30 results on '"HINDUTVA"'
Search Results
2. Hinduism and Hindu Nationalism: From the Editor's Desk.
- Author
-
Sen, Amiya P.
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *HINDUISM , *BRITISH occupation of India, 1765-1947 , *MANNERS & customs , *BROTHERS , *RELIGIOUS identity , *COSMOPOLITANISM , *PREJUDICES - Abstract
This article provides an in-depth exploration of the relationship between Hinduism and Hindu nationalism. It discusses the historical development of Hindu nationalism and its connection to the categorization of Hinduism as a religion. The article also examines the role of key figures in shaping Hindu nationalism and the concept of a Hindu-led nation. It further delves into the complexities of Hindu nationalism, including its relationship with other religions and its impact on the Hindu diaspora. Additionally, the text discusses various movements within Hinduism and their representation in organizations, as well as the influence of Hinduism in America. It also touches on the historical context of Hindu-Muslim conflicts and the conflation of Hindu nationalism and Indian nationalism. The work of scholars and filmmakers in relation to Hinduism is also explored. Overall, the article provides a nuanced perspective on the complexities of Hinduism and its intersections with culture, politics, and society. [Extracted from the article]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. The Global Turn in Nationalism: The USA as a Battleground for Hinduism and Hindu Nationalism.
- Author
-
Kim, Sophie-Jung H.
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *NATIONALISM , *GEOGRAPHIC boundaries , *HINDUISM , *ACTIVISM , *WHITE nationalism - Abstract
Hindu nationalism operates on a global scale today. Evinced by the transnational networks of the Sangh Parivar and the replication of strategies such as amending textbooks and patriotic rewriting of history, politics and discourse of Hindu nationalism are not solely contained to the territorial boundary of the nation. In this globalized battle for and against Hindu nationalism, the United States of America serves as an important site. In light of this, this article puts together existing scholarship on diasporic Hindu nationalism with late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century deterritorial history of Indian nationalism to present a broader framework for historicizing Indian activism in the US. It argues that while long-distance Hindu nationalism in the US cannot be traced before the 1970s, examining the early experiences of Indian activists in the US offers useful insights with which to evaluate the ongoing battles of Hindu nationalism in the US and opens another field of enquiry: Hindutva's counterpublic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. The Politics of Memory: Tradition, Decolonization and Challenging Hindutva, a Reflective Essay
- Author
-
Bihani Sarkar
- Subjects
Ayodhya Ram Temple ,Hindutva ,Hindu traditions ,Sanskrit ,decolonization ,faith and heritage ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
This self-reflective essay explores the wider implications of the BJP’s inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, from the perspective of a scholar of Sanskrit and classical Indian religions. What questions does it raise about our relationship with history, heritage, decolonization and the politics of memory? How can one decolonize oneself and society by reclaiming tradition and heritage, without political agendas and misinterpretations of the past? The article argues for a critical, non-passive, creative, reclamation of tradition for the formation of a truly free decolonized political consciousness.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Between the Boundaries of Asceticism and Activism: Understanding the Authority of the Sadhvis within the Hindu Right in India.
- Author
-
Dasgupta, Koushiki
- Subjects
- *
ASCETICISM , *FEMININITY , *PUBLIC sphere , *HINDUS , *ACTIVISM , *HINDUTVA , *AUTHORITY , *GENDER stereotypes , *MOTHERHOOD - Abstract
Given the emergence of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement in the early 1990s, a group of female ascetics and sadhvis displayed tendencies of eschewing conventional gendered images and reinforcing the ideals of virtuous motherhood and female warriorhood in an effort to establish women's alternative authority in the public and private domains. In order to galvanise women's participation in the public sphere, these sadhvis allowed women to assume roles that would otherwise be reserved for men on the grounds that men are no longer living according to their dharma. In reality, the sadhvis were reorganising the feminine space within a predominately masculine Hindutva movement by recommending a level of politicisation of women's private responsibilities in the public sphere with a distinctive articulation of particular gender stereotypes. Taking into account these factors, my aim in writing this essay is to examine the ramifications of the agency and authority that these sadhvis achieved while actively participating in the Hindutva movement. This paper also aims to find out which types of approaches they employed to address the conflicts between conventional womanhood, asceticism, and heroic femininity in the arena of public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Hindu Nationalism, Gurus and Media.
- Author
-
Copeman, Jacob, Duggal, Koonal, and Longkumer, Arkotong
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *GURUS , *CASTE , *HINDU philosophy , *INSTRUMENTALISM (Philosophy) - Abstract
This commentary offers a reflection on the triangular interactive relationship between Hindutva, gurus and media. It suggests that Hindu nationalists understand gurus to be a specific form of valued Hindu cultural good, which helps to explain mediatised activist attempts to defend gurus from legal and media scrutiny, and historicises the theme of guru domination, caste politics and Hindutva through the optics of matter and media, exploring both the mass remediation of Brahmanical guruship models that attended Hindutva's rise in the 1990s and the oppositional response it provoked, which we term 'the subaltern counter-publicity of the guru'. It discloses how Hindutva is itself structurally composed of guru logics at different scales; it embodies a kind of 'fractal guruship'. However, if Hindutva mediates principles of guruship, we also see how a multitude of public gurus mediates principles of Hindutva. This 'bi-instrumentalism' of Hindu nationalism and some gurus is witnessed in the instances we describe of gurus—and the idea of India as a guru—being used as a means of branding in order to convey and normalise the 'Hindutva idea of India'. We suggest, in light of the frequent mutual mediation of gurus and Hindutva, that continued investment by devotees and commentators in gurus as figures embodying hope and the promise of post-communal amity can aptly be described using Berlant's evocative phrase 'cruel optimism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Islamic Liberation Theology and Decolonial Studies: The Case of Hindutva Extractivism.
- Author
-
Kunnummal, Ashraf
- Subjects
- *
LIBERATION theology , *ISLAMIC theology , *DECOLONIZATION , *HINDUTVA , *SOCIAL dominance ,DEVELOPING countries - Abstract
Decolonial studies define the coloniality of power as a complex assemblage of dominance and hegemony that emerged during the modern era or the era of colonialism, which stretches from the conquest of the Americas to the present. This article argues that, as part of the critical dialogue between decolonial studies and Islamic liberation theology, the latter should position itself in a decolonial political praxis around the preferential option for the poor that takes both a decolonial turn and a decolonial option seriously. There is a tendency to appropriate certain brands of decolonial studies to engage with forms of nationalism, such as Hindutva, to build a "decolonial option" in the global South by undermining the key insights of the "decolonial turn". This article specifically engages with the claims of "decolonial Hindutva" to critique the nationalist appropriation in decolonial studies, thereby marking its divergence from decolonial Islamic liberation theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Orientalism's Hinduism, Orientalism's Islam, and the Twilight of the Subcontinental Imagination.
- Author
-
Basu, Anustup
- Subjects
- *
TWILIGHT , *ISLAM , *RELIGIONS , *ISLAMIC law , *ORIENTALISM , *HINDUISM , *RELIGIOUS fundamentalism - Abstract
Using the figure of the ethnic Pathan/Pashtun as a trope in South Asian culture, this essay provides a genealogical account of the modern emergence of Hindu–Muslim "religious" conflicts played along the lines of nation-thinking in the Indian subcontinent. This modern phenomenon begins in the late 18th century, with the orientalist transcriptions of a vast conglomerate of diverse Indic faiths into a Brahminical–Sanskritic Hinduism and a similar telescoping of complex Islamic intellectual traditions into what we can call a "Mohammedanism" overdetermined by Islamic law. As such, both these transcriptions had to fulfill certain Christological expectations of western anthropology in order to emerge as "religions" and "world religions", that is, when, as Talal Asad has shown, "religion" was constructed as an anthropological category within the parameters of European secular introspection and the modern expansion of empire. Both Hinduism and Islam therefore had to have a book, a prophetic figure, a doctrinal core, and a singular compendium of laws. Upper caste Sanskritic traditions therefore dominated Hinduism, and a legal supremacist position dominated the modern reckoning of Islam at the expense of philosophy, metaphysics, poesis, and varieties of artistic self-making. Together, the two phenomena also created the historical illusion (now industrialized) that Brahminism always defined Hindu societies and the Sharia was always a total fact of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. The Hinduism and Hindu Nationalism of Lala Lajpat Rai.
- Author
-
Bhargav, Vanya Vaidehi
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *IDEOLOGY , *HINDUISM , *HINDUS - Abstract
Lala Lajpat Rai was a prominent figure of the Arya Samaj, the influential nineteenth-century Hindu socio-religious reform movement. He is also seen as having sown the seeds of Hindu nationalism in the first decade of the twentieth century. Exploring Lajpat Rai's thought between the 1880s and 1915, this article traces how felt imperatives of Hindu nation-building impelled him to regularly re-define Hinduism. These first prompted Rai to articulate a 'thin' Hinduism, defined less in terms of an insistence on a complex set of beliefs and more in broad, simple terms. They then induced him to culturalise Hinduism and make a distinction between 'Hinduism' and 'Hindu culture'. The article ends by comparing the Hinduism and Hindu nationalism of Lajpat Rai and V.D. Savarkar, the chief ideologue of the Hindutva ideology, which is considered the main influence on India's Hindu nationalist movement. It argues that while formulations of a thin and culturalised Hinduism enabled both men to articulate a 'Hindu nationalism', their nationalisms in fact remained qualitatively different. By scrutinizing intellectual trends and processes occurring in Rai's thought, the article demonstrates that the modern ideology of Hindu nationalism impacted how Hindu religion was defined and re-defined and how such re-definitions can still produce distinct forms of Hindu nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. Hindu Civilizationism: Make India Great Again.
- Author
-
Saleem, Raja M. Ali
- Subjects
- *
INDIAN Muslims , *ISLAMIC civilization , *GOVERNMENT policy , *HINDUTVA , *PSEUDOSCIENCE - Abstract
Hindu civilizationism is more than a century old phenomenon that has been steadily gaining strength. Its recent amalgam with populism has made it ascendant, popular, and mainstream in India. This paper explores how Hindu civilizationism is not only an essential part of the Hindutva and BJP's narrative but also the mainstay of several government policies. The "other" of the BJP's populist civilizationist rhetoric are primarily Muslims and Muslim civilization in India and the aim is to make India "vishwaguru" (world leader) again after 1200 years of colonialism. The evidence of this heady mixture of civilizationism and populism is numerous and ubiquitous. This paper analyzes topics such as Akhand Bharat, the golden age, denigrating Mughals, Hindutva pseudoscience, and Sanskrit promotion to highlight the evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
11. Hindu Nationalism, Gurus and Media
- Author
-
Jacob Copeman, Koonal Duggal, and Arkotong Longkumer
- Subjects
guru ,guruship ,Hinduism ,Hindu nationalism ,Hindutva ,media ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
This commentary offers a reflection on the triangular interactive relationship between Hindutva, gurus and media. It suggests that Hindu nationalists understand gurus to be a specific form of valued Hindu cultural good, which helps to explain mediatised activist attempts to defend gurus from legal and media scrutiny, and historicises the theme of guru domination, caste politics and Hindutva through the optics of matter and media, exploring both the mass remediation of Brahmanical guruship models that attended Hindutva’s rise in the 1990s and the oppositional response it provoked, which we term ‘the subaltern counter-publicity of the guru’. It discloses how Hindutva is itself structurally composed of guru logics at different scales; it embodies a kind of ‘fractal guruship’. However, if Hindutva mediates principles of guruship, we also see how a multitude of public gurus mediates principles of Hindutva. This ‘bi-instrumentalism’ of Hindu nationalism and some gurus is witnessed in the instances we describe of gurus—and the idea of India as a guru—being used as a means of branding in order to convey and normalise the ‘Hindutva idea of India’. We suggest, in light of the frequent mutual mediation of gurus and Hindutva, that continued investment by devotees and commentators in gurus as figures embodying hope and the promise of post-communal amity can aptly be described using Berlant’s evocative phrase ‘cruel optimism’.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
12. Islamic Liberation Theology and Decolonial Studies: The Case of Hindutva Extractivism
- Author
-
Ashraf Kunnummal
- Subjects
Islamic liberation theology ,decoloniality ,coloniality ,Hindutva ,India ,Empire ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Decolonial studies define the coloniality of power as a complex assemblage of dominance and hegemony that emerged during the modern era or the era of colonialism, which stretches from the conquest of the Americas to the present. This article argues that, as part of the critical dialogue between decolonial studies and Islamic liberation theology, the latter should position itself in a decolonial political praxis around the preferential option for the poor that takes both a decolonial turn and a decolonial option seriously. There is a tendency to appropriate certain brands of decolonial studies to engage with forms of nationalism, such as Hindutva, to build a “decolonial option” in the global South by undermining the key insights of the “decolonial turn”. This article specifically engages with the claims of “decolonial Hindutva” to critique the nationalist appropriation in decolonial studies, thereby marking its divergence from decolonial Islamic liberation theology.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. Between the Boundaries of Asceticism and Activism: Understanding the Authority of the Sadhvis within the Hindu Right in India
- Author
-
Koushiki Dasgupta
- Subjects
sadhvis ,Hindutva ,women ,gender ,activism ,asceticism ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Given the emergence of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement in the early 1990s, a group of female ascetics and sadhvis displayed tendencies of eschewing conventional gendered images and reinforcing the ideals of virtuous motherhood and female warriorhood in an effort to establish women’s alternative authority in the public and private domains. In order to galvanise women’s participation in the public sphere, these sadhvis allowed women to assume roles that would otherwise be reserved for men on the grounds that men are no longer living according to their dharma. In reality, the sadhvis were reorganising the feminine space within a predominately masculine Hindutva movement by recommending a level of politicisation of women’s private responsibilities in the public sphere with a distinctive articulation of particular gender stereotypes. Taking into account these factors, my aim in writing this essay is to examine the ramifications of the agency and authority that these sadhvis achieved while actively participating in the Hindutva movement. This paper also aims to find out which types of approaches they employed to address the conflicts between conventional womanhood, asceticism, and heroic femininity in the arena of public life.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
14. Orientalism’s Hinduism, Orientalism’s Islam, and the Twilight of the Subcontinental Imagination
- Author
-
Anustup Basu
- Subjects
Hindutva ,Islamicist fundamentalism ,religious nationalism ,Hindu nationalism ,Bollywood ,secularism ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Using the figure of the ethnic Pathan/Pashtun as a trope in South Asian culture, this essay provides a genealogical account of the modern emergence of Hindu–Muslim “religious” conflicts played along the lines of nation-thinking in the Indian subcontinent. This modern phenomenon begins in the late 18th century, with the orientalist transcriptions of a vast conglomerate of diverse Indic faiths into a Brahminical–Sanskritic Hinduism and a similar telescoping of complex Islamic intellectual traditions into what we can call a “Mohammedanism” overdetermined by Islamic law. As such, both these transcriptions had to fulfill certain Christological expectations of western anthropology in order to emerge as “religions” and “world religions”, that is, when, as Talal Asad has shown, “religion” was constructed as an anthropological category within the parameters of European secular introspection and the modern expansion of empire. Both Hinduism and Islam therefore had to have a book, a prophetic figure, a doctrinal core, and a singular compendium of laws. Upper caste Sanskritic traditions therefore dominated Hinduism, and a legal supremacist position dominated the modern reckoning of Islam at the expense of philosophy, metaphysics, poesis, and varieties of artistic self-making. Together, the two phenomena also created the historical illusion (now industrialized) that Brahminism always defined Hindu societies and the Sharia was always a total fact of Islam.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
15. Hindu Nationalism Online: Twitter as Discourse and Interface.
- Author
-
Bhatia, Kiran Vinod
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *CRITICAL discourse analysis , *DISCOURSE - Abstract
In this article, I use Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) to examine the productive associations between Twitter as a technological artifact and the quotidian discourse on Hindu nationalism online. The analysis explores the interplay between (1) Twitter as a technical artifact—examining the interface for its affordances and protocols; (2) Twitter as practice—unpacking the quotidian discourse conventions and strategies used to articulate Hindu nationalism; and (3) Twitter as ideology—examining how Hindutva ideology co-opts the platform's affordances to promote anti-minority discrimination. My analysis highlights how the online discourse of Hindu nationalism is a constitutive force informing discussions and decisions concerning several vital issues related to governance, policies, citizenship, COVID-19, and other topics. The discourse of Hindu nationalism online has the potential to percolate into the lived realities of people and has material implications for the workings of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. "Fight, Die, and If Required Kill": Hindu Nationalism, Misinformation, and Islamophobia in India.
- Author
-
Amarasingam, Amarnath, Umar, Sanober, and Desai, Shweta
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *INDIAN Muslims , *ISLAMOPHOBIA , *CONSPIRACY theories , *RIOTS , *HATE crimes , *COVID-19 pandemic - Abstract
This article provides a deep dive into several recent cases of majoritarian hate speech and violence perpetrated against Muslims in India. We first provide an introduction to Hindutva as a social movement in India, followed by an examination of three case studies in which Islamophobic hate speech circulated on social media, as well as several instances of anti-Muslim violence. These case studies—the Delhi riots, the Love Jihad conspiracy theory, and anti-Muslim disinformation related to the COVID pandemic—show that Hindu nationalism in India codes the Muslim minority in the country as particularly dangerous and untrustworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
17. Hindu Civilizationism: Make India Great Again
- Author
-
Raja M. Ali Saleem
- Subjects
India ,Hindutva ,populism ,civilizationism ,Vishwaguru ,Modi ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Hindu civilizationism is more than a century old phenomenon that has been steadily gaining strength. Its recent amalgam with populism has made it ascendant, popular, and mainstream in India. This paper explores how Hindu civilizationism is not only an essential part of the Hindutva and BJP’s narrative but also the mainstay of several government policies. The “other” of the BJP’s populist civilizationist rhetoric are primarily Muslims and Muslim civilization in India and the aim is to make India “vishwaguru” (world leader) again after 1200 years of colonialism. The evidence of this heady mixture of civilizationism and populism is numerous and ubiquitous. This paper analyzes topics such as Akhand Bharat, the golden age, denigrating Mughals, Hindutva pseudoscience, and Sanskrit promotion to highlight the evidence.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. 'Fight, Die, and If Required Kill': Hindu Nationalism, Misinformation, and Islamophobia in India
- Author
-
Amarnath Amarasingam, Sanober Umar, and Shweta Desai
- Subjects
Hindu nationalism ,Hindutva ,Islamophobia ,COVID ,Delhi riots ,RSS ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
This article provides a deep dive into several recent cases of majoritarian hate speech and violence perpetrated against Muslims in India. We first provide an introduction to Hindutva as a social movement in India, followed by an examination of three case studies in which Islamophobic hate speech circulated on social media, as well as several instances of anti-Muslim violence. These case studies—the Delhi riots, the Love Jihad conspiracy theory, and anti-Muslim disinformation related to the COVID pandemic—show that Hindu nationalism in India codes the Muslim minority in the country as particularly dangerous and untrustworthy.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
19. Hinduism, Hindutva and Hindu Populism in India: An Analysis of Party Manifestos of Indian Rightwing Parties
- Author
-
Raja M. Ali Saleem
- Subjects
India ,Hinduism ,populism ,Hindutva ,Modi ,BJP ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Since the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a lot has been written on Hindu nationalism. Prime Minister Modi’s ascendency has similarly resulted in a plethora of books and articles on Hindu populism. However, most of the literature does not distinguish between the two. Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism overlap, particularly in Modi’s India and Modi’s BJP, but they are not the same. In this article, after a discussion on Hinduism’s affinity to populism, an attempt has been made to distinguish between Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism based on an analysis of Hindutva parties’ election manifestos. Since independence, three Hindutva parties have made a name for themselves at the national level: Hindu Mahasabha, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and BJP. Based on their importance and success at the national level, one manifesto of Hindu Mahasabha, two manifestos of BJS and four manifestos of the BJP were analyzed based on criteria chosen after literature review. The results show that while Hindu nationalism was strong and visible in early Hindutva parties (Hindu Mahasabha and BJS), Hindu populism was weak and sporadic. Interestingly, for the BJP, there is rise and then drop in Hindu nationalism while Hindu populism has consistently increased.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Was Swami Vivekananda a Hindu Supremacist? Revisiting a Long-Standing Debate
- Author
-
Swami Medhananda
- Subjects
Swami Vivekananda ,Jyotirmaya Sharma ,Hindu nationalism ,Hindutva ,religious pluralism ,religious inclusivism ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
In the past several decades, numerous scholars have contended that Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu supremacist in the guise of a liberal preacher of the harmony of all religions. Jyotirmaya Sharma follows their lead in his provocative book, A Restatement of Religion: Swami Vivekananda and the Making of Hindu Nationalism (2013). According to Sharma, Vivekananda was “the father and preceptor of Hindutva,” a Hindu chauvinist who favored the existing caste system, denigrated non-Hindu religions, and deviated from his guru Sri Ramakrishna’s more liberal and egalitarian teachings. This article has two main aims. First, I critically examine the central arguments of Sharma’s book and identify serious weaknesses in his methodology and his specific interpretations of Vivekananda’s work. Second, I try to shed new light on Vivekananda’s views on Hinduism, religious diversity, the caste system, and Ramakrishna by building on the existing scholarship, taking into account various facets of his complex thought, and examining the ways that his views evolved in certain respects. I argue that Vivekananda was not a Hindu supremacist but a cosmopolitan patriot who strove to prepare the spiritual foundations for the Indian freedom movement, scathingly criticized the hereditary caste system, and followed Ramakrishna in championing the pluralist doctrine that various religions are equally capable of leading to salvation.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
21. Neo-Hindu Fundamentalism Challenging the Secular and Pluralistic Indian State.
- Author
-
Battaglia, Gino
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *HINDUISM , *RELIGIOUS fundamentalism - Abstract
Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, it would be better to speak of 'equidistance' between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a 'balanced treatment' towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today's Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the 'epiphany' of well-armed, powerful 'Others' (Muslim, Christian or secular) which generated frustration and fear to such an extent that a religious nationalism (Hindutva) was born. Nehru and the Left of the Congress Party leadership thought that modernity would overcome religion, which is a remnant of the past. They were confident that a political culture based on pluralism and tolerance would become the foundations of the new society. This is exactly what Hindu Nationalism takes issue with: the 'pseudo-seculars' project of building the national identity without Hinduism or against Hinduism. Hindutva asserts that Hinduism is the basis of the Indian civilization. The Hindu ethos is the soul of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Coming Home (Ghar Wapsi) and Going Away: Politics and the Mass Conversion Controversy in India
- Author
-
Yashasvini Rajeshwar and Roy C. Amore
- Subjects
Hindutva ,religious conversion ,ghar wapsi ,mass conversion ,India ,Dalit ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
This article addresses two recent socio-religious trends in India: mass conversions to Hinduism (Ghar Wapsi) and mass conversions from Hinduism. Despite officially being a secular nation, organizations allied with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are actively promoting mass conversions to Hinduism. Other religions organize mass conversions, usually of Dalits, away from Hinduism and its legacy of caste discrimination. While several states have controversial laws placing restrictions on mass conversions from Hinduism, mass conversions to Hinduism are often seen as being promoted rather than restricted.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Neo-Hindu Fundamentalism Challenging the Secular and Pluralistic Indian State
- Author
-
Gino Battaglia
- Subjects
Hindu Nationalism ,Hinduism ,Hindutva ,India ,Fundamentalism ,secularism ,religion and violence ,State and religion ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,BL1-2790 - Abstract
Secularism seems to require separation between religion and State. Regarding India, it would be better to speak of ‘equidistance’ between State and religious denominations. Nonetheless a ‘balanced treatment’ towards the religions leaves the question open as to what form that equidistance should take. This is the reason of some contradictions in today’s Indian social and political life. It is likely that without the Moghul and British domination Hinduism would not have acquired a militant identity. It was the ‘epiphany’ of well-armed, powerful ‘Others’ (Muslim, Christian or secular) which generated frustration and fear to such an extent that a religious nationalism (Hindutva) was born. Nehru and the Left of the Congress Party leadership thought that modernity would overcome religion, which is a remnant of the past. They were confident that a political culture based on pluralism and tolerance would become the foundations of the new society. This is exactly what Hindu Nationalism takes issue with: the ‘pseudo-seculars’ project of building the national identity without Hinduism or against Hinduism. Hindutva asserts that Hinduism is the basis of the Indian civilization. The Hindu ethos is the soul of the nation.
- Published
- 2017
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. Emerging Hindu Rashtra and Its Impact on Indian Muslims
- Author
-
M. A. Muqtedar Khan and Rifat Binte Lutful
- Subjects
Hindu state ,Constitution of India ,Hinduism ,Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,democracy ,Islamophobia ,Religious studies ,India ,Hindutva ,BL1-2790 ,secularism ,majoritarianism ,Nationalism ,Indian Muslims ,Pluralism (political theory) ,Political economy ,Political science ,religious freedom ,Hindu nationalism ,pluralism ,Secularism ,Hindu rashtra - Abstract
This article examines the impact of the gradual Hindutvaization of Indian culture and politics on Indian Muslims. The article contrasts the status of Muslims in the still secular, pluralistic, and democratic constitution of India with the rather marginalized reality of Muslims since the rise of Hindu nationalism. The article argues that successive electoral victories by Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has precipitated political events, generated policies, and passed new laws that are eroding the democratic nature of India and undermining its religious freedoms. The article documents recent changes that are expediting the emergence of the Hindu state in India and consequently exposes the world’s largest religious minority to an intolerant form of majoritarian governance.
- Published
- 2021
25. Sound Biting Conspiracy: From India with "Love Jihad".
- Author
-
Frøystad, Kathinka
- Subjects
- *
MUSLIMS , *HINDUTVA , *NEW words - Abstract
Since 2013, India has seen a remarkable growth of a conspiracy theory known as "love jihad", which holds that Muslim men conspire to lure Hindu women for marriage to alter India's religious demography as part of a political takeover strategy. While earlier scholarship on "love jihad" emphasizes the Hindu nationalist propagation of this conspiracy theory, this article pays equal attention to its appeal among conservative Hindus. Making its point of departure in the generative effects of speech, it argues that the "love jihad" neologism performs two logical operations simultaneously. Firstly, it fuses the long-standing Hindu anxiety about daughters marrying against their parents' will, with the equally long-standing anxiety about unfavorable religious demographic trends. Secondly, it attributes a sinister political takeover intent to every Muslim man who casts his eyes on a young Hindu woman. To bring out these points, this article pays equal empirical attention to marriage and kinship practices as to the genealogy of, and forerunners to, the "love jihad" neologism, and develops the concept of "sound biting" to bring out its meaning-making effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Hinduism, Hindutva and Hindu Populism in India: An Analysis of Party Manifestos of Indian Rightwing Parties.
- Author
-
Saleem, Raja M. Ali
- Subjects
- *
HINDUISM , *POPULISM - Abstract
Since the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a lot has been written on Hindu nationalism. Prime Minister Modi's ascendency has similarly resulted in a plethora of books and articles on Hindu populism. However, most of the literature does not distinguish between the two. Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism overlap, particularly in Modi's India and Modi's BJP, but they are not the same. In this article, after a discussion on Hinduism's affinity to populism, an attempt has been made to distinguish between Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism based on an analysis of Hindutva parties' election manifestos. Since independence, three Hindutva parties have made a name for themselves at the national level: Hindu Mahasabha, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and BJP. Based on their importance and success at the national level, one manifesto of Hindu Mahasabha, two manifestos of BJS and four manifestos of the BJP were analyzed based on criteria chosen after literature review. The results show that while Hindu nationalism was strong and visible in early Hindutva parties (Hindu Mahasabha and BJS), Hindu populism was weak and sporadic. Interestingly, for the BJP, there is rise and then drop in Hindu nationalism while Hindu populism has consistently increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Emerging Hindu Rashtra and Its Impact on Indian Muslims.
- Author
-
Khan, M. A. Muqtedar and Lutful, Rifat Binte
- Subjects
- *
HINDUS , *MUSLIMS , *HINDUTVA - Abstract
This article examines the impact of the gradual Hindutvaization of Indian culture and politics on Indian Muslims. The article contrasts the status of Muslims in the still secular, pluralistic, and democratic constitution of India with the rather marginalized reality of Muslims since the rise of Hindu nationalism. The article argues that successive electoral victories by Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has precipitated political events, generated policies, and passed new laws that are eroding the democratic nature of India and undermining its religious freedoms. The article documents recent changes that are expediting the emergence of the Hindu state in India and consequently exposes the world's largest religious minority to an intolerant form of majoritarian governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
28. River Goddesses, Personhood and Rights of Nature: Implications for Spiritual Ecology
- Author
-
Kelly D. Alley
- Subjects
lcsh:BL1-2790 ,Personhood ,rights of nature ,India ,Context (language use) ,spiritual ecology ,Yamuna ,Archival research ,lcsh:Religions. Mythology. Rationalism ,Hindutva ,Political science ,Hindu nationalism ,0601 history and archaeology ,0505 law ,050502 law ,Ganga ,060101 anthropology ,05 social sciences ,Religious studies ,Environmental ethics ,06 humanities and the arts ,Rights of Nature ,rivers ,Hinduism ,Environmentalism ,Spiritual ecology - Abstract
Designating rights for nature is a potentially powerful way to open up the dialogue on nature conservation around the world and provide enforcement power for an ecocentric approach. Experiments using a rights-based framework have combined in-country perspectives, worldviews, and practices with legal justifications giving rights to nature. This paper looks at a fusion of legal traditions, religious worldviews, and practices of environmental protection and advocacy in the context of India. It takes two specific legal cases in India and examines the recent high-profile rulings designating the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and their tributaries and glaciers as juristic persons. Although the rulings were stayed a few months after their issuance, they are an interesting bending of the boundaries of nature, person, and deity that produce Ganga and Yamuna as vulnerable prototypes. This paper uses interview data focusing on these cases and document and archival data to ask whether legal interventions giving rights to nature can become effective avenues for environmental activism and spiritual ecology. The paper also assesses whether these legal cases have promoted Hindu nationalism or &lsquo, Hindutva lite&rsquo
- Published
- 2019
29. Was Swami Vivekananda a Hindu Supremacist? Revisiting a Long-Standing Debate.
- Author
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Medhananda, Swami
- Subjects
- *
HINDUTVA , *LIBERALISM - Abstract
In the past several decades, numerous scholars have contended that Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu supremacist in the guise of a liberal preacher of the harmony of all religions. Jyotirmaya Sharma follows their lead in his provocative book, A Restatement of Religion: Swami Vivekananda and the Making of Hindu Nationalism (2013). According to Sharma, Vivekananda was "the father and preceptor of Hindutva," a Hindu chauvinist who favored the existing caste system, denigrated non-Hindu religions, and deviated from his guru Sri Ramakrishna's more liberal and egalitarian teachings. This article has two main aims. First, I critically examine the central arguments of Sharma's book and identify serious weaknesses in his methodology and his specific interpretations of Vivekananda's work. Second, I try to shed new light on Vivekananda's views on Hinduism, religious diversity, the caste system, and Ramakrishna by building on the existing scholarship, taking into account various facets of his complex thought, and examining the ways that his views evolved in certain respects. I argue that Vivekananda was not a Hindu supremacist but a cosmopolitan patriot who strove to prepare the spiritual foundations for the Indian freedom movement, scathingly criticized the hereditary caste system, and followed Ramakrishna in championing the pluralist doctrine that various religions are equally capable of leading to salvation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. Coming Home (Ghar Wapsi) and Going Away: Politics and the Mass Conversion Controversy in India.
- Author
-
Rajeshwar, Yashasvini and Amore, Roy C.
- Subjects
- *
SOCIALISM & religion ,SOCIAL conditions in India, 1947- - Abstract
This article addresses two recent socio-religious trends in India: mass conversions to Hinduism (Ghar Wapsi) and mass conversions from Hinduism. Despite officially being a secular nation, organizations allied with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are actively promoting mass conversions to Hinduism. Other religions organize mass conversions, usually of Dalits, away from Hinduism and its legacy of caste discrimination. While several states have controversial laws placing restrictions on mass conversions from Hinduism, mass conversions to Hinduism are often seen as being promoted rather than restricted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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