SV: reviews and comments (Freud, Vishnu, Kali, Indus Samskrut)

[V.V. Raman]

Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
<although the contents of the book may be offensive to many Hindus, it is only
fair to say that critique of Christianity by many secularized people
(agnostics/atheists) in the West is just as, or even more, offensive. Thus
Hindus should not feel that they are being treated differently from others.>
A perfectly valid observation, and I tend to agree with this.
But there is an important difference:
Most of the critiques of <Western> traditions/religions come from Western
scholars/thinkers/commentators, expressing themselves in a Western language
within a Western cultural matrix.
In the Hindu context, however, these come most often from <alien>
scholars/thinkers/commentators in a non-Hindu cultural matrix, who express
themselves in the languages of the people who had for more than a century
dominated the Hindu world politically, culturally, and economically.
That is why, though offensive-to-a-tradition expositions are well within the
norms of enlightened scholarly discussions, feelings of hurt and anger on the
part of once-dominated/marginalized peoples tend to be harsh also.
I would like to emphasize that I am not arguing for any restriction on free
thought or speech, but am trying to understand and explain the phenomenon of
cultural rage.
There are/have been Hindu thinkers who engage(d) in criticism of their own
culture/religion in Indian languages and within India. Responses to them within
the Hindu world are of a different nature.
V. V. Raman
March 20, 2001