Rajiv Malhotra

Rajiv Malhotra (born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-American author, public intellectual, and a public proponent of Hindutva. He is the founder of Infinity Foundation, an organisation known to focus on Indic studies, and financially aid Columbia University's project to translate the Tibetan Buddhist Tengyur.

He has been called a Hindu nationalist, due to his prolifically writing in opposition to the western academic study of Indian culture and society, which he maintains denigrates the tradition and undermines the interests of India "by encouraging the paradigms that oppose its unity and integrity". Malhotra has authored books that cover subjects such as civilisational studies, comparative religion, philosophy of science that espouse ideals of Indic traditions and their position in the global discourse.

Early life and education

Malhotra was born on September 15, 1950 in New Delhi, India. He earned his undergraduate education in physics at St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He subsequently moved to the United States where he earned a degree in computer science from Syracuse University.

Career

In 1995, Malhotra established Infinity foundation in Princeton, New Jersey.

Malhotra had been a speaker at an international conference held at the Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and was a board member of the Foundation for Indic Philosophy and Culture at the Claremont Colleges. He also wrote extensively on internet discussion groups and e-magazines.

In October 2018, Malhotra was appointed an honorary visiting professor at the Centre for Media Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. On 6 November 2018, he delivered his first lecture organized by the School of Sanskrit and Indic studies on the topic of Sanskrit non-translatables. As of May 2026, Malhotra serves as the chairman of Center for Indic Studies.

Infinity Foundation

Malhotra founded the institute in 1994; followed by Educational Council of Indic Traditions (ECIT) in 2000. The foundation works without any full-time workers other than the Malhotra himself. The stated goals were to fight a perceived misrepresentation of ancient Indian religions and to document the contributions of India to world civilization. No member of the advisory board was an academic and most belonged to the software industry.

The Foundation has given more than 400 grants for research, education and community work. Financially aids Columbia University's project to translate the Tibetan Buddhist Tengyur. It has also provided small grants to major universities in support of programs including a visiting professorship in Indic studies at Harvard University, Yoga and Hindi classes at Rutgers University, the research and teaching of non-dualistic philosophies at the University of Hawaii, Global Renaissance Institute and a Center for Buddhist studies at Columbia University, a program in religion and science at the University of California, an endowment for the Center for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania, and lectures at the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona. The foundation has provided funding for journals like Education about Asia and the International Journal of Hindu Studies and for the establishment of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence at James Madison University.

Views

Wendy's Child Syndrome

In early 2000s Malhotra started writing articles criticising Wendy Doniger and related scholars, claiming that she applied Freudian psycho-analysis to aspects of Indian culture. His 2002 blog post titled "Wendy's Child Syndrome" was considered as the starting point of a "rift between some Western Hinduism scholars [...] and some conservative Hindus in India, the United States, and elsewhere". Martha Nussbaum has called it a "war" by "the Hindu right" against American scholars.

The blog post "has become a pivotal treatise in a recent rift between some Western Hinduism scholars—many of whom teach or have studied at Chicago—and some conservative Hindus in India, the United States, and elsewhere". Malhotra concluded in his blog post: "Rights of individual scholars must be balanced against rights of cultures and communities they portray, especially minorities that often face intimidation. Scholars should criticize but not define another's religion."

According to Braverman, "Though Malhotra's academic targets say he has some valid discussion points, they also argue that his rhetoric taps into the rightward trend and attempts to silence unorthodox, especially Western, views."

The essay, together with a series of related essays and interviews, has been republished in Academic Hinduphobia, in the wake of the withdrawal of Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History from the Indian market, due to a lawsuit "alleging that it was biased and insulting to Hindus". The withdrawal led to extensive media attention, and renewed sales in India. Malhotra said "the drama has diverted attention away from the substantive errors in her scholarship to be really about being an issue of censorship by radical Hindus", hence the republication of his critique of Wendy Doniger and scholars related to her.

American academia

In his 2003 blog post "Does South Asian Studies Undermine India?" at Rediff India Abroad: India as it happens, Malhotra criticises what he views as uncritical funding of South Asian Studies by Indian-American donors:Many eminent Indian-American donors are being led down the garden path by Indian professors who, ironically, assemble a team of scholars to undermine Indian culture. Rather than an Indian perspective on itself and the world, these scholars promote a perspective on India using worldviews which are hostile to India's interests.