California textbook controversy over Hindu history
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A controversy in the US state of California concerning the portrayal of Hinduism in history textbooks began in 2005. The Texas-based Vedic Foundation (VF)[1] and the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF),[2] complained to California's Curriculum Commission, arguing that the coverage in sixth grade history textbooks of Indian history and Hinduism was biased against Hinduism;[1] points of contention included a textbook's portrayal of the caste system, the Indo-Aryan migration theory, and the status of women in Indian society.[3]
The California Department of Education (CDE) initially sought to resolve the controversy by appointing Shiva Bajpai, Professor Emeritus at California State University Northridge, as a one-man committee to review revisions proposed by the groups. Bajpai, who was selected by the Vedic Foundation for the task, approved nearly all the changes;[4] while presented by the VF as an independent scholar, it later came out that he was a member of a closely affiliated organization.[5]
Michael Witzel, Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University organized Indologists against the objections of Hindu groups, sending a letter with some 50 signatories to the CDE to protest changes of a "religious-political nature".[3]
Witzel, Stanley Wolpert and a third Indologist then revisited the proposed changes on behalf of the State Board of Education and suggested reverting some of the approved changes.[6] According to the CDE, these scholars came to either an agreement or a compromise on the majority of the edits and corrections to the textbooks in 2006, with some proposed changes accepted and others rejected.[7] In early 2006, the Hindu American Foundation sued the State Board over matters of process.[6] The case was settled in 2009.[8]
A follow-up debate on California textbook took place from 2016 to 2017, dealing with some of the same topics.