Critique of the West in Indic literature and society

[Dominik Wujastyk]

I found the Hinduism Today editorial absolutely sickening.  I used to
subscribe to HT, because it seemed to be quite a fun publication, and
useful for getting an insight into popular hinduism.  It was also
interesting for its strange background (American sadhu initiated into
Tamil saivism by Sinhalese guru, and now based in Hawaii!).  However, I
dropped the publication a couple of years ago after hearing the editor
talk in London, and also seeing the deterioration of its editorial
content and policies.

This latest citation makes me even happier that I don't wade through
this stuff any longer.  It is historically naive to the point of gross
error.  In the context of India's poverty being traceable to "Imperial
theft", for example, in 1800 the East India Company was in debt to the
tune of fourteen million pounds [Desmond, European Discovery of the
Indian Flora, p.73], a debt that had reached nearly twenty-eight million
pounds by 1807; this does not constitute an argument for Imperialism of
course, but certainly refutes the simplistic "robber baron" caricature
of European involvement in India.  I notice that HT buttered its bread
on both sides, though, by saying that although India was poor because of
being robbed by successive invaders, it was actually rather rich because
Coca Cola wants to sell fizzy drinks there.  I mean!

HT also brazenly promotes a dangerous right-wing fundamentalist Hindu
agenda.  Past editorials have promoted child marriage and are often
xenophobic.

The part which first turned my stomach and then angered me was the
glorification of Indian Poverty as experienced by women and children:

> Sure, there are lots of people in India, and each one's share is
> far less than many places.  But have you ever seen a simple
> village woman, frail and stooped with her years of carrying
> bricks in a basket on her head?  Her clothes were tattered; her
> hair tussled and untied.  Remember those two massive solid gold
> earrings, each the size of a plump pomegranate, dangling
> precariously on lobes stretched thin by the weight?  Did you
> notice her proud carriage, her quick smile, her five children
> frolicking nearby?  She lives in poverty, but can you really
> call her poor?

Of course you can!  She is in desperate need of financial support,
nourishment, education, and almost every other requisite of basic human
dignity and survival that you can name.  I lived in an Indian village
all last year, and the life that the people lead is not enviable or
romantic by any standards.  The figures for infant mortality amongst
both rural and city poor in India are horrific, as are those for death
in childbirth.  I could go on.

The author of this revolting cant should be obliged to change places
permanently with the woman he describes.

Dominik Wujastyk