Search Results

Monkey in the Middle: Hanuman and His Kin in Transcultural Discourse

Philip Lutgendorf

in Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey

This chapter focuses on a theme implicit in much of the book: the relationship of Hanuman's simian form to the mediatory religious role he assumes and to the “messages” he so effectively delivers. It ... More

This chapter focuses on a theme implicit in much of the book: the relationship of Hanuman's simian form to the mediatory religious role he assumes and to the “messages” he so effectively delivers. It first considers the preoccupation of some modern Indian authors with the “problem” of Hanuman's monkey form, situating their interventions within colonial and post-colonial debates about history, race, and cultural and biological evolution. For comparative purposes, it surveys a wider range of human responses to anthropoid primates, including the cults of simian deities in Chinese and Japanese religions and the discourse of modern primatology. Returning to India, it considers Hanuman's role in modern Hindu nationalism and in the religious patronage of the emerging middle class. Finally, it examines evidence of Hanuman's continuing rise as a comprehensive and encompassing deity, signaled by new iconography and a proliferating theological discourse. An epilogue speculates on the potential for Hanuman's role in movements promoting ecology and environmental ethics.Less

Introduction: New Houses for the Gods in an Urban World

Joanne Punzo Waghorne

in Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World

Tourists rarely consider Chennai a “temple city”, yet this major commercial center is experiencing a temple building boom. As active in building the economy as in constructing temple, new donors and ... More

Tourists rarely consider Chennai a “temple city”, yet this major commercial center is experiencing a temple building boom. As active in building the economy as in constructing temple, new donors and devotees, who openly describe themselves as “middle class”, hold responsible positions in Chennai's modern technological, scientific, governmental, and business establishments. This chapter introduces the array of temples surveyed in Chennai and the many rituals of consecration (mahakumbhabhisheka) observed. Highlighting three new temples and their urban donors in detail, the chapter reconsiders “religion in the city”/urban religion (post Max Weber); the interplay of “tradition” and “modernity” (post Milton Singer); and old issues of economic development and Hindu religiosity. The chapter argues that significant cultural-religious changes occur in these temples, where donors and devotees reconstruct “tradition” and establish innovations in the context of space not ideology, thus creating an emerging reconfiguration of Hinduism that both rivals and parallels the much-discussed Hindu nationalism.Less

Aryan Origins and Modern Nationalist Discourse

Edwin Bryant

in The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate

This final chapter discusses some of the more modern ideological underpinnings of the Indo-Aryan origin debate in India as different forces compete over the construction of national identity. Other ... More

This final chapter discusses some of the more modern ideological underpinnings of the Indo-Aryan origin debate in India as different forces compete over the construction of national identity. Other concerns motivating some of the participants on both sides of the Indigenous Aryan debate are also considered, showing how the same theme of Aryan origins has been used to support a variety of agendas on the Indian subcontinent. It is suggested that although the promotion of Indigenous Aryanism is undoubtedly extremely important to notions of identity and to the politics of legitimacy among certain Hindu nationalists, such concerns are not representative of all the scholars who have supported this point of view. Unfortunately, however, the whole Indigenous Aryan position is often simplistically stereotyped and conveniently demonized, both in India and in the West, as a discourse exclusively determined by such agendas. This bypasses other concerns also motivating such reconsideration of history: the desire of many Indian scholars to reclaim control over the reconstruction of the religious and cultural history of their country from the legacy of imperial and colonial scholarship. The manifold concerns that the author perceives as motivating Indigenous Aryanists to undertake a reconsideration of this issue are discussed, and it is argued that although there are doubtlessly nationalistic and, in some quarters, communal agendas lurking behind some of this scholarship, a principal feature is anticolonial/imperial.Less

Reform, Revival and the Call for Hindu Rashtra

Nikita Sud

in Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat

This chapter explores Gujarat’s nineteenth-century path to Hindu communalism and the shaping of the Hindu nationalist project in the twentieth century. It begins with initiatives for social reform ... More

This chapter explores Gujarat’s nineteenth-century path to Hindu communalism and the shaping of the Hindu nationalist project in the twentieth century. It begins with initiatives for social reform that questioned and sought to change social and religious practices along western liberal and rational lines. It then moves to a more revivalist trend based on an original imagined community that had been sullied by invasions from the West and the East. Next comes the ideological and organizational apparatus of Hindu nationalism that has harnessed history and politics to generate an enduring movement, though not one without ups and downs. The latter undulations are traced against the politics of twentieth-century Gujarat. Events on the national stage form a backdrop to the narrative.Less

Colonial Legacies: Some Concluding Thoughts

Brian K. Pennington

in Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion

This final chapter makes the case for the retention of certain received categories and approaches in the study of Hindu traditions in response to the recent critiques of several western scholars who ... More

This final chapter makes the case for the retention of certain received categories and approaches in the study of Hindu traditions in response to the recent critiques of several western scholars who argue that terms such as “Hinduism” and “religion” cannot find meaningful analogues in Indian traditions, and that scholars in the history of religions ought to dispense with them. In some instances, utterly dismissive of religious faith, practice, or identity, this deconstruction of widely accepted categories is not without significant political ramifications, as seen in recent literatures of Christian missionaries and Hindu nationalism. In an atmosphere of global religious upheaval and transformation, this attack on these categories promises only to exacerbate the clash of identities and communities with one another and with the secular academy. Europe, North America, and India are all in need of new models for structuring the relationship of religion and citizenship, a task in which Hindu-Christian dialogue can play an important role. The simultaneous estrangement of religious communities from public life and nationalization of religious identity speak to the tensions inherent in the loyalties demanded by religious faith and citizenship. Some trends in religious studies today seem to offer not solutions to this impasse, but rather encouragement to further talking at cross purposes.Less

Ahimsa, Gandhi, and the Angry Hindu

Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi

in Pogrom in Gujarat: Hindu Nationalism and Anti-Muslim Violence in India

This chapter begins with an error in a newspaper clipping, something that came over The Times of India at a most inopportune moment. The error attributed violence to Gandhi, while it placed him in a ... More

This chapter begins with an error in a newspaper clipping, something that came over The Times of India at a most inopportune moment. The error attributed violence to Gandhi, while it placed him in a pantheon of important national leaders, all of whom are said to oppose violence. The thumbnail version of ahimsa (nonviolence) is the seemingly arbitrary addition or subtraction of “non-” to “violence,” the inclusion of the himsa of ahimsa as part of a political movement and its cultural resources. Violence and nonviolence have become that over which one establishes mastery and thus over the appeal and power that a figure like Gandhi carries. In a Hindu nationalist context, ahimsa stands in the service of himsa, the one a sign of strength, the other a sign of cowardice.Less

Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in a Changing World

James G. Lochtefeld

in God's Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place

The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant ... More

The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant economic benefits and pernicious social effects, among them attracting a clientele seeking ease and entertainment. Another is greater literacy and scientific education, which have generated greater skepticism about the literal reality of religious merit (punya). A final factor has been the rise of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), in which pilgrim crowds can send a political message. These changes have prompted a variety of Hindu responses. Some simply lament how such changes have disrupted traditional religious patterns, and others completely reject these patterns. The most sophisticated and productive responses have sought to reinterpret traditional ideas into a religious paradigm appropriate for contemporary times.Less

Introduction

Nikita Sud

in Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat

As India’s contemporary growth story occupies the international spotlight, this book sets out to investigate the political, social and developmental complexities of this process. For empirical depth, ... More

As India’s contemporary growth story occupies the international spotlight, this book sets out to investigate the political, social and developmental complexities of this process. For empirical depth, it focuses on Gujarat in western India, which presents an intriguing combination of economic liberalism and political illiberalism. The introductory chapter sets out the research questions through which Gujarat’s trajectories of liberalization and Hindu nationalism are to be explored. Since the career of the state is at the heart of the investigation, a theoretical map of this entity is laid out. Chapter outlines are then provided and a brief survey of the literature is undertaken.Less

 The Politics of Religion and the Morality of Globalization

Abdullahi A. An‐Na'im

in Religion in Global Civil Society

This essay questions whether economic globalization and global civil society work against each other or in concert. Examining Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu nationalism, and Liberation Theology, it ... More

This essay questions whether economic globalization and global civil society work against each other or in concert. Examining Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu nationalism, and Liberation Theology, it proposes that there are possibilities of synergy and mediation between the two: the exclusivity and intolerance of some religious communities can be moderated by the impact of economic globalization, while economic globalization’s inattentiveness to social justice can be redressed through the moral guidance of religion.Less

The Blame Game: Recriminations from the Indian Left

Pathik Pathak

in The Future of Multicultural Britain: Confronting the Progressive Dilemma

This chapter examines how India's Left assigned the blame for the rise of Hindu nationalism to its rival factions. In particular, it scrutinizes the common accusation that anti-secularism is ... More

This chapter examines how India's Left assigned the blame for the rise of Hindu nationalism to its rival factions. In particular, it scrutinizes the common accusation that anti-secularism is complicit with Hindu nationalism and questions whether other voices on the Left have been able to answer meaningfully to Hindutva by way of an alternative. The chapter concludes that neither state secularism nor anti-secularism answers meaningfully to Hindu majoritarianism, but that the latter, like Parekh's multiculturalism, moves towards the ‘politically sensitive imagination’ required to rehabilitate the project of Indian democracy.Less

Conclusion

Nikita Sud

in Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat

This book has covered critical themes in the life of twentieth-century Gujarat. It has settled on liberalization and Hindu nationalism as significant motifs in the trajectory of the region today. The ... More

This book has covered critical themes in the life of twentieth-century Gujarat. It has settled on liberalization and Hindu nationalism as significant motifs in the trajectory of the region today. The concluding chapter brings together explanations for their convergence. It draws on accounts from the history, politics, economics, sociology and leadership base of Gujarat. These explanations are then placed against national and international developments. Next, the third major theme of this work, that is the state, is considered. Based on the findings of this book and cognate literature, the case for a contemporary reinvention rather than recession of the state is underlined. A final statement considers the place of this dynamic state in the liberal-illiberal conjuncture of our time.Less

Saffron Semantics: The Struggle to Define Hindu Nationalism

Pathik Pathak

in The Future of Multicultural Britain: Confronting the Progressive Dilemma

This chapter relocates to India, the complementary rise of Hindutva, and neo-liberalism since the early 1990s. It reflects on the Left's struggles to categorise the threat posed by the Sangh Parivar, ... More

This chapter relocates to India, the complementary rise of Hindutva, and neo-liberalism since the early 1990s. It reflects on the Left's struggles to categorise the threat posed by the Sangh Parivar, and why some commentators insisted on representing Hindutva as India's fascism. By relating Hindu nationalism's ascendancy with the growth of ‘Middle India’, the chapter concludes that it is more usefully described by the politics of majoritarianism.Less

Early Indian Responses

Edwin Bryant

in The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate

As was the case in the West, there were all sorts of reactions to, and appropriations of, the discovery of a shared Aryan pedigree from the Indian subcontinent in popular, political, and religious ... More

As was the case in the West, there were all sorts of reactions to, and appropriations of, the discovery of a shared Aryan pedigree from the Indian subcontinent in popular, political, and religious discourse. The first section of this chapter briefly touches upon nineteenth- and early twentieth-century nationalistic co-options of the Aryan theory in terms of its applicability for Indian relations with the colonial power and for internal power dynamics among competing sets of interests among Indians themselves. A brief selection of these reactions as exemplified by Hindu nationalist responses is extracted to provide something of a parallel to the Aryan discourse in Europe during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second section of the chapter describes the first stirrings of opposition to the theory itself, as inaugurated by prominent Hindu religious leaders.Less

Hinduism and the Politics of Rights in India

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

in Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights

What were the deep historical forces that moved Hinduism to become amenable to human rights-oriented discourses, apart from the fact that there were normative resources within the tradition that ... More

What were the deep historical forces that moved Hinduism to become amenable to human rights-oriented discourses, apart from the fact that there were normative resources within the tradition that could be mobilized in this direction? This chapter gives an account of those forces and explores how they continue to shape the politics of rights in India. The first section outlines structural and doctrinal features of Hinduism that make it propitious for a politics of human rights. The second section argues that two challenges—colonialism and caste—have been and continue to be significant drivers in making Hindu religious groups receptive to the politics of human rights. The third section argues that certain forms of Hindu self-consciousness, particularly a form of Hindu nationalism, pose threats to a discourse of human rights. All three parts of the argument posit that Hinduism's quest for recognition in the modern world has driven much of its politics. For the most part, this politics has made it receptive to internalizing human rights, but occasionally it tips over into a politics of anxiety. Drawing on the Indian case, the chapter concludes that the forms in which religious groups seek acknowledgment from others have an immeasurable impact on the values they choose to internalize and promote.Less

Knowing Your Place: Religious Identities and Differences

Himanee Gupta-Carlson

in Muncie, India(na): Middletown and Asian America

This chapter discusses Hindu nationalism and its outreach to Indians living outside of India, particularly the United States. It describes how the movement has impacted the daily lives of Indian ... More

This chapter discusses Hindu nationalism and its outreach to Indians living outside of India, particularly the United States. It describes how the movement has impacted the daily lives of Indian Americans in Muncie, Indiana, through a close reading and discourse analysis of conversations with Indian and other South Asian residents of Muncie. The author uses auto-ethnography to situate the analysis within the context of her experiences and argues that the manner in which South Asian Americans in Muncie of differing religious backgrounds might offer a template for challenging religious discrimination. Less

‘The Hindu Bomb’: Nuclear Nationalism in The Last Jet-Engine Laugh

in Race, Ethnicity and Nuclear War: Representations of Nuclear Weapons and Post-Apocalyptic Worlds

This chapter explores how South Asian writers have understood the possession of nuclear weapons — particularly the testing of India's nuclear arsenal in 1998 — as being central to the Hindu ... More

This chapter explores how South Asian writers have understood the possession of nuclear weapons — particularly the testing of India's nuclear arsenal in 1998 — as being central to the Hindu nationalism which achieved electoral success during the 1990s and 2000s. The discussion centres on Ruchir Joshi's novel The Last Jet-Engine Laugh (2001), with extended references to the writings of other South Asian novelists and essayists, including Romesh Gunesekera, Arundhati Roy and Vikram Chandra. As their fictional and polemical texts observe, proclaiming nuclear weapons as a way to achieve parity of international importance with former colonizers and other superpowers is inherently problematic. While a nuclear-armed India fulfils Hindu nationalist rhetoric of national autonomy and the privileging of indigenous culture, such nuclear nationalism is predicated on wielding military technology already possessed by the Cold War nuclear powers. Paradoxically, many Hindu nationalists tried to define India's superior identity as distinct from those nuclear powers.Less

The Hyperbolic Vegetarian: Notes on a Fragile Subject in Gujarat

Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi

in Being There: The Fieldwork Encounter and the Making of Truth

This chapter explicates how the affect of disgust relates to violence by focusing on a case study of an upwardly mobile member of what is generally conceived of as a “lower” social category, a ... More

This chapter explicates how the affect of disgust relates to violence by focusing on a case study of an upwardly mobile member of what is generally conceived of as a “lower” social category, a proponent of Hindu nationalism who was complicit in the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in the city of Ahmedabad. It sheds light on the unique communicative aspect of meat, which can pose a threat to central Gujarat. It focuses on the role disgust plays in creating new forms of identification by enabling a successful externalization of those aspects of the self that have to be denied. Furthermore, it extends the current paradigms by focusing on processes of identification found to be prevalent in Gujarat during the events of 2002. These processes are, in the literature, insufficiently understood and inadequately taken into account. Finally, it attempts to open up new approaches by shifting the focus onto different intellectual and theoretical grounds.Less

Between Hindu Nationalism and Coalition Politics: Jana Sangh, BJP, and the ‘Moderation Thesis’ Regarding the ‘Radical Parties’

Christophe Jaffrelot

in Interrogating India's Modernity: Democracy, Identity, and Citizenship

Focusing on the ‘right-wing’ radical political formations in India, the essay examines how far their participation in electoral process has produced a process of moderation. As per the proposed ... More

Focusing on the ‘right-wing’ radical political formations in India, the essay examines how far their participation in electoral process has produced a process of moderation. As per the proposed ‘hypothesis’, when an extremist party contests elections in a democratic framework, it accepts institutions that are based on liberal principles and dilute its ideology to attract voters outside of its core constituency. When radical parties become power-driven, those who fail to win an absolute majority are likely to rely on alliances with parties that do not share its extremism. Though the extremist parties emerge from ideological movements displaying a deep sense of doctrinal purity, they gradually dilute their ideology in the process of transforming from niche into mass parties. The history of the right-wing radical parties in India shows that this process of moderation is not linear. There have been instances where while participating in the electoral process, religious political parties became even more radical.Less