Wendy Doniger's acclaimed history of Hinduism will be destroyed in India after Penguin settles case with religious activists
Fundamentalists have also criticised the book's cover jacket showing Lord Krishna 'sitting on the buttocks of a naked woman'
The publisher Penguin has been accused of cowardice after it agreed to withdraw and pulp all remaining copies of a widely-acclaimed book on Hinduism to settle a civil claim from a Hindu fundamentalist group.
The book, The Hindus, An Alternative History, by respected American academic Wendy Doniger, was published in 2009 to correct misunderstanding of the religion as prescriptive and shame-based and to reveal its compassionate and tolerant roots.
But it provoked an angry response from Hindu fundamentalist groups who said it took a "Christian missionary" approach to denigrate the faith, was littered with factual errors and defamed revered Gods.
Soon after its publication, a civil case was launched by six complainants led by Dina Nath Batra a text book adviser during the last Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government who rejected a number of history books be believed had wounded Hindu "sentiments" and pride. Ms Doniger's book had intended to show the Hindu religion "in a poor light" and had been disrespectful of its Gods and Goddesses, he argued.
His group's claim cited the book's cover jacket which shows Lord Krishna "sitting on the buttocks of a naked woman, surrounded by naked women." The picture had attempted to "ridicule, humiliate and defame the Hindus and denigrate the Hindu traditions," it added.
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