeyer is an American scholar and politician. He is Assistant Professor of the History of Religions at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. In February 2008, he was elected Committeeman for the 5th Ward of the City of Chicago, Illinois...
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