I have read this book ( from cover to the last chapter ). It is a fantastic book, that gives the chronological view of Indian history from the day the Himalayas formed to the 20th century. I would recommend people to read this as an academic book. Wendy does a great job of summarizing the different influences on Hinduism over such a long time (from Vedic times to present). Most of the reviewers of this book on Amazon are offended by the irreverent tone of the book. It is not a summary on the Hinduism, it does not tell what Hinduism means etc. Personally i feel the book is a misnomer, it should be have been an alternate history of the India.
Best parts of the book are the chapters that deal prior to 10th century AD. It is a great read on how the vedic sacrifices got sanitized/sterilized over a 3000 year period. It was bit unsettling to read the part on Ashwamedha yagna etc. Lot of criticism seems to be coming from people who never heard such a thing and then discover that such a thing is part of their heritage. They seem to completely ignore and start bashing the author on pointing out this ugly thing in their own books.
I have personally believed, (prior to reading this book) that the violent nature of the vedic sacrifices were toned down by Hinduism in response to the rising tide of Buddhism and its patronage by early Mauryan emperors. Wendy says that kings gave equal patronage to all religions including Hinduism and Jainism.
Why horse is so central to the Vedic sacrifices? Horse as the divine/fertility giving animal and its importance throughout history to the present age. ( Where as horse it self is a foreign animal to Indian climes ). If horse is such an important animal, why IVC period did not have any reference to this animal ? Why Bull ( Harappan Bull ) vs Vedic Horse. This dichotomy is completely explored in this book.
Another important theme in the book is vernacular influences on the classics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. You can clearly see the feminism views in Mahabharata during Draupadi's ward robe mal function and her questioning the existing gurus and elders, it was expertly captured in a Telugu movie called Pandava Vanvasam. This book argues, almost convinces that it is difficult to see the original influencer in the classics. Does sankrit absorb the Prakrit influences like Pali and southern influences like Tamil etc. We are taught that Samkrit is the root for all Indian languages except Tamil. ( This seems to a complete dubious claim as linguists debunked it in recent times )
One more fact is Mahabharata was translated in to Telugu by 3 poets. It was started in 11th century by Nannaya bhatta and languished there for 2 centuries(he died after finishing 2 and half chapters), before Tikkana picked it up in 13th century. I have always wondered why some one in between did not continue writing it. The answer seems to the religious strife between Veera Shaivas and Veera Vaishnavas ( Dwaitha Vs Adwaitha ). You can think of it as present day Hindu vs Muslim riots. So no one dared to write a story without offending the other side. Tikkana him self started his book by invoking both gods ( Hari Hara ) in his first poem and gave equal importance to both of them. This gap is well explained in the book as the culmination of Bhakti movement in South and how it turned violent.
Anyway, it is a fascinating read if you don't believe in sanitized history that just handed to us in our books by the so called historians. She brings a different in my opinion more palatable view of making sense of completely un-related stuff in a more logical way.
One of my pet projects is to read such a book on Buddhism, Why did it vanish from the land of its birth ? May be Wendy can help here.
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