| Illustration by Sorit |
The controversy over Wendy Doniger’s On Hinduism published by Aleph Book Company, continues. Penguin India withdrew her earlier book Hinduism: An Alternative History and pulped the remaining copies, as Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, an outfit headed by Dinanath Batra, took them to court, saying the book hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and demeaning its followers. The same group had then taken on Aleph and had demanded a written commitment to take Doniger’s On Hinduism off the stores too. Aleph has written to Batra, saying the book was out of print right now and that they have set up a panel of four independent writers and scholars ‘to assess the objections raised and how best to resolve the situation’. “We will wait to see what the four experts come back with in a week’s time. We will decide our action after that,” Batra told Bibliophile. Aleph will not disclose the identity of these four independent experts.
Curiously, Aleph’s new catalogue for this year is just out and there is another book by Wendy Doniger this summer. Guess what its title is? The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade. So, are they going ahead with their plans, with Batra close on their heels? “We are not commenting further on the issue, or any publication plans about Wendy Doniger’s other books at this time,” says a mail from Aleph.
Scorer’s Drive
Travel writer based in the US and Japan, Pico Iyer, writing in the Wisden Almanack on cricket (reviewed alongside), apparently told the editor Suresh Menon, 'I know 1,500 words of cricket and I'll write them for you.
In an earlier version of this article, the titles of the books published by Penguin (the pulped one) and Aleph had been transposed.
