New Delhi: The controversy over Penguin Books India withdrawing all published copies of Wendy Doniger’s book ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ from India and pulp their remaining copies has also resulted in a greater interest in Doniger’s other works.
On Hinduism , a different book by Wendy Doniger is currently the No 5 bestselling Kindle ebook on Amazon India. It is also plausible that users have mistaken On Hinduism for The Hindus or because The Hindus is currently unavailable on Amazon.in and therefore users are exploring other works by the same author. Nevertheless the controversy is paying some dividends for the author.
ALSO SEE Penguin agrees to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s book ‘The Hindus’ from India and pulp all copies
The e-version of On Hinduism is available on Amazon.in at Rs 395.38 (a discount of 47% over the listing price of Rs 746). A hardcover version of the book is also available at Rs 799, but that doesn’t appear to be selling as much.
Wendy Doniger’s ‘On Hinduism’ is ranked No 5 on Amazon India’s top 100 paid Kindle eBooks bestsellers list.
On the Top 100 Paid Kindle eBooks bestsellers list On Hinduism stands higher than Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Amish Tripathi’s Secret of the Nagas , Dan Brown’s Inferno: (Robert Langdon Book 4) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland .
ALSO SEE Full text: Petition seeking Penguin Books apology for Wendy Doniger’s book
The move that is being seen as a curb on the freedom of expression and has angered many on social media websites. Critics say Penguin has caved in instead of defending its author. Wendy Doniger, though, has defended Penguin, “Penguin, India, took this book on knowing that it would stir anger in the Hindutva ranks, and they defended it in the courts for four years, both as a civil and as a criminal suit. They were finally defeated by the true villain of this piece-the Indian law that makes it a criminal rather than civil offense to publish a book that offends any Hindu, a law that jeopardizes the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation brought against a book, “she said.
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