About this item
The book explores the battle between Western and traditional approaches to Sanskrit and sanskriti (civilization) . It exposes the dominant Western scholarship, in particular its subversive allegation that the Sanskrit heritage has been a political weapon for social oppression. Without adequate critical inquiry,Indian English-language elites have internalized such lopsided ideas and enshrined them in various mainstream institutions. Controversial and thought-provoking, the book proposes a set of debates for the intellectual kurukshetra (battlefield) pertaining to the social, political, historical and contemporary dimensions of Indian sanskriti. It is intended as a wake-up call to the traditionalists and seeks to inspire a home team to pursue such debates.
About the Author
Rajiv Malhotra is an Indian-American researcher, writer, speaker and public intellectual on current affairs as they relate to civilizations, cross-cultural encounters, religion and science. Rajiv Malhotra was born in 1950. He studied physics at St. Stephens College in Delhi and went for a PhD in physics to University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and later switched to computer science at Syracuse University. He was a senior executive, strategic consultant and a successful entrepreneur in the information technology and media industries until his retirement in 1994 at age 44. Rajiv took an early retirement to pursue philanthropic and educational activities and founded the Infinity foundation in 1994.
Rajiv has conducted original research in a variety of fields and has influenced many other thinkers in India and the West. He has disrupted the mainstream thought process among academic and non-academic intellectuals alike, by providing fresh provocative positions on Dharma and on India. Some of the focal points of his work are: Interpretation of Dharma for current times; comparative religion, globalization, and India's contribution to the world. He has authored hundreds of articles, provided strategic guidance to numerous organization and has over 300 video lectures available online. To best understand Rajiv's thoughts and contribution, his books are a good resource. Besides "Invading the Sacred", in which Rajiv is the main protagonist, he has authored the following game changing books:
- Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism
- Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines; and
- Indra's Net: Defending Hinduism's Philosophical Unity
Currently, Rajiv Malhotra is a full-time founder-director of the Infinity Foundation in Princeton, NJ. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Center for Indic Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and as adviser to various organizations.
The Foundation has given more than 400 grants for research, education and community work. The Infinity foundation has provided small grants to major universities in support of programs including visiting professorship in Indic studies at Harvard University, Yoga and Hindi classes at Rutgers University, the research and teaching of nondualistic philosophies at University of Hawaii, Global Renaissance Institute and a Center for Buddhist studies at Columbia University, a program in religion and science at University of California, and endowment for the Center for Advanced Study of India at University of Pennsylvania, lectures at the Center for Consciousness Studies at University of Arizona.
