On the Orientalist scholars' method of understanding Indian history and culture, the author says that "The various phases of Orientalism tended to mould European understanding of the Indian past into a particular pattern. . . . There was an attempt to formulate Indian culture as uniform, such formulations being derived from texts that were given priority. The so-called 'discovery' of India was largely through selected literature in Sanskrit." In other words, there was an attempt to selectively analyze material that conformed to a specific view of India. Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America is similar to this.