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Anoop Chandola is a Hindu priest and retired UA professor of East Asian studies.

There have long been two sides to Anoop Chandola. There's the academician – a liberal university professor and linguist-anthropologist. Then there's a Hindu priest, who performs marriage, child naming and other traditional Hindu ceremonies for his close friends.

Chandola's dual life is the topic of the retired University of Arizona professor's book "The Dharma Videos of Lust: Mysteries of Indian Religions," a finalist in the multicultural fiction category of the 2009 National Indie Excellence Awards, awarded to independent publishers and authors.

First published in 2005 and reissued by London's UKA Press in 2008, the book contains a series of humorous, informative stories about Hindu traditions, with a critical eye toward religion.

Chandola – professor emeritus of East Asian Studies, who retired in 2003 after 40 years at the UA – was born to a priestly family in India. Yet he questioned his religion from an early age.

"I was born in the priestly family in the Indian Himalayas. Priestly families are called Brahmins. You learn how to perform Hindu rites and rituals, how to arrange festivals, because some festivals require special worship or rituals," Chandola said. "I learned the basics from my father. He was a priest. And other priests taught me – many, many priests."

However, while he was entitled by birth to practice a priestly profession, and was raised by a devout family, Chandola would never have a desire to follow in his father's footsteps.

He first rejected his religion around age 7 when he witnessed animal sacrifices being made to the gods. It was then that he dismissed a belief in gods or goddesses and also resolved to become a lifelong vegetarian.

Chandola's decision to become an atheist was not easy for his family; his grandmother even worried that he might be a demon. But Chandola never wavered in his opinions, growing up to raise his own son, born in America, to share his views.

In his book, Chandola aims to expose a dark side of his own religion, touching on its role in racism, violence and oppression of women, among other topics.

"I denounce religion, also, because when I was growing up, India was partitioned on the basis of religion. If you saw the movie ‘Gandhi' you know about the Hindu-Muslim riot. Millions of innocent people, whether you call them Hindus or Muslims, were massacred. Hindus would blame the Muslims; the Muslims would blame the Hindus. It didn't help any community," he said.

Chandola left India in 1959, at 22 years old, to study critical languages in America, beginning his life in academia. Yet while he chose a profession in education, he still had the option of performing religious ceremonies because of the family into which he was born. And despite his own beliefs, he has conducted such ceremonies, and continues to do so, only for close friends, whom he does not charge for his services.   

"Hindus can be atheists, because there's a big range. You can be big believers in all those gods and goddesses, or, on the other extreme, you could be a total atheist and yet you can call yourself Hindu," Chandola said. "Many people think religion is one way of life; its not. It's a conglomeration."

As an educator, Chandola never kept his personal views a secret. He even taught anthropological classes on Hinduism, teaching about gods and goddesses as social constructs and making clear he was not on a mission to convert students to Hinduism, despite his alternate label as a priest. Students from across the globe were enrolled in his courses, including Muslims and even nuns and monks, but he says they never challenged his beliefs.

Chandola is the author of several articles and scholarly books in addition to three novels. His other novels are "Discovering Brides," a fictionalized account of Chandola's quest to arrange a marriage for his son, and "The Second Highest World War: The Rama Theatre," which tells the story of an Indian child whose father has gone to fight in World War II.

"The Dharma Videos of Lust," a past finalist in the "Best Books Awards" given by USA Book News, is available for purchase on Amazon.