Sightings Articles
Wagner's Mythologizing of German Mythology
Ed. Note: The author has discussed other aspects of Wagner’s Siegfried in The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) and The Ring of Truth and Other Myths of Sex and Jewelry (New York: Oxford University Press,...
November 5, 2018
Looking Back on My Run-in with Censorship in India
Ed. Note: The author has discussed other aspects of the story of her publishing experiences in India in The New York Review of Books (“India: Censorship by the Batra Brigade,” May 8, 2014); Sightings (“Prelude to Censorship: The Toleration of Blasphe...
October 1, 2018
Prelude to Censorship: The Toleration of Blasphemy in Ancient India
India today is experiencing a powerful wave of censorship of literary texts, films, and artworks. Such a degree of repression is unprecedented in India, but it is rooted in concepts of blasphemy that underwent a number of changes throughout Indian hi...
May 21, 2015
#JeSuisCharlie: Blasphemy in Hinduism and Censorship in India
Free speech, under attack in France, is also contested in India, where violence ignited by videos or messages deemed “blasphemous” or “insulting” by orthodox Hindus has long been a reality. In 2014 alone, eighty-five religion-related attacks on the m...
January 22, 2015
Is Yoga a Form of Hinduism? Is Hinduism a Form of Yoga?
Debates about these questions have been making headlines lately. Some American Hindus have argued that American yoga is not Hindu enough, that Hindus should “Take Back Yoga” (the label of a campaign by the Hindu American Foundation). Other Americans ...
December 30, 2010
Valentine's Day in India
The Sunday Times of India invited me to write something about Hindu attitudes to women for the February 8, 2009, issue, prompted both by the annual problem caused by Valentine's Day in India and by the more specific incident of violence against women...