Role Name Affiliation

National Coordinator

Subject Coordinator Prof Sujata Patel Dept. Of Sociology,

University of Hyderabad

Paper Coordinator Prof. Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social
Systems
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Content Writer Kumud Ranjan Research Scholar

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Content Reviewer Prof.Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social

Systems
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Language Editor Prof.Edward Rodrigues Centre for the Study of Social

Systems
Jawaharlal Nehru University

Technical Conversion

Module Structure
Hindu Nationalism This module deals with the Idea of Hindu
Nationalism. In this module the idea of Hindu
Nationalism has discussed starting with the
 conceptual category of Nationalism which has
been discussed in detail. The essay further
investigates in the early phases of Hindu
Nationalism at the ideological level along with
Organisational structure. It talks about the
different ideological, political and social strategy
which has been used by the groups belonging to
the category of Hindu Nationalism.

Description of the Module

Items Description of the Module
Subject Name Sociology
Paper Name Religion and Society
Module Name/Title Hindu Nationalism
Module Id Module no. 24
Pre Requisites An Understanding of the Sociological approach to
Nationalism and socio-historical understanding of
emergence of nationalism in India.
Objectives To Understand various theoretical approaches of
Nationalism.
To examine and critically understand the socio-
historical factors which led to the development of
Nationalism in Indian context.

Key words Nationalism, Hindu Nationalism, Nation, Hindu

 Religion and Society
Module 24: Hindu Nationalism

Introduction:

Conceptual Understanding:

This module deals with the theme of ‘Hindu Nationalism’ and its sociological analysis.
This analysis would require a socio-historical understanding of Hinduism and
deployment of the term in context of ‘religion’. In this module the idea of Hindu
Nationalism has discussed starting with the conceptual category of Nationalism which
has been discussed in detail. The essay further investigates in the early phases of
Hindu Nationalism at the ideological level along with Organisational structure. It talks
about the different ideological, political and social strategy which has been used by the
groups belonging to the category of Hindu Nationalism.

Max Weber examines the nation as ‘prestige community’, endowed with a sense of
cultural mission Nations, he claims, are too various to be defined in terms of any one
criterion, but he affiliates nation to ethnic communities as populations unified by a myth
of common descent. What distinguishes the nation is a commitment to a political
1
project.

Clifford Geertz, from an anthropological perspective, indicates that there are two
competing yet complementary components- ethnic and civic- in the nationalism of
post-colonial states The ethnic dimension is portrayed as a commitment to ‘primordial’
loyalties which endow individuals with a distinctive identity; the civic as a desire for
citizenship in a modern state. Since state and ethnic boundaries often clash, the result
2
is endemic conflict.

In contrast, Anthony Giddens presents an unambiguously statist definition of the nation

described here as a ‘bordered power­container’. This and much else is the subject of a
critique by walker connor, who rejects tendencies to equate nation with state, and
nationalism with state patriotism. Like Weber, he defines the nation as a community of
descent, but distinguishes it from ethnic communities by its degree of

1
John Hutchinson, Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism, OUP, 1994, PP-15
self­consciousness; whereas ethnic group may be other-defined, a nation must be self
3
defined.

Ideology is defined by Lloyd Fallers as ‘that part of culture’ which is actively concerned
with the establishment and defense of patterns of belief and value. Ideology is thus
apologetic part of culture. It is intended mainly to create a sense of national self-esteem.
This approach is not ‘primordialist’ because culture is not considered here as static
4
‘given’ but as subject to reinterpretation.

In this context it has been argued by Jaffrelot that neither Geertz nor fallers places
sufficient emphasis on the social background of reinterpreters who shape ideologies.
This factor deserves greater attention because the major aim of these leaders is to
adjust the outward expression of their discourse in order to preserve what they consider
to be the basic values and identity of society. Their choices are determined by both
cultural framework and social status; thus Hindu nationalism largely reflects the
5
Brahmanical view of the high caste reformers who shape its ideology.

In this context the explanatory model of Anthony Smith for the emergence of ethnic
nationalism proves very useful. According to Smith ethnic nationalism start from ‘a
recognisable cultural unit, their primary concern being to ‘ensure the survival of the
6
group’s cultural identity’.

Hindu Nationalism: Ideology and Strategy:

Borrowing from Geertz definition of ‘Ideology’ Jaffrelot tries to argue that how ‘Hindu
Nationalism’ originated and developed as an Ideology. According to Geertz ideology is
‘Symbolic Strategy’ evolved in a society by modernization process. The term in this
perspective tries to that part of culture which is actively and explicitly concerned with the
establishment and defense of value and belief. And even the concept of Nationalism is
an ideology following the definition. Jaffrelot writes here further in this context:

“This theoretical perspective emphasizes the ‘instrumentalist idea of manipulative

reinterpretations of cultural material, nevertheless the model remains predominantly

3
ibid
4
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) The Hindu nationalist Movement and Indian Politics 1925 to 1990s: Strategies of
Identity-Building, Implantation and Mobilisation (With special reference to Central India) Penguin Books India, New
Delhi, pp:12-13
5
ibid
6
ibid
‘cultural’ since the major aim of reinterpreters is to adjust the outward expression of
7
ideology while preserving the basic values and identity of society.

Hindu Nationalism: Invention of Tradition and Reform Movements

This perspective reflects on the idea that how tradition was reinvented in context of
emergence of Hindu nationalist Ideology. Jaffrelot believes that if it is possible to
analyze this as a subcategory of that can be used as sub category of this invention
process. This sub category can be called ‘Strategic Syncretism’. It is because the
content of this ideology has been supplied to a large extent by material taken from the
cultural values of groups who were seen antagonistic towards the Hindu community.
Further Jaffrelot argues that this ‘Syncretism’ is ‘strategic’ because it underlies an
ideology that aims to dominate the others, in terms of prestige and also based on
socio-political lines. He believes that his hypothesis can be tested based on three
significant and cumulative episodes. First one is the shaping of socio-religious
movements, birth of Hindu Mahasabha in the wake of Khilafat movement and the
8
ideological development of ‘RSS Complex’.

In context of the first episode of religious movement we can certainly look at the reform
movement of Brahmo Samaj in 1828 under the leadership of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. His
reading of Upanishads seems to be influenced by “a more rigid monotheism of the
people of the book” since the philosophy of the “the speculative Brahmin” tended to be
9
replaced by a rational theism.

According to Jaffrelot the approach of Roy is ‘syncretic’ because he endeavors to

reform Hinduism by resorting to precepts of Christianity and western rationalism; but
this syncretism proves to be strategic since Roy claims that he draws this neo-Hinduism
from a purely indigenous golden age which enables him to rehabilitate the Hindu identity
scoffed at by the Europeans. This is one of the first building blocks of a pre-nationalist
ideology evolved to resist foreign aggressions seen as most dangerous for the native
cultural equilibrium. However, this process enters its phase of maturity after the
emergence of another socio-religious reform movement, the Arya Samaj.

The emergence of Arya Samaj:

Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayananda in 1875 after being influenced by
Brahmo Samajists in Calcutta. He institutionalized the idea of a Vedic monotheism and
joined in the criticism of the idolatry of popular Hinduism raised by popular Christian
7
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology Building, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
8
ibid
9
ibid
missionaries. Dayanand argued and believed that the so called Vedic caste system was
presented by as much more flexible than the one then current in India. Indeed, he
maintained that ‘jati’ did not exist in the Vedic times but that the prevalent social
organization then was Varna system.

References to the four varnas do exist in the Rig Veda, the earliest of the vedic texts; in
the hymn X-90, relating a famous foundation myth allegory, to be born out of the
sacrifice of the primordial man ('Virat Purusha'): "the Brahmin (priest) was his mouth, his
arm was made the Kshatriya (warrior), his thighs became the Vaishya and from his feet
the Shudra (servant) was made". This fourfold schema is an ideal, normative one,
whose relationship to social practice is not very well known, but it clearly implies a
hierarchical structure based upon ritual distinctions: like in the jati system, the Brahman
10
and the Shudra stand poles apart in the social organisation.

Dayananda described these four Vedic 'classes' as merely born out of the collectivity
needs in terms of socio-economic complementarity, claiming further that status
distinctions came at a later stage. He legitimises the caste system under the garb of
so-called ancestral Varna incorporating certain individualistic values. Dayananda’s
reformism, far from contesting the social system tries to protect its equilibrium, as
confirmed by his recommendation relating to the strict endogamy of Varna. It is easy to
recognise here the same process of Ideological reconstruction theorised by Geertz and
Fallers: the Arya Samaj tries to evolve an ideology likely to vindicate an identity
threatened by the criticism against one of its major pillars-like the caste system or,
generally speaking, by the negation of its 'cultural quality'. Here, the building of a
tradition through the invention of a golden age seems to be the natural formulation of a
11
pre-nationalist ideology.

This 'invention of tradition' by the socio-religious reform movements is of a special type

because it is provoked by and modelled on the antagonist's culture in its raison d'etre
and in its content. Ram Mohan Roy and Dayananda 'discover' in the Vedas what they
need to resist the western influences. This is an ideology of strategic syncretism:
syncretism because there is a strong intention to reform one's society through the
assimilation of western values consistent with the Hindu cultural equilibrium; and
strategic syncretism since the equilibrium in question remains the prime concern. This
strategy combines two dimensions, the first one being directed towards 'psychological'
demands, the second one concerning 'mimetic' aspects of ideology building. Recovering

10
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology Building, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
11
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology Building, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
self esteem: In claiming that vedic society was at least as monotheistic and as
respectful of the individual as the Christian west, the socio-religious reform movements
attributed-syncretic phase- to their history the prestigious values the Europeans were so
proud of-first strategic moment-and try to legitimise at the same time-second strategic
moment-cultural institutions like the caste system under the idealised garb of the Varna.
Underlying these arguments, a major aspect of the reformers' message was: there was
no need to leave Hinduism because of rationalist scepticism or to be converted, since
this religion, in its pristine purity, had the same virtues as Christianity and the modern
12
science.

The only relevant objective is to reestablish this golden age of Hinduism, and especially
its Varna system. The sociological basis of this ideological strategy is easy to trace.
Among the Hindus, the persons most willing to protect the cultural equilibrium belong to
the high caste elite, not only because they aspire to preserve a privileged position but
also because they alone seem to have an overall view of their society. The Varna model
expounded in the Vedas, with its organicist emphasis on the harmony of a
complementary social system is most likely a Brahmanic creation. Indeed, the leaders
of the socio-religious reform movements come mainly from the high caste intelligentsia
(Ram Mohan Roy was a Brahmin whose knowledge of English enabled him to work in
the East India Company administration and Dayananda, a Gujarati Brahmin, came from
13
an orthodox milieu.

Hindu Mahasabha: Socio-Political History

Though the Hindu Sabhas entered into a federal structure in the second decade of this
century in northern India, the Hindu Mahasabha was effectively launched, as an
ideological pressure group within the Congress party in 1922, very largely in reaction to
the Hindu-Muslim riots that broke out in the wake of the Khilafat movement. In 1921, on
the Malabar coast the Moplahs (Muslim descendants of 9th century Arab merchants)
provoked violence and forcible conversions that had a traumatic (and catalytic) effect on
the Hindu Sabhaites especially on leaders of the Arya Samaj: a context of aggression
similar to a certain extent, to the one created by western penetration, provoked an
analogous reaction. Indeed, the ideological discourse propagated from the Hindu
Mahasabha tribune until the mid-1920s, during the Hindu Sangathan (Hindu
14
organisation) movement, reproduced the 'strategic syncretism' mechanism.

12
ibid
13
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology Building, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
14
ibid
 At this stage, Hindu nationalists were inclined to identify certain values which they
regarded as the basis of the Muslims' strength and solidarity, such as an avoidance of
sectarian divisions, an emphasis on social cohesion, and to insist that these values
could also be established within sect- and caste-ridden Hindu community whose
members continued to be described by the British as weak.-' But this process of
assimilating aspects of the other was still undertaken under the cover of reestablishing a
15
mythical golden age and it remained subordinated to a hierarchical view of society.

RSS AS A HINDU NATIONALIST SECT :

Like the Hindu Mahasabha the RSS took shape, in 1925, in reaction to Hindu- Muslim
riots. Founded by one of Moonjes lieutenants in Nagpur, Hedgewar, its aim was also to
consolidate the Hindu nation through a psycho-social reform involving some
assimilation of the other's equalitarian values. The method which it used, however,
appeared to be much more relevant. For Hedgewar, such an assimilation could not be
achieved within the framework of a reinterpreted Varna system since it was still a
division-true, fourfold only-of the Hindu nation,37 so it attempted to create an ethic of
selfless individualism which could provide the basis for a more inclusive and cohesive
form of Hindu nationalism. The RSS was thus supposed to become a sort of Hindu
nationalist spearhead based on individual solidarity. Its syncretism (the import of
egalitarian values typical of the European nationalism and the Muslim communal
fraternity) was strategic because it aimed at building a Hindu nation strong enough to
resist these 'foreigners' and because it was seen as a mere elaboration of the familiar,
16
indigenous sectarian pattern.

Marcel Mauss in his work starts an explanation by asking that what sort of society
deserves to be called a nation. He defines nation as follows “ A society materially and
morally integrated, with a stable and permanent central authority, with determinate
borders, whose inhabitants possess a relative moral, mental, and cultural unity and
consciously adhere to the state and its laws.

As we all are aware today that what initially started as awakening of ‘Hindu Society’ to
protect the cultural and geographical identity moved ahead in future with the rise and
aspirations of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was founded by Keshav
Baliram Hedgewar This was also followed by the other establishments which certainly
includes the institutionalization of Hindu Mahasabha in 1909 followed by the formation

15
Christophe Jaffrelot (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology Building, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
16
ibid
of All Indian Muslim League in 1906 and then also reform movement of Arya Samaj
which began in 1875 by Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

Jaffrelot writes in his work ‘The Sangh Parivar: A Reader’ :

In his book, Hindutva. Who is Hindu? (1923) , Savarkar considers that the Indian
National identity is embodied in the Hindu Culture, which compasses not only
Hinduism-as a religion-but also a language, Sanskrit (and its main vernacular derivative,
Hindi), the worship of Hindustan as a Sacred land and the cult of the Vedic golden Age.
His motto was ‘Hindu, Hindi, Hindusthan!’ In Savarkar’s views the religious minorities
are requested to pay allegiance to this dominant identity and hold back the
manifestations of their faith within the private sphere. (2005: 1).

Jaffrelot further argues that a recurrent theme in belief systems is the identification of
hostile forces which plot against the nation and which are responsible for the ‘disruptive’
strains in the country. These forces are often identified with particular social groups,
who are usually defined as different, united and powerful. RSS writers identify two
general types of potentially ‘disruptive’ forces in contemporary Indian Society: (a)
Muslims and Christians who propagate values that might result in the denationalization
of their adherents, and (b) the ‘westernized’ elite who propose capitalism, socialism, or
communism as solutions for Indian Development.

Christians consider themselves a community, and it is this community orientation and

not the dogma itself that is considered a possible impediment to their identification with
the larger nation. RSS writers allege that Christian values have tended to distance
Christians culturally from the national mainstream in some parts of the country. From
this proposition, a subproposition is deduced: because some Christians do not consider
themselves culturally Indian, they do not experience a sense of community with other
Indians. One could phrase the proposition in the more esoteric terms of the belief
system: because Christians are culturally different, they have separated themselves
from the ‘national soul’.

Jaffrelot cites an example where students who are taught in Christian schools of a tribal
area in north eastern India are typically western and has no relation with Indian
environment. It is these students who later demand for an ‘Independent Nagaland’.

The case against Islam follows similar trajectory. But Islam is viewed as a more serious
problem because of the size of the Muslim community, the recent history of the
communal animosity between Hindus and Muslims and also due to the existence of
Muslim states in the subcontinent.
8

They look foreign lands as their holy places. They call themselves ‘Sheiks’ and ‘Syeds’.
Sheiks and Syeds are certain clans in Arabia. How then did these people come to feel
that they are their descendants? That is because they have cut off all their ancestral
national moorings of this land and mentally merged themselves with the aggressors.
They still think that they have come here only to conquer and establish their kingdoms.

Paraphrasing a leading RSS publicist Andersen and Sridhar writes that democracy and
capitalism join hands to give a free reign to exploitation; socialism replaced capitalism
and brought with it an end to democracy and individual freedom.

The RSS belief system is often described as conservative and reactionary. There is little
doubt that it represents a form of Hindu nationalism. However, the belief system and
practice of the RSS do not support the aristocratic order, the dominant caste in the
Varna System, and the landed and industrial magnates. The RSS defense of Hinduism
is sometimes interpreted as support for orthodoxy or for the feudal aristocracy; its
anti-communism is considered by same as a defense of the higher classes and
capitalism. However, few RSS leaders subscribe to such views. Indeed, there is an
egalitarian to much RSS writing and practice. Speaking of the caste system Golwalkar
writes:

The feeling of inequality, of High and low, which has crept into the Varna system, is
comparatively of recent origin. But in its original form, the distinctions in the social order
did not imply any discrimination of big or small high or low among its constituents. On
the other hand, the Gita tells that the individual who does his assigned duties in life in a
spirit of selfless service only worships God through such performances.

In context of RSS Brahmanism and its Social Contradiction it has been argued that
however, the egalitarian nature of the RSS was contradicted by the fact that for a long
period of time it has been associated with high castes. The organization had been
founded and developed by Maharashtrian Brahmins. Hedgewar came from a Telugu
Brahmin family long resident in Nagpur and Golwalkar was a Karhada Brahmin and all
the early swayamsevaks were Brahmins. In his diary, Moonje himself a Deshastha
17
Brahmin referred to RSS members as ‘Brahmin Youths’ or ‘Brahmin lads’.

VS Savarkar had codified the ideology of ‘Hindutva’ after borrowing its ethnic
nationalism from the west. Hedgewar undertook to implement it by providing Hindu
nationalism with the Social model of the Hindu nation and more immediately with a solid
organization. In this context he emulated western individualistic values under the pretext
of reinterpreting the other worldly individualism inherent in the Hindu tradition of

17
Christophe Jaffrelot (Ed.) (2005) The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp-60-65.
9

asceticism. Thus the religious and more precisely sectarian appearance of the RSS can
probably be explained by the fact that Hedgewar and Golwalkar found in the institutions
associated with asceticism a means of developing the sociological structure of an
18
egalitarian, united nation.

The Pervasiveness of the Brahmanical ethic in the ideology and practices of the RSS
19
was probably the main reason why it failed to attract support from the low castes. RSS
followed Sanskritized Hindu culture and championed the high tradition and even the
techniques are very much related to Brahminical culture. There was anxiousness to
transform this Hindu character into a nationalist ideology and Hedgewar believed that it
20
is important that Shakhas should be inspired by the Hindu samskaras which is
considered to be a Brahmanical concept.

The German influence and sources of the Hindu nationalist ideology:

Marzia Casolari in her article writes the inspiration and influence of Italian Fascism on
Hindu radicalism from the early 1920s. She argues that it mainly after BS Moonje’s trip
to Italy in 1931 and then later he attempted to transfer these values into Hindu Society
and organized it militarily based on fascist patterns.

She argues that the interest of Hindu nationalist in fascism and Mussolini must not be
considered as dictated by occasional curiosity confined to a few individuals. It should be
understood as culminating result of the attention that Hindu Nationalists, especially in
Maharashtra focused on Italian dictatorship and its leader. Fascism appeared to be an
example of conservative revolution for the Hindu nationalists. This concept was
discussed at great length by the Marathi Press since the early phase of the fascist
regime.

Marathi journalists were impressed by the socialist origin of the fascism and the fact that
the new regime has been able to transform the Italy into a new first class power from a
backward country. The Indian observers were convinced with the fact that fascism had
been able to restore the order from political conflicts and tensions.

The Marathi newspaper Kesari gave considerable space to the political reforms carried
out by Mussolini, in particular the substitution of the election of the members of
parliament with their nomination and the replacement of parliament itself with the great
council of Fascism. Mussolini’s idea was the opposite of that of democracy and it was

18
Christophe Jaffrelot (Ed.) (2005) The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp:6-65
19
Ibid, pp:90
20
Shakha means branch: in the RSS arrangement it still designates the basic unit of the whole edifice. It is both a place
and a social group: every day the members of one shakha meet at the same place for accomplishing physical exercise
and to listen to ideological sermons.
10
10
expressed by the dictator’s principle. According to this principle ‘One’s man government
is more useful and more binding’ for the nation than the democratic institutions. Is all
this not reminiscent of the principle of ‘obedience to one leader’ (‘ek chalak anuvartitva’)
21
followed by the RSS.

She further writes that by late 1920s the fascist regime and Mussolini were already very
popular in Maharashtra. The aspect of fascism which appealed most to Hindu
Nationalists were the militarization of society which was seen as the real transformation
of society, exemplified by the shift from chaos to order. The anti-democratic system was
considered as positive alternative to democracy which was seen as typically British
value.

In the same context Jaffrelot writes that how Golwalkar’s book ‘We or Our Nationhood’
defined gave the RSS the charter it had previously lacked. Even more obviously than
Savarkar’s Hindutva, it reveals the strategy of stigmatization and emulation of
‘threatening others’ at work. Paraphrasing Golwalkar Jaffrelot writes that on the one
hand Golwalkar stigmatizes the ‘semi­barbaric life’ of the chief nations of the world
which contrast with the situation of India and on the other he expresses inferiority
complex vis-à-vis western countries.

Golwalkar repeatedly indicts congress for ‘the amazing theory that the nation is
composed of all those for one reason or the other happens to live at the time in the
country. He referred to the example of failure of Czechoslovakia as a multi-national
state after the annexation of Germany. He used this argument justifying ‘the fears of
many political scholars, regarding the wisdom of heaping together in one state element
conflicting with the national life. Here Jaffrelot is trying to point out those political
scientists to whom he refers repeatedly and seems that his inspiration is from German
writers.

Golwalkar quotes at length the definition of the nation proposed by the famous German
writer Johann Kaspar Bluntschli:

“It is a union of masses of men of different occupations and social states, in a hereditary
society of common spirit, feeling and race bound together especially by a language and
customs in a common civilization which gives them a sense of unity and distinction from
22
all foreigners, quite apart from the bond of the state.”

21
Casolari, Marzia (2000) Hindutva’s Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s: Archival Evidence, EPW, Vol - XXXV No. 04, Pg no.
219.
22
Christophe Jaffrelot (Ed.) (2005) The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New Delhi,pp:70
11
11
Bluntschli differentiates the German view of Nation from that of the English and the
French in the following terms:

In English the word ‘People’, like the French ‘Peuple’ implies the notion of a civilization,
which the Germans (like old Romans in the word ‘nation’) express in Nation. Etymology
23
is in favour of German usage, for the word nation (from nasci) points to birth and race.

Bluntschli criticized the idea of social contract because ‘A mere arbitrary combination of
men has never given rise to a people. In contrast he emphasizes that ‘The essence of a
people lies in its civilization (Kultur).

Golwalkar refers to other political scientists who adopt similar point of view of the nation.
According to Zaffrelot Golwalkar borrowed this inspiration from Burgess who again was
inspired by the Bluntschli. Burgess writes that ‘A population of an ethnic unity, inhabiting
a territory of a geographic unity is a nation. He also borrows from RG Gettell and A.N.
Holocombe. Holocombe criticizes the definition of Burgess on the grounds of racism
with an approach of more liberal view of nationalism. He considers that the ‘cultural
unity’ is the most fundamental characteristics of nationalism. Most of the books in this
context mentioned by Golwalkar were German and talked about German ethnic
24
nationalism.

Golwalkar also applied this nationalist ethnic reasoning to the Muslim minority, which
posed a threat not only because it enjoyed the backing of a whole series of Islamic
states but also because it was a ‘foreign body’ lodged into Muslim leader, Maulana
Mohammed Ali, who had died abroad to direct his remains to be taken not to the land
which had fostered him and his forefathers before him, but to the foreign land of Mecca.
He argues that Muslims take themselves to be the conquering invaders and grasp for
power and therefore Hindus are at war at once with the Moslems on the one hand and
25
the British on the other.

23
Ibid,pp:71
24
Christophe Jaffrelot (Ed.) (2005) The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford University Press, New Delhi,pp:71.
25
Ibid, pp:74
12
12
Reference bibliography

Books:

● Aloysius, G (1998) Nationalism Without a Nation In India, Oxford University

Press, USA
● Desai, AR 1986 (2005) Social Background of Indian Nationalism, Popular
Prakshan Ltd., India
● Jaffrelot, Christophe (2007) Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University
Press, USA.
● Jaffrelot, Christophe (1998) The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India, Columbia
University Press, USA. (first Published 1995)
● Jaffrelot, Christophe (Ed.) (2005) The Sangh Parivar: A Reader, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi.
● Jaffrelot, Christophe (1993) The Hindu nationalist Movement and Indian Politics
1925 to 1990s: Strategies of Identity-Building, Implantation and Mobilisation
(With special reference to Central India) Penguin Books India, New Delhi.
● Hutchinson John & Anthony D. Smith (1994) Nationalism, OUP.
● Sarkar, Sumit (1989) Modern India: 1885­1947, St. Martin’s Press
● Sarkar, Sumit (1999) Writing Social History, Oxford University Press.
● Sarkar, Sumit (2001) Beyond Nationalist Frames: Postmodernism, Hindu
Fundamentalism, History, Indiana University Press.
● Savarkar, Vinayak (1923) Hindutva, Veer Savarkar Prakshan, Bombay.

Articles:

● Casolari, Marzia (2000) Hindutva’s Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s: Archival

Evidence, Vol - XXXV No. 04,
Accessed: 27th May, 2015
URL: http://www.epw.in/special-articles/hindutvas-foreign-tie-1930s.html

● Jaffrelot, Christophe (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in Ideology

Building, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar. 20-27, 1993),
pp. 517-524.
Accessed: 24th May, 2015
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4399528
14
14
● King, Richard (1999) Orientalism and the Modern Myth of "Hinduism",
Numen, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1999), pp. 146-185.
Accessed: 24th May, 2015
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3270313
● Jaffrelot, Christophe (1993) Hindu Nationalism: Strategic Syncretism in
Ideology Building, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 28, No. 12/13 (Mar.
20-27, 1993), pp. 517-524.
Accessed: 24th May, 2015
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4399528

Magazines:

Newspaper:

● Jaffrelot, Chrisophe. “Caste and the Parivar.” The Indian Express, March 9,
2015.
Accessed: 23rd May 2015
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/caste-and-the-pari
var/
● Jaffrelot, Chrisophe. “Parivar’s diversity in unity.” The Indian Express, May 24,
2015.
Accessed: 24th May 2014
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/parivars-diversity-in-u
nity/
● Jaffrelot, Christophe. “Misunderstanding Secularism.” The Indian
Express, August 11, 2014.
Accessed: 23rd May 2014
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/misunderstanding-secularism
/3/

Audio-Visual:

● The Politics of Narendra Modi in Gujarat -- 2001-2013 by Christophe Jaffrelot.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOq23ctxRK4