“Book Review: Why are We This Way by Ami Ganatra”, Indica Today, June 07, 2026
“Will Durant famously remarked in The Story of Philosophy that man’s knowledge has become too much for him. The cumulative burden of specialized disciplines, evolved over time, has become so much, Durant argued, that it is in need of great synthesis. This is the task that Durant set upon himself and it later resulted in The Story of Civilization. Every society needs such sense making from time to time. Hindu civilization can boast that it is the greatest knowledge tradition in the world. We also call it Indian Knowledge Systems. We have produced thousands of texts and it is a matter of pride but it can also intimidate a contemporary youth, who wants to explore them but has no means to do it because the modern education system has not prepared him for it. Such a great textual tradition needs consistent attempts to make sense of it from time to time.
Ami Ganatra, a scholar of Shastras, has made such an attempt with her latest book “Why are We This Way: A Guide to Hindu Shastras”. The book aims to explain to the contemporary generation what their texts are about. But it is far from just a compendium of Indian texts. It is an argumentative walk-through of the Indian Knowledge Systems. Continuing in a way in the tradition of Itihasa-Puranas, Ami discusses life’s most significant questions through discussing the events and incidents of the shastras. In other words, the reader gets to argue, contemplate and reflect upon some of the most fundamental questions of life and the nature of Hindu society as Ami walks them through by discussing the finer points of the Shastras.
This is the strength of her writing style but it is also indicative of a fundamental nature of our texts. Hindu texts are not ossified commandments, written in stone. They are also not historical texts recording everyday details. They are living systems instructing upon dharma to help us resolve the dilemmas of life. It is very difficult to understand dharma from only definitions. Dharma is an instruction in lifestyle and conduct and that is something one can learn only from live examples of daily life illustrated through a narrative. Itihasas and Puranas illustrate this function the best, but almost all our texts including the Upanishads have stories that weave narratives of dharma because the purpose is to give life instruction. That is why Hindu texts are dynamic and interactive. Dynamic because they are relevant in every time and place. Interactive because they are capable of speaking to individuals about their specific problems. Like Hindu civilization, they are living, and thus not motionless. Modernists often mistake Hindu texts to be either historical records or closed texts. They are neither. Ami has written this book to illustrate from example by example, how this is so…….”
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