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19. Hinduism for Hindus

Taking Back Hindu Studies

shrinivas tilak

The master’s tools will never dismantle

the master’s house.

audre lorde

This essay was previously published as “Taking Back Hindu Studies,” http://www.sulekha.com, Janu-
ary 6, 2004.

This essay is a response to writings by Rajiv Malhotra on RISA-L scholarship and
Hinduism that appeared on the Web site sulekha.com.^1 I have written it in my ca-
pacity as a Hindu living in the diaspora and as a member (albeit marginalized!) of
RISA-L. The essay is addressed to the readers and members of sulekha.com as well
as those Indians and other scholars, researchers, and sympathizers of Hinduism who
work with, alongside, and for disciplines that may come under the rubric of Hindu
studies as part of the larger discipline of Indology. More particularly, it seeks to ini-
tiate a dialogue with the growing number of Hindus in the diaspora whose profes-
sional field of research is not Hinduism or Hindu studies but who nevertheless have
received training in the Western academic setting and are familiar with disciplinary
methodologies of the humanities and social sciences.
The impetus for this essay is the growing dissatisfaction on the part of Hindus in
the diaspora with the way Hindu deities such as Ganesha or Hindu religious lead-
ers like Shri Ramakrishna have been depicted by North American scholars of Hin-
duism. This dissatisfaction has been voiced and reiterated in a number of articles
and comments on articles on the Web site sulekha.com. Hindu community activists
like Ms. Mona Vijaykar have voiced their concern at gatherings such as the DANAM
(Dharma Association of North America) conference in Atlanta, Georgia, which