“Book Review | The Hindus of Hindustan: A Civilizational Journey”, News 18, September 02,2023:
“Hindustan” was a Persian geographical term for the land beyond the Sindhu/Indus, and still is. It is synonymous with Bharat, the subcontinent. This won’t assuage the hostile observers who suspect a dirty anti-secular secret whenever an Indian leader calls this country Hindustan. “Hindu”, by contrast, did acquire a religious meaning when the Muslim invaders brought into India “any Indian unbeliever”. The expression “Hindus of Hindustan” plays upon the tension between these two meanings.
Dr Meenakshi Jain, formerly with Delhi University and with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, is one of India’s most meritorious and productive (I had almost written ‘eminent’) historians. Of both Rama and Krishna, she has given clear answers about their historicity and the many unsuspected ramifications of their afterlife as popular gods.
In documenting and analysing specialised historical themes, from Sati to the Hindus’ resourceful defence against iconoclasm, she has few rivals and nothing to prove anymore. But her new book, The Hindus of Hindustan: A Civilizational Journey (Aryan Books, 2023), deals with a very general theme on which many opinion makers are also having their say. How does she hold up here?….”
Read the full article at News18.com
