Wendy Doniger’s recent book: Beyond Dharma has been reviewed by Anand Neelakantan in the Hindu(12.08.2018); here the reviewer has spent much of his words on biographical treatment of the author rather than on contents of the book. The very headline of the review: ‘Dharma’s Judeo-Christian View’ speaks of the religious background of the author, it does not reflect much on the nature of the book, and the subject it handles.

Doniger’s concept of dharma is pseudo-academic in nature, and her book is meant to be referred to by preferred scholars who are not so interested in dharma. The author has consciously avoided Bhagvad Gita, from a book project that reflects on the ‘dharma’ not as a marketable item but as a tool for societal engagement.  

Dharma is name of a place; it identifies Dharmaranya where hermitage of Vyasa then existed on the bank of the river Saraswati. Dharmaranya is identical with Delphi of the Greeks. River Saraswati marks the Greek settlements on the bank of this river where hermitage of Sage Kapila along with Kapilavastu situated. Dhamma of the Buddhists marks one and the same region where philosophical ideas of the ancient world was born identifying the region where all the Buddhas of the past were born.

Doniger has amalgamated the subject matter of the three books: Artha-sastra of Kautilya, Vatsyana’s Kama-sutra, and Manu-smruti to search for the meaning of ‘dharma’. What the author really searches, not the meaning of the Dharma, but different corners of human desires which is not in the dharma.

Writers of the above three books were not Indians at all; Kautilya like Vatsyana and Manus, were Greeks;  meaning of the word ‘artha’ points to ‘Erythrae’(capital of Sivi, or Thebes) from where the ancient world learned its ‘trade’, and Romans were the first to get involved in it. These three books which Doniger refers to were written then for the ‘whole’ of the ‘inhabited world’. Had it been known to Doniger, treatment of the book would have been much different.

Manu-smruti very clearly defines the regions of ‘Brahma-vartta’,  ‘Brahmarshi-desha’, , ‘Aryavartta’, “Madhya-desha’ and ‘Mlechha–desha’.  If Doniger understands the meaning of these five ancient settlements, then there is no problem in finding the inherent meaning of the ‘dharma’. Here Manu clarifies his definition on the ‘dharma’ when he stresses that those who are after artha and kama, should not go for dharma.

‘Brahmarshi-desha’. Manu says, is near ‘Brahma-vastu’. The latter identifies the country of ancient Israeli people. Present day Israelites do not know that their ancient settlement was an integral part of the ancient India at the junction of the seas. They were the seekers of the ‘brahma’ of the ancient world, and thus, were the relics-worshippers then. They were a group of wonderful people of the ancient world who were known with ‘one name’ Hari, and from this name their settlement was called ‘Hari-varsha’, same as Hebrew.

Vatsyana’s Kama-sutra is another book that tells of the ‘dharma’ of the Women’s Country. It was visited by St Paul, and NT knows this country as Fair Haven; Alexander went there like Arjuna and Narada. It was as real as light of the day. Sacred prostitutes of the Bible points to the ancient priestesses; but they were different from Daughters of Zion; perhaps, Doniger is not aware that ‘Virgin’ of the Bible is same as ‘Bhagini’ of other ancient Indian literature; while ‘bhagini’ is translated as ‘sister’ , Virgin remains unchanged in its meaning in biblical texts. ‘Bhagini’ in English becomes ‘Sister’, but daughter becomes ‘Kanya’. Here, King Dasaratha of Ajodhya and King Solomon, are found to have a number of wives in their palaces. This identifies them with the presence of Women’s Country under their administrative control. Some of Ptolemy’s maps pinpoint the geographical situation of the temple where one thousand sacred prostitutes were serving.

The difference between a Yogini and a Bhikshuni is very evident. Similarly, Ganikas, to whom many think as prostitutes, is wrong. They were naked women warriors of the ancient world. Ancient world’s cultural tradition finds prostitution as a part of state Institution where the ‘prostitutes’ are regarded as ‘Nagara-kanya’ and ‘Nagara-badhu’; when a girl enters into this profession, the state observes a dignified public ritual, and now we are far away from it. So we   miss the definition of the ‘dharma’, and pursue the ‘desire’.  

Doniger should know that ancient India is not represented by the present political India. Her conception of ancient India finds home with other Indologists like Prof Michael Witzel and Prof Michel Danino.