Penguin India agreed Tuesday to withdraw all published copies of American academic Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, after a settlement with a right-wing Hindu organization that had petitioned against the 2009 book.
According to the settlement, Penguin said "it respects all religions worldwide." The publishers also agreed to destroy all the recalled and unsold copies of the book at its own cost.
Penguin has agreed to withdraw Wendy Doniger's book "The Hindus" from India & destroy all copies. See agreement below
The petition to withdraw the "flawed book on Hindu history," was filed in 2011 by a group of Hindu academics including the president of a socially conservative group with alleged ties to the RSS — a Hindu nationalist group.
The petitioners asked for Penguin to withdraw all copies of the book and apologize for the "the publication of the factually incorrect and offensive book."
The petition claimed that Doniger's book was rife with "numerous errors in its historical facts and Sanskrit translations" (although Doniger is a Sanskritist).
The petitioners also complained of Doniger's analysis of Hindu gods and goddesses using her "widely discredited psychosexual Freudian theories," and her "bizarre emphasis on sexuality and eroticism."
They also complained of the book's "SCANDALOUS cover jacket" in the petition.
The Wendy Doniger book's jacket, which riled and embarrassed the #Hindus
In a legal notice sent to Doniger and Penguin, the lead petitioner, Dina Nath Batra, stated that he found the book to be "a shallow, distorted and non-serious presentation of Hinduism, riddled with heresies."
Wendy Doniger, a widely-respected scholar on Hinduism and a professor at the University of Chicago, has often been perceived as a Hindu-basher by detractors both in India and in the U.S.
In a statement, Doniger said that while she did not blame Penguin, she was "deeply troubled" by what the incident "foretells for free speech in India." She also said it was impossible to "suppress a book" in the age of the Internet.
Statement from Prof Wendy Doniger on the Indian ban on The Hindus (2008)
Penguin's decision to withdraw the book caused a huge debate on Twitter and "The Hindus" became a top trending topic.
Doniger became idol of inferiority complex Indians in awe that white person studies Hinduism. Americans had dumped her after my articles
Some came out strongly in support of Penguin's decision to withdraw The Hindus.
Congrats to Shikhsa Bachao Andolan for Ban on Book The Hindus. Feeling Proud for being Part of this Struggle
Thank God Penguin agrees to axe Wendy Doniger's fetishist opus, The Hindus: An Alternative History - http://t.co/jYZRuTDkoo via @indiatoday
The Hindus appear like a sexual satire rather than scholastic work.
@rahulroushan It's like a Indianised version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Shambolic.
Several others expressed outrage and disappointment over the publisher's decision to pulp the book.
Penguin agrees to pulp all copies of Wendy Doniger's book 'The Hindus' http://t.co/HxVAh99Hw5 via @ibnlive A GREAT SHAME TO FREE EXPRESSION!
It's a terrible thing to force The Hindus to be destroyed. Those who can't face criticism of their religion are not confident of their faith
Penguin to withdraw Wendy Doniger's book. The "offended" prevail over freedom of speech. Surely gods too great to be so easily upset?
Utterly mad - Wendy Doniger's book 'The Hindus: An Alternative History' recalled by Penguin & all copies destroyed http://t.co/bpnerkk8hw
.@HDLANNIHILATOR The answer to a book one doesn't like is another book, not a ban, or legal action, or physical intimidation.
Very troubled @PenguinIndia is pulping all copies of Doniger's 'The Hindus'. Freedom of expression slowly ebbs away http://t.co/vPUmO8lpti
Very uneasy about Penguin decision on Wendy Doniger book. Ideas & academic studies, howevercontentious, cannot be handled by censorship.
This The Hindus is actually a pretty fascinating book. Read it if you are not too touchy abt religious figures and stories ....
The last line of her preface is what Wendy Doniger's book is all about, and why it should be read.
By choosing to withdraw The Hindus, Penguin chose to side with the Hindutva brigade: http://t.co/fgEmksnbZ9
And another book burns in the name of religious sentiment. | Wendy Doniger's #TheHindus withdrawn by Penguin India http://t.co/prMVFOmAkv
Some believe that Penguin should have appealed to a higher court against the petition.
#PenguinBooks disappointing. Book sales should have decided the destiny of 'The Hindus'. Shocking that U didn't take appeal 2 the next level
Have read, reviewed and disagreed with Doniger's book. Certainly don't want it pulped. Astonished Penguin didn't appeal to a higher court
This is deeply disappointing: http://t.co/peYAZ4ajeK Penguin should have appealed in a higher court.
Penguin should not have caved on this: http://t.co/hnPvzVKL8T
Following Doniger's statement, several people offered links and other means to read the book.
A good time to remind people that The Hindus: An Alternative History is not banned. Perfectly legal to read the book, in other editions.
"in the age of the Internet, it is no longer possible to suppress a book. The Hindus is available on Kindle" download Wendy Doniger's book!
There are worse crimes than burning books.One of them is not reading them. Read Wendy Doniger's The Hindus up at https://t.co/bd08dDbecD
Read it anyway you can I say RT @hamrust: Amazon, Torrent and PDF links for Wendy Doniger's The Hindus http://t.co/6KHamy0K9m
@DeathEndsFun @mriganayanika Apologies for the piracy in advance but The Hindus is also available here. https://t.co/bd08dDbecD
Here's an online copy: "The Hindus" by Wendy Doniger http://t.co/8wmsHqZvuJ …
If anybody out there looking for Wendy Doniger's book now being pulped, epub versions on https://t.co/HPRhsjEIGj. Please RT
download and read Wendy Doniger's "The Hindus -An Alternative History" here -http://t.co/Cw4IEr5blR
Hah. I have downloads of both Flappy Bird and The Hindus.
Owing to the renewed publicity, the book started climbing the charts on Amazon.
I see the book on Hinduism that Penguin were bullied into pulping is doing well on the Amazon chart: http://t.co/aRruvAtH6I
On Feb. 11, the book was at No. 3 in Amazon's list of Movers & Shakers, featuring the biggest gainers in sales over the past 24 hours.
