He stated that through this book, he intended to bring attention to, and provide a counter-argument to, the prevalent Freudian psychoanalytical critiques of Hinduism in the American Academy of Religion's RISA group.

[5][6] After the controversy surrounding Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus: An Alternative History erupted in India, the authors decided to make it freely available online as it critiques a major part of her work.

[12] According to Balakrishna, writing for FirstPost.com India, the book "is perhaps one of the most definitive works that aid our understanding of the exact state of affairs in Indology in the US academia in general and the scholarship of the likes of Wendy Doniger in particular," in addition to Rajiv Malhotra's pioneering criticisms.

[14] Rambachan notes the concerns of American Hindus with perceived negative portrayals of Hinduism and the consequent fear of disregard for Hindu practitioners.

"[16] According to Das, "particular attention is paid to Doniger's sexualisation of mythology, Kripal's portrayal of Ramakrishna (Rām'kṛṣṇa) as homoerotic, and Courtright's sexual interpretation of Gaṇeśa.

"[21] And he notes that the authors seem to be unknown with the broader field of Indological studies: ... the very academics in North America who would a priori be expected to be regarded as the principal authorities on textbased studies on Hinduism ... and their works are passed over in silence, which is truly amazing considering the wealth of philological South Asia related competence in North American universities.

This shows a serious lack of knowledge and comprehension about academic text based studies related to Hinduism in this region of the world, and is a major flaw in this book.