Hindutva

Hindutva (Devanagari: हिन्दुत्व, "Hinduness"), is derived from the two terms 'Hindū + tattva", which literally mean "of Hindu Principles" or "Hinduness". Hindutva denotes to the state of mind that is based on the cultural and spiritual ethos based on the spiritual systems that evolved from India that includes all aspects of Indian culture and civilization. Hindutva is a spiritual, plus economic conception founded and developed from ancient times in India for securing the all round happiness of all individuals irrespective of religion, race and belief of individuals. The stress in this philosophy both on the ruler and the ruled is the performance of righteous-duty and to conform to a code of conduct. The vast body of proper code of conduct in every sphere of human activity such as personal, social, political was called dharma.[2]

Dharma is an ancient philosophical concept of India. As propounded in various scriptures, Its attributes, include characteristics such as: rationality, sense of duty, justice, peace, truthfulness, compassion, non-violence, rectitude, humanity, spirituality, tolerance, ethics, service to others, and philanthropy. Dharma thus truly symbolizes universal values of humanism and can form the basis of global ethics.

The word Hindutva was coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet entitled "Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?" is used to describe movements advocating Hindu Nationalism.

Definition

Grammatically, the term is a compound of the word "Hindū" and the Sanskrit suffix "-tva" which is used to form neuter abstract nouns. Hence, according to Savarkar, Hindutva is meant to denote the Hindu characteristic, or Hinduness. In a judgment the Indian Supreme Court ruled that…

"No precise meaning can be ascribed to the terms 'Hindu', 'Hindutva' and 'Hinduism'; and no meaning in the abstract can confine it to the narrow limits of religion alone, excluding the content of Indian culture and heritage."

The Supreme Court also ruled that…

"Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu and since the Hindu is disposed to think synthetically and to regard other forms of worship, strange gods and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong or objectionable, he tends to believe that the highest divine powers complement each other for the well-being of the world and mankind."

Hindutva is commonly identified with the guiding ideology of the Sangh Parivar, a family of Hindu Nationalist organizations, and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in particular. In general, Hindutva represent the well-being of Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and all other religions prominent in India along with Zoroastrianism and Judaism.

The term Hindutva distinguishes the unique ethos and principles of this nation (Bharatvarsha) that is rooted in inclusiveness and its assimilative qualities. in comparison to ethos that underlines Judeo-Christian and Islamic thoughts that advances isolation and exclusivism.

The words Hindu, Hindutva and Hinduism are not synonymous. They are different with distinctive connotation. A Hindu is one who is an inheritor or adherent of the spiritual parampara (linage or tradition) that has its origin in bharatavarsha (the Indian Subcontinent) while Hinduism indicates the conglomerate of all spiritual practices, beliefs, scriptures, Gods, after life, rituals, mode of worship etc. that a Hindu practices.

The basic reason for the emergence of the term Hindutva was due to the limitation brought forth by the English prefix "-ism" attached to the term Hinduism (any -ism suggests a 'relatively' narrow, limited ideology or set of beliefs, which follows set rules, guidelines and definitions). Anything outside of those definitions cannot be held to lie within the -ism. Therefore, any -ism will have its own corresponding anti-ism, as well as itself containing certain aspects which are themselves anti-isms against other sets of beliefs, ideologies or philosophies.

All Hindus who follow Hinduism are characterized by certain mindset, distinctive behavior and attitude which can be called ‘Hindu-ness’. Therefore Hindutva is thus ‘Hindu-ness’. Hindutva represents is a mindset that is based on Hinduism, which itself is imbued with Indian culture. Hindutva is thus representative of Indian cultural ethos, transcending the narrow boundaries of different religions. There is no difference in Hindutva and Indian-ness. It implies that even non-Hindus, living in India have a mindset, to a greater or lesser degree, inspired by Hindutva.

According to Savarkar the term Hindutva does not mean only the religion Hinduism; it covers the complete Hindu civilization and history. Hinduism is only a fraction of the civilization called Hindutva. That is why he used the term Hindu to refer to the collectivity of the people of India - Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsees, etc. In the rising nationalist movement at the end of last century there are some examples proving that this kind of 'loose' vocabulary was accepted among different religious groups. For example, the Muslim nationalist leader Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) used the term Hindu to mean 'the inhabitants of Hindustan' (Pandey 1993: 245). The most important thing is that true Hindus accept natural and thus right attitudes towards their land. Savarkar emphasizes that "a Hindu means a person who regards this land of Bharatvarsha, from Indus to the seas as his Fatherland as well as his Holyland, that is the cradle land of his religion". [3]

What distinguishes Indian Muslims from rest of the world is their Hindutva (Hinduness or Indianness) inspired mindset. The Shia-Sunni differences are almost as old as the Islam itself. The strife between the two is a fact of history. In the aftermath of the downfall of Saddam’s dictatorship in Iraq, the bloody conflict between the two Islamic communities is a reality, impossible to be brushed aside. Nearer home, in Pakistan, Shias and Sunnis do not pray in one mosque. They pray in separate mosques. Their communal militant organisations frequently kill each other and put bombs in their rival’s mosques. But it is not so in India. Here the Shia-Sunni divide is not that sharp. They pray in same mosque and the riots between the two are a rarity.

Summing up, it can be said that Hindutva is a mindset shared by all Indians, in larger or lesser degrees, Hindutva can also be defined as an abstract value system bequeathed by Hindu or Indian culture and shared by all Indians irrespective of their religious affiliations. Hindutva is thus a "secular" concept.

Progenitors of Hindutva

The four important progenitors of Hindutva — Dayanda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Shri Aurobindo and V.D. Savarkar. In fact, many more could be added, both famous and not so famous, who were actively involved in the production and dissemination of Hindu revivalist ideas. Their rather popular engagements through different religious movements imparted to the revivalist ideas a much wider appeal than limited intellectual exercise. Many of them turned out to be powerful icons of religious regeneration.

According to many leading revivalists, Hindu society had degenerated, because Hindus no longer followed 'dharma'. They claimed that India could not regenerate itself unless dharma was properly observed. For example Aurobindo Ghose emphasized that 'all great awakenings in India, all her periods of mightiest and most varied vigour have drawn their vitality from the fountainhead of some deep religious awakening' (Purani 1964: 81). Aurobindo Ghose and other revivalists shared the view that a good society can exist only when it is based on the correct principles of dharma. [3]

Most nationalists are organized into political, cultural and social organizations. The first Hindutva organisation formed was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, founded in 1925. A prominent Indian political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is closely associated with a group of organizations that advocate Hindutva. They collectively refer to themselves as the "Sangh Parivar" or family of associations, and include the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad.

What exactly Hindutva is?

As for what exactly Hindutva is, it is the Dharma. The reason for saying "the" Dharma, as opposed to "a" Dharma, which many people would say, is because there can only be one Dharma, since Dharma has implicit within it, all the aspects which make up life. The main reason for this misconception is that Dharma is often translated (wrongly) as "religion". Whilst religion makes up a part of Dharma it is only a part and not the whole of it. Dharma takes a holistic view, and covers the whole spectrum of human experience.1

So why is it that there can only be one Dharma (since obviously different people will have different experiences etc.)? Dharma is not directly about those experiences, but is based on Veda (knowledge), which is absolute. The Vedas were written on the basis not of culture or tradition but on the basis of nature (including human nature) itself, which is unchanging. That explains why it is said that the Vedas and the Dharma are "Sanatan" (timeless) — "Anaadi" (without beginning) and "Anant" (without end).

Dharma, covers the whole spectrum of human experience, and is thus relevant regardless of context, being based on that fundamental constant, nature - specifically, in this case, human nature.

The question arises, if this Dharma is Universal as is implied by the name "Vishwa Dharma" (Universal Dharma), then why is it that it is given the name "Hindutva", since this implies that it is relevant only for Hindus and for none else. To explain that, it is necessary to look at why it is actually called Hindutva, and where the name Hindutva came from.

In Vedic times, there were many names for the country, one of which was "Sapta Sindhu". Nowadays, "Sindhu" refers just to one particular river the River Sindhu (Indus), now in Pakistan. But in those times "Sindhu" was a general name for all rivers, so the name "Sapta Sindhu" (literally Seven Rivers) was used as the country consisted of seven great rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Kaveri, Sindhu, Narmada and Godaveri. According to Sanskrit grammar, S and H are often interchangeable, and so "Sapta Sindhu" was actually pronounced as "Hapta Hindhu". The Persians adopted the same name for the country, but with time dropped the "Hapta", and were left with Hindhu, from which is derived Hindu. Hence, the people of the country were called Hindus, and the country itself Hind, or Hindustan (Hindu Stan meaning Place of the Hindus). Thus, the way of life followed by the people of that country came to be known as Hinduism…or Hindutva.

This explains why the way of life of Hindus is known as Hindutva, but how is it that this can be taken as Universally relevant? As mentioned earlier, "religion" is an incorrect translation of "Dharma", so what is the correct translation? It's very hard to say, mainly because English doesn't actually have any equivalent word. So, there are a lot of translations given, which all reflect (a) certain aspect(s) of Dharma, but none of which manage to describe it in its entirety. The concept of dharma is one of the most important concepts in the Indian thought that makes the foundation of all indigenous traditions such as Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh world view. Its meaning differs slightly from one religious or philosophical tradition to another, but all interpretations share the view that it means 'natural order' or 'innate law' in a special individual, society and in the universe.

The second leader of the RSS, M.S. Golwalkar, defined dharma as the innate and fundamental law of the universe and human nature. According to him, this very law of dharma is the standard for deciding the propriety of behavior in various situations. He argued that "if we carry this concept of Dharma even further, not only the State and the Nation, but the nature of entire mankind will have to be considered. In other words, the constitution of a nation cannot be contrary to the natural laws"2. And he emphasizes that since dharma is the supreme law, their ideal of the state must be 'Dharma-Rajya'. The rulers ought to follow those innate laws. Hence even omnipotent God "who can do everything cannot act contrary to Dharma"3. In practice this has meant that the Hindu leaders have tried to define the natural inhabitants of Hindustan and the natural borders of the country as well as the natural order in the society (Dharma-Rajya or Rama-Rajya). [3]

Historical Background

The history of the Hindus is the history of a civilization which has developed in its natural state, without interruption, since antiquity. Its age is dated to be between five and nine thousand years. Hence Hindu History is a prototype of how human civilization would have looked, if civilization all across the globe had been allowed to develop in its natural state. This is the relevance for us to study Hindu Civilization, Hindu History and Hindu Culture.

Hindu ethos provided for sanctuary and home to those of other faiths fleeing from their countries due to religious persecution. The Parsis, Jews and Syrian Christians are among those religious groups who had sought refuge in India, and survived because the Hindus looked after them. These three religious communities have had and have today a disproportionate share in power and wealth in Indian society, but Hindus have no resentment about it. These minorities had come to India in search of peace and found safe haven in the midst of Hindu society.

Parsis migrated elsewhere in the world too, but disappeared as a community in those countries. Jews have openly acknowledged that India as the only country where they were not persecuted. Syrian Christians too are today completely integrated into India. Even early Arab Muslim travelers who came peacefully to settle in Kerala were taken into Hindu families, and hence called Mapillai [meaning son-inlaw — Moplah in English]. That is a fundamental of Hindutva, the ethos of compassion and co-option that is unparalleled in world history.

Encounter with Militant Islam and Crusading Christianity

However, militant Islam and later crusading Christianity came to India, and aggressively challenged the Hindu tradition. They seized power in sequence and established their own state in India. But despite state patronage to the ensuing onslaught, plunder and victimization, those of Hindu faith could not be decimated, and Hinduism remained the theology of the vast Indian majority. This was passive resistance of Hindus, much before Mahatma Gandhi came of the scene. Defiant Hindus suffered persecution and economic deprivation during Islamic and Christian reigns, such as through differential taxation [e.g., jezia and zamindari land revenue appropriation] and plain brutality, but Hindus by and large refused to capitulate and convert.

Even after almost a thousand years of such targeting by Muslims and Christian rulers, undivided India in 1947 was more than 75 percent Hindu. This was partly because of the victorious Vijayanagaram, the Sikh reign, and Mahratta kingdoms, and later the Freedom Movement, each inspired by sanyasis such Sringeri Shankaracharya, Swami Ramdas, Guru Nanak, Swami Vivekanada and Sri Aurobindo, who by their preaching about the Hindu identity and Hindutva ensured that the flame of Hindu defiance never dimmed. It was also due to individual defiance of Hindus such as of Rana Pratap, Rani Jhansi, Rani Bennur, Kattaboman and Netaji Subhas Bose.

These icons are admired not because they led the nation to victory [in fact they were defeated or killed], or had found out a safe compromise [they did not], but because of their courage of conviction in the face of huge odds not to submit to tyranny. That courageous defiance is also is part of Hindutva. But those who capitulated like Raja Man Singh or Jai Chand or Pudukottai Raja in order to live in pomp and grandeur are despised today by the people. Hindutva means: resist by passive non-violent resistance if possible, otherwise by vigorous aggressive action if necessary. Hindutva means never to submit, never to compromise with adharmic forces.

Emergence of Pseudo-Secularism

In 1947, temporal power was defacto restored to the Hindu majority. But the Indian state formally adopted secularism, which concept however was never properly defined or debated. For example, it left vague what modern Indian’s connection was with the nation’s Hindu past and legacy. In the name of secularism, it was taboo for a public servant even to break a coconut or light a oil lamp to inaugurate an official function on the ground that religious symbols must not invade public life.

Such orthodoxy was promoted by Jawarharlal Nehru and his Leftist advisers. But the government took over supervision of temples, legislated on Hindu personal laws, appropriated temple revenues and regulated religious festivals, but kept aloof from the Muslim and Christian religious affairs. The secularism principle was foisted on the Hindu masses without making him understand why they had to abide by such legislation but not the Muslims and Christians. It made a mockery of Article 14 of the Constitution on equality before law.

As a result, the renaissance that had begun in the late nineteenth century to redefine the Hindu identity [in contemporary terms and on norms valid in a pluralistic society] was aborted by the confusion thus created in Hindu minds by Nehruism. Electoral politics further confounded the issues arising out of secularism, and hence the Indian society became gradually and increasingly fragmented in outlook and of confused perspective. Hindu society became divided by caste that became increasingly mutually antagonistic.

See Pseudo-Secularism.

Falsification of History Texts

Attempts were made through falsification in history texts adopted for curriculum in the education system to disconnect and disinherit the contemporary Indian from the past glory of Hindu India. The intrinsic Hindu unity has been sought to be undone by legitimizing such bogus concepts as Aryan-Dravidian racial divide theory, or that India as a concept never existed till the British imperialists invented it, or that Indians have always been ruled by invaders from abroad.

There is no such word as Aryan in Sanskrit literature (closest is ‘arya’ meaning honourable person, and not community) or Dravidian4. The racial divide theory was a deliberate distortion by British imperialists, and propagated by their witting and unwitting mental Indian slave academicians on the hapless students in educational institutions.

Incidentally, the Aryan-Dravidian myth has now been exploded by modern research on DNA of Indians conducted by Professor C. Panse of Newton, Mass. USA and other scholars. In light of such new research, the British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] in it’s October 6, 2005 service completely debunked the Aryan-Dravidian race theory in stating that: “The theory was not just wrong, it included unacceptably racist ideas”[1].

Modern India is portrayed by foreign interests through this curriculum, as a discontinuity in history and as a new entity much as are today’s Greece, Egypt or Iraq. That curriculum is largely intact today. A rudderless India, disconnected from her past has, as a consequence, become a fertile field for religious poachers and neo-imperialists from abroad who paint India as a mosaic of immigrants much like a crowd on a platform in a railway junction. That is, it is clandestinely propagated that India has belonged to those who forcibly occupied it. This is the theme around which the Islamic fundamentalists and fraud Christian crusaders are again at work, much as they were a thousand years ago, but of course in new dispensations, sophistication, and media forms.

Eroding and undermining Hindu Foundation

Thus the concept of Hindustan, and India’s Hindu foundation implicit in Hindutva, are dangerously under challenge by these forces. Tragically most Hindus today are not even cognizant of it. Hindu patriots thus must meet this challenge by propagating the concept of Hindustan and spreading the knowledge among Hindus of the fundamentals of Hindutva. The challenge today confronting Hindus is however much more difficult to meet than was earlier in history because the forces at work to erode and undermine the Hindu foundation of the nation, unlike before, are unseen, clandestine, pernicious, deceptive but most of all sophisticated and media-savvy.

Tragically therefore, a much more educated and larger numbers of Hindus have been unwittingly co-opted in this sinister conspiracy directed by foreigners who have no love for India and who also see, much as Lord Macaulay saw in the nineteenth century, that the hoary Hindu foundation of India is a stumbling block for the furtherance of their nefarious perfidious game for castrating Hindustan. Adherence to Hinduism is also being sought to be diluted in the name of modernity and this dilution is made a norm of secularism.

Central Philosophy

The evolution of Hindu Civilization can be considered to be natural and continuing as there is no last messiah in the Hindu world view. In fact this is what distinguishes Hindu Civilization from the rest. And this is why Hinduism is called a Living Idea, guided by the sum total of human wisdom that is not considered to be embodied in one person, or one book, or one period of human history. Hence the term "Living".

Hindutva is the articulation of this idea of continuity of freedom of thought from which emerge the multifarious Hindu Principles.

Two instances of Hindu Principles that symbolize the outcome of freedom of thought are the pronouncements made not today, but four thousand years back by unnamed rishi (Hindu ascetics) that, Vasudaiva Kutumbakam ("This world is one family") and Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti (that "The Universal Reality is the same, but different people can call it by different names"). In these two proclamations made in ancient Hindu India, we see the seeds of globalism and freedom of thought, four thousand years before the world was to become the global village of today. Thus in its true essence, Hindutva is a stridently assertive rational-humanist line of reasoning. At the level of practice, the Hindutva outlook boils down to upholding Sat-guna (righteousness) and Dur-guna (fighting ignoble attitudes). Taking poetic license, we can describe the practitioners of this outlook as "Heenam Naashaayati iti Hinduhu" (Those who uphold righteousness and fight ignobleness are Hindus).

Thus, far from being a narrow nationalistic doctrine, Hindutva is in its true essence, 'a timeless and universal compilation of human wisdom'. Hence it is also called "Sanatan" which means, something that is "forever continuing." Hindutva in there prevailed a society and a social mind which thrived and happily grew within a multiplicity of thoughts. "Ano bhadrah kratavo yantu visatah" ("let noble thoughts come in from all directions of the universe") went the Rigvedic invocation.

Assimilative and Antidote of Exclusivity

Hindutva never talks of kafirs and ‘infidels’ to inject xenophobic fervour, or missionary zeal into its believers. It never divided or looked upon humanity from the prism of "believers" versus "non-believers". Therefore there was never a need to convert humanity to a particular believe system as its preposition was to embraces all good thoughts that works for the betterment of human race. Hindutva is rather a spiritual and socio-cultural umbrella which accepts, and happily so, even its staunchest critics as part of its larger whole. So inclusive is this way of life that Buddha who used to be an ardent critic of prevalent Hinduism of his times, instead of being silenced, or being targeted by any fatwa or being burnt at stake, was Himself embraced as an avatara i.e. incarnation of Vishnu. Consequently Buddhist along with Jain teachings got assimilated into the then prevalent Vedic Tradition.

Pragmatic and Literalistic attitude

The pragmatic and literalistic attitude of Hindutva, is seen at its best in the Bhagavad Gita, where in the final Eighteenth Chapter, after all the prolonged and persuasive discourse, Krishna tells to Arjuna:

Iti te jnanamakhyatam guhyaat guhyataram maya
Vimrishyaitadasheshena yatha ichhasi tathaa kuru.

Hereby I have imparted to you the most secret and sacred of wisdom.
Nevertheless you can apply your judiciousness of mind and then do whatever you wish to.

Non-institutionalized Religious Entity

Perhaps this degree of individualism, through openness and freedom given to the individual to choose his manner of living cannot be seen in any other religion, and for this very reason Hinduism is more of a “way of life” than a mere institutionalized religious entity. Bhagavad Gita amply professes this concept of individualism as opposed to a codified and institutionalized religious system.

Uddharedatmanaatmanam aatmanam avasadhayet
Aatmaiva hyaatmano bandhu aatmaiva ripuraatmana.

It is the Self that could elevate the Self, and it is the Self that could denigrate the Self.
The Self itself is its own greatest friend; the Self itself is its own greatest enemy.

Inclusiveness Nature of Hindutva

When Swami Vivekananda quoted the great Sanskrit shloka in the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago, he underlined this great appreciation of Hindutva that all paths ultimately lead to the ‘One’.

Aakashaat patitam toyam yatha gacchati sagaram
Sarva deva namaskaaram keshavam prati gachhatii.

Just as rainwater falling from the sky takes different routes and channels but ultimately end up in the one same ocean, prayers directed at any god ultimately reaches that ‘One’ god.

When Dr K.M. Munshi selected the great Vedic aphorism as motto of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan he wanted to specifically highlight this inclusiveness of Hindutva.

Aa no bhadra kritavo yantu vishwata.
Let noble thoughts come from all corners of this universe and fill my mind.

The whole universe as one single family

No religious discourse on Hindutva is complete without the much talked about shloka which hails the whole world as one single family.

Ayam nijah paro vetti ganana laghu chetasaam
Udaara charitanam tu vasudhaivakutumbakam.

‘This is ours’; ‘that is other’s’ is being perceived by the narrow-minded.
The magnanimous always sees this whole universe as one single family.

The Geographical Concept of Bharatvarsha

The Indian subcontinent (which includes the area south of the Himalaya and the Hindu Kush or Akhand Bharat is the homeland of the Hindus. "Hindus" are those who consider India (Bharat) to be their pitrubhumi (fatherland) as well as their punyabhumi (holyland: definition as proposed by Savarkar) is singularly termed as Bharatvarsha. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh5 openly espouses the concept of Hindu Rāshtra (literally, "Hindu polity"). In a book by H.V. Sheshadri, a senior leader of the RSS writes:

As Hindu Rashtra is not a religious concept, it is also not a political concept. It is generally misinterpreted as a theocratic state or a religious Hindu state. Nation (Rashtra) and State (Rajya) are entirely different and should never be mixed up. State is purely a political concept. … The State changes as the political authority shifts from person to person or party to party. But the people in the Nation remain the same.

K.S. Rao in H. V. Seshadri, ed.:Why Hindu Rashtra?, p.24

Noble Causes Championed

The assimilative Hindu cultural and civilizational ethos is the only basis for any durable personal and social interaction. This societal assimilative realization is the basis for Indian nationalism, and only an inclusive Hindutva can assimilate an exclusive Islam, Christian and Marxist by making the then conscious of their Hindu ancestry and heritage. A national effort is called for to break Islamic, Christian and Marxist exclusivism and enshrine the assimilative Hindutva. This alone constitutes true nationalism and true national integration. This is the only way to protect the plurality of thoughts and institutions in India. To the extent secularism advances and protects Islamic, Christian and Marsixt isolation and exclusivism, it damages Hindu inclusiveness and its assimilative qualities. And in this sense secularism as practiced until now conflicts with Indian nationalism. Inclusive and assimilative Hindutva is the socio-cultural nationalism of India. See: Dharma and Secularism.

Uniform Civil Code

The term pseudo-secularism refer to laws that are very favorable towards the Muslims and Christians. They point to the different standards for Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Critical of the Indian National Congress party's effort to woo the sizable minority vote bank at the expense of true equality. The subject of a Uniform Civil Code, which would remove special religion-based provisions for different religions (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc) from the Indian Constitution, is thus one of the main political planks of Hindutva. The Uniform Civil Code is opposed by Muslims, Christians and parties like the Indian National Congress and The Communist Party of India (Marxist). Hindutva followers question differential laws towards Muslim and Christian institutions; and oppose partiality for marriages and divorces asking why in a secular democracy Muslim men are allowed to keep more than one wife, but Hindus or Christians are prosecuted for doing the same.

Christians are also given separate laws for divorce, which is more difficult for them than for Muslims. The passing of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 by Rajiv Gandhi government to dilute the secular judgment of Supreme Court under pressure from the conservative Muslims incensed some Hindus who became Hindutva supporters. The new act, in tune with the Shariat, denied even utterly destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their former husbands.

Freedom to practice diverse beliefs and customs

Hindutva stands for the freedom to practice diverse beliefs and customs. It is implied that secular democracy implies equal laws for all religions, and want a Uniform Civil Code passed for the same reason. One must also differentiate between the word "secularism" as used in the Western and Indian contexts. Secularism in the West implies "separation of church & state" whereas secularism in India means "equal respect for all religions". See: Dharma and Secularism.

Reclaim disputed temples and historical monuments

Among the goals of the Hindutva organization in modern India includes winning the struggles to reclaim Hindu architectures. The struggles have started since usurpation of their structures during the invasions by conquerors. These include demands to recover temples that have become disputed historical monuments. The usurpation of Hindu architecture is still being continued by both the Muslims and Christians and encouraged by their leaders. When Pope John Paul II came to India, he called for an entire conversion of Asia in the lines of that carried out in Europe and Africa in the earlier millennia. The destruction of the Mylapore Kapalishwar temple in Chennai and Vedhapurishvarar Temple in the city of Puducherry are some of the temples usurped by the then Christian rulers.

Decolonization of National Ethos

Denunciation of British colonialism and Communism alike for a perceived weakening of Hindus. Correction of Colonial-Marxist Historiography that undermines the national ethos. Emphasizing historical oppression of Hindus by invading forces like the Muslims (see Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent) and the Christians (see Goa Inquisition) and the call to "reverse" the influence resulting from these intrusions.

Denunciation of Perverse Secularism

In India Perverse Secularism is contrived to mean the active involvement of the State in supporting certain religions (Islam, Christianity and Marxism) and oppressing others (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism). Religion has become the primary consideration in all sorts of civil affairs: in anything from the reporting of news to running educational institutions.

Perverse secularism has been the bane of India in the last five decades. In his foreword to R. N. P. Singh's book on ‘Islam and Religious Riots, K. P. Gill states bluntly: "Much of the `secular’ discourse in India has been based on a 'politically correct' refusal to confront the nature of religious communities and institutions, and their past and present activities, and on the fiction that 'all religions are equal'… but it cannot even begin to address the sources of historical conflagrations. The truth is, unless communities acknowledge reality warts and all and recognise the transgressions of their own history within a constructive context, no real solution to the issues of communal polarisation and violence in India can be brought about''.

Denunciation of the Indian government as too passive with regard to the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus by Kashmiri Muslim separatists and advocates of Hindutva wish a harder stance in Jammu and Kashmir. Discriminatory 'secularism' has become the State dogma in Congress-run India.

Secularism in the Indian context is very similar to what Bat Ye'or calls, compellingly, dhimmitude. This is the state of mind in which non-Muslims, although not under Muslim rule, accept at face value Islam's claims about its superiority and its right to traumatize non-Muslims. In other words, they are bullied into accepting second-class citizenship or dhimmi status, just as though Muslims were in fact in power.

Dhimmitude is behind the apparent inability of Indian State to manage aggressive Muslim groups and not only in respect to Islam, but it has been extended to its Semitic cousins Christianity and Marxism as well.

Resurgent Hindutva

Hindutva represents the resistance movement against the cultural, religious and economic domination of India by Western powers. To understand why such a resistance movement is necessary, it is important to understand what Hinduism is. Hinduism is the culture, religion and civilisation not only of India and Asia but of the whole World.

In the same way as fraudulent political parties come to power by telling lies about their opponents, modern religions have come to power by telling lies about earlier faiths. Thus most people outside India have been conditioned by the official propaganda of the ruling classes to think that Hinduism is some kind of strange and alien faith.

However, if we carefully examine the historical and archaeological evidence, we will see that all ancient religions, for example, the Pagan tradition of Europe, the religion of Ancient Egypt, Israel, Arabia, Africa, America and Australia were different forms of Hinduism. Even modern Western religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are mere modifications of the Original World Faith which in the Indian tradition is known as Sanatana Dharma, the Supreme Eternal Law of the Universe.

In the same way as children are different from their parents yet at the same time are born of and share many characteristics with them, so also all religious traditions on Earth are born of and share many characteristics with the Original World Faith. However, while some children show recognition and respect towards their parents, others distance themselves from them and in extreme cases even turn against them. Similarly, while the great religions of Asia such as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism acknowledge their descent from the Original Faith (Dharma), Western religions have chosen not only to deny any links with their Parent Faith but have actively sought to destroy it.

The Original World Faith was systematically wiped out by the Establishment religions in Europe and large parts of Africa, Asia, America and the rest of the World. India is the only country on Earth where the Original Faith is still recognised and followed by millions of people. While much of the World has fallen into the clutches of the expansionist and predatory Western Imperialist forces which seek to impose their political, religious and cultural supremacy on the human race, India has remained a glimmer of hope, an island of refuge and a beacon of light in the darkness of Westernism which has engulfed the World.

The Globalist Conspiracy

India is one of the World's most ancient, advanced and successful civilisations. Millennia ago, when Europe was largely dominated by nomadic tribes, India was already a flowering civilisation of great sophistication. Natural resources like gold, diamonds, pearls, ivory, timber, spices and cotton enabled Indian traders to exchange goods with far-away places from Egypt and Rome to China and Japan. Combined with the industriousness of her artisans and farmers and the wisdom of her military and religious leaders, this enabled India to achieve World fame as one of the wealthiest and most prosperous nations on Earth.

Unfortunately, India's unparalleled success gave rise to resentment, jealousy, envy and hatred in the leaders of foreign powers. This resulted in a long string of invasions, occupation and subjugation of her people by alien forces. The intention of these invading forces, from Persians and Greeks to Mongols, Arabs and Europeans, has always been to colonize and enslave the people of India.

However, while in the past such anti-Indian actions remained isolated, the rise of Globalism has generated a concerted effort by the World powers to bring India under their ruthless control. Mutually incompatible ideologies such as Capitalism, Communism, Christianity and Islam, have discovered a common enemy in the Spirituality of India.

Thus the leaders of Europe, America, the Arab World and China have conspired to form a Globalist Coalition the main goal of which is to dominate the World. Spiritual knowledge, reason, wisdom and common sense have been identified as the main obstacle that has to be eliminated in order for the Globalist Entity to accomplish its evil designs of World domination.

In this process, India which is the Bastion of Spiritual Knowledge and Wisdom on Earth has been targeted as the main enemy to be isolated and destroyed.

The Globalist Methods

The three main factors in the Globalist method of Conquest have been military occupation, economic domination and cultural colonization.

Direct military occupation is currently seen as controversial. It would be difficult for the Globalist Coalition which is operating under the pretence of "Freedom", "Democracy", "Racial Equality" and "Peace" to directly attack India. Nor is such direct action necessary. About half of the original territory of India, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kashmir, Nepal and Tibet is already under the occupation of foreign powers which are given military support by Europe, America, the Arab World and China.

This encroachment of foreign powers on Indian territory is happening in more subtle ways such as the domination of large areas of North-East India by a coallition of Chinese-inspired Communist militants and Western-supported (US- and UK-backed) Christian fundamentalists.

Any potential resistance against such stealth invasion and occupation is prevented through economic and cultural domination. If the Indian people are even partly converted to the beliefs of Globalist Westernism, they will have no inclination to resist Westernist designs on India and even if they did wish to resist they would be in no position to do so as they will be economically completely dependent on the Globalist Coalition.

The Internal Enemy

The Globalist Entity would, of course, be incapable of realising its diabolic designs without the help of Westernist elements within India herself. We shall therefore identify the internal enemy and his methods of operation within India without which the Globalist Conspiracy would have no hold on the great Indian Nation. The leaders of the Muslim, Christian and other Western-implanted minorities of India have always sought to destroy Indian religion and culture without much success. Their dream only began to come true thanks to the anti-Indian actions of the British Colonial forces which held India under their brutal occupation until the 1940s.

India had always been a tolerant society where inter-religious tension and conflict was virtually unknown previous to the Western colonization of India. Different faiths such as Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism coexisted peacefully for many centuries. All this changed, however, with the importation of Islam into India by Arab traders and armed invaders. When the British Colonialists took over from the Arabs, they proceeded to divide Indian society by religious denomination and play one religious group against the others in a classical example of divide-and-rule tactics. Any Indian attempt to form an opposition to this Western domination was brutally repressed by the British occupiers. We only need to mention the anti-Indian massacres committed by the British during the 1857 Uprising. Other forms of anti-Indian repression were more subtle but equally devastating.

The pro-independence movement headed by Mahatma Gandhi and other pacifists was given undeserved precedence over more militant patriotic organisations in order to divide and confuse the Indian people. As a result, upon the British withdrawal from India in 1947, the left-wing Indian National Congress (Congress Party) which had long been collaborating with the anti-Hindu Muslim League, came to be the new dominant force in India.

To get an idea of the Congress Party's true intentions it will suffice to mention its support for the radical Islamic "Khilafat movement" which from 1919 was agitating for the recreation of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, one of India's most deadly enemies. This leftist-Muslim Alliance engineered the division of India into Muslim-dominated Pakistan and secularist-dominated India; abolished the Monarchy and made India into a Communist-orientated republic; and finally opened the country to unrestricted influence and domination by the neo-colonialist forces of International Materialism and Globalism. The dominating Congress Party is able to win influence and power with promises of progress, equality and prosperity. Such promises, however, really serve the purpose of concealing the politicians' true intention which is to use minority votes to reinforce their own otherwise weak position vis-a-vis the electorate.

Thus if the Congress Party cannot muster sufficient votes on its own, all it needs to do is to ally itself with the Muslims, Communists and other anti-Hindu minorities in order to keep the Hindu majority down and out of power. Were the Congress party truly interested in the Unity of India, it would logically ally itself with the pro-Hindu parties and obtain an absolute majority as a legitimate representative of the Indian Nation the majority of which is Hindu. This, however, would give too much power to the Hindu majority which is unthinkable for Congress purposes. As a result, India continues to be ruled by a coalition of minorities whose sole common interest is to keep the Hindu majority down and accelerate the decline of Indian culture and civilisation so that it can be finally replaced by Westernism.

Thus the final solution aimed at by the West and its Western-indoctrinated, left-wing Indian helpers, is the complete extermination of Indian culture and religion. As part of this strategy, Hindu temples have been placed under the direct control of the secular (atheist and anti-Hindu) Congress Government in a chilling reminder of Stalinist Russia where Christian churches were under the direct control of the atheist Communist Government, and Nazi Germany where Jewish temples were at the mercy of the anti-Jewish Government!

The temple revenue derived from temple-owned lands, donations by the faithful, etc., which was traditionally employed for maintenance and repair work, religious education, helping the poor and other welfare activities, is now going straight into the pockets of the Congress Government and its anti-Hindu leaders. As a result, Hindu temples are rapidly decaying, the priests can no longer support themselves and their families, religious education is practically non-existent and the poor are turning to Congress and foreign "charities" for help which is given them on condition that they renounce their Hindu faith.

The Ayodhya Scandal

No analysis of the religious situation in India would be complete without an account of the infamous Ayodhya case. The Ayodhya dispute which has become a cause celebre revolves around a Hindu temple in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh, North India) built in commemoration of the birth of Lord Rama, a popular Hindu deity. The temple was destroyed in 1528 during the anti-Hindu campaign carried out by Babur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mongol Empire in India, and its location has been illegally occupied by Muslim forces ever since. Although officially authorised investigations by the Archaeological Survey of India found the evidence at the disputed site to be consistent with the "distinctive features of North Indian temples", the Congress-controlled, Globalist-inspired High Court has denied the Hindu community their right to rebuild their temple.

Apart from this blatant conspiracy against Indian religion and culture there are deeper aspects to the general problem. These become evident if we consider that although the reconstruction of the Rama Temple would constitute a clear victory for religious freedom, it can do little to stop the ongoing disintegration of Hindu religion as a whole. Thus even legitimate initiatives aiming to advance Indian religion and culture may inadvertently play into the hands of anti-Indian Congress Party and their Western masters with whom they have conspired to destroy the cultural and Spiritual heritage of India. This Globalist Conspiracy becomes clear from the way in which the international media have chosen to ignore the Archaeological Survey of India's findings on Ayodhya and unanimously declared that no evidence was found!

Nor must we think of Ayodhya as an isolated case. This disturbing situation is being systematically replicated in the unchallenged destruction of thousands of ancient Hindu temples by organised criminal gangs who make a fortune from selling stolen statues of deities and other priceless religious artifacts to Western tourists and "art-collectors". We may observe that you will never hear of Hindus commissioning criminals to rob Western churches and cathedrals!

This demonstrates that, firstly, despite its technological advances, Western "Civilization" is far more primitive and destructive than its Indian counterpart. Secondly, as no attempts whatever are made by the authorities to stop or prevent this scandalous traffic in stolen religious art, it demonstrates that such criminal activities represent an inherent part in the Western plan to destroy Indian religion and culture by any means.

Glorification of British and Islamic Colonial Monuments

This is further confirmed by the fact that monuments glorifying British and Islamic Colonialism in India are accorded the respect and reverence normally reserved for the most sacred religious shrines. We only need to take a look at the "Taj Mahal", (falsely propagated as Islamic Monument when in truth it was originally a Hindu Temple Palace) which is being advertised by the Globalist forces worldwide as a "Wonder of the World" while Indian temples are denigrated as "places of idolatrous practices".

From a Yogic point of view, true architectural beauty may be found in such jewels of human endeavour as the magnificent temples at Khajuraho (Central India), the Potala Palace at Lhasa (Tibet) or the Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia. Their exquisite designs, graceful proportions and elegant harmony with the surrounding landscape qualify them as unsurpassed architectural achievements.

By contrast, unnatural and degenerate excrescences produced by the deranged mind of the likes of Shah Jahan are offensive to both Spiritual aesthetic and genuine religious feeling. In short, they are an insult to human civilisation and God. Their negative energy spreads for many miles around, polluting the World with its morbid emanations. In consequence, they should not be suffered on the face of the Earth for even a moment.

Globalism

It may be objected at this point that irrespective of religious and cultural issues, Globalism is supposed to be good for people. Indeed, this is the official propaganda line. The reality, however, is quite the opposite. For example, it is claimed in Globalist circles that the outsourcing of jobs to India by Western telecommunication companies, law firms, etc., represents much-needed progress for the Indian Nation.

On reflection, however, it is difficult to see how turning India into a nation of Western-employed telephonists and secretaries can possibly improve her position vis-a-vis the West. The shocking truth is that India continues to be an obedient servant to the West in many respects. Indian farmers are being coaxed by Globalist activists into selling their cattle - traditionally employed for agricultural work - and buying Western-made tractors (or other agricultural machinery) instead. Before long, however, they discover that they have no means of buying expensive replacement parts, petrol, etc. In no time at all, the tractors are rusting away in the fields and the farmers must either take further futile loans from the Government, the World Bank or similar agents of Globalism (disguised as "development agencies", "charities", etc.) or resign themselves to a miserable existence in one of the many growing slums outside big cities.

Similarly, while slavery has long been abolished in many parts of the World, millions of Indians are still slaving away on tea plantations in order to supply the West with its bourgeois beverage, instead of growing food for their own families. Were the Western World serious about helping India or at least treating her as an equal trade partner, it would open its own markets to more Indian-made goods instead of barricading itself against everything from textiles to agricultural produce.

Thus sixty long years on, the Indian people remain enslaved by the very same colonialist powers from which they were supposed to have liberated themselves! At the same time their great culture and civilisation is being systematically eroded, dismantled and annihilated by the same Globalist forces. Even if we were to leave aside all cultural, religious and economic implications of Globalism, we cannot ignore its disastrous effects on the environment, natural resources, water supplies, as well as plant, animal and human life throughout Asia and other parts of the World which must endure rising levels of suffering and deprivation to satisfy the ever-growing demands of the Western-dominated Globalist Entity.

What becomes evident is that, like many other nations on Earth, the Indian people have become a helpless victim struggling to break free from the Globalist spiderweb of intrigue, deception, corruption, and lies. It is a great tragedy that otherwise decent people in the West allow themselves to be overcome by indifference and selfishness and fail to empathize with the fate of the Indian people who under cover of "Freedom", "Democracy", "Progress", "Globalism", etc., are systematically colonised, enslaved and robbed of their cultural identity by the forces of Westernism.

Opponents of Hindutva

The essence of Hindutva is to protect and nurture Sanatana Dharma and the society founded on it. Rights like spiritual freedom come with responsibility. It is a uniquely spiritual ideology founded on spiritual freedom. In the light of this, Hindutva entails accepting a way of looking at the world and not simply changing faith and adopting a new mode of worship. Above all it means acknowledging spiritual freedom and rejecting exclusivism. It is like accepting the scientific method, which also is a way of looking at the world. But ultimately, everyone must place truth and knowledge above faith. There is no dogma.

In the backdrop of the above insight, the only opponents of Hindutva are those that oppose spiritual freedom and promote religious or ideological exclusivity. While Hindutva (or Hinduness) encompass the nationhood of Indian tradition that provides and nourishes spiritual freedom, there are always hostile forces at work that want to destroy this freedom and turn humans into intellectual and spiritual slaves.

What Swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chatterjee, Shri Aurobindo, and Subramania Bharati had achieved by raising Hindu consciousness, has now in the name of Nehruvian secularism been distorted and dissipated over the last six decades. If this degeneration and disconnect are not rectified and repaired by a resolve to unite Hindustanis [Hindus and those others who proudly identify with India’s Hindu past], the Hindu civilization may go into a tail spin and ultimately fade away like other civilizations have for much the same reason. Today the sacrilege of Hindu concepts and hoary institutions, is being carried out not with the crude brutality of a Ghazni or Ghori, but with the sophistication of the constitutional instruments of law.

The Clandestine Defamation of Hindu Symbols and Institutions

Making Hindus to lose their self-esteem by disparaging their tradition, which also had been the strategy of British imperialists for the conquest of India, as Lord Macauley made clear on February 2, 1835 in the British Parliament.

“I do not think we would ever conquer this country unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which [backbone] is her spiritual and cultural heritage. And therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”.

That basic strategy of those who want to see a weak and pliant India remains. Only the tactics have changed. Now the target is the Hindu institutions and Hindu icons, and the route is not the creation of a comprador class to subdue the nation, but fostering a psychological milieu to denigrate the heritage and to debunk Hindutva, thereby causing a loss of self esteem and a pride in the nation’s past.

Differential application of family planning, non-uniform civil code, illegal migration, and induced religious conversion have together created a serious looming crisis for the Hindu character of the nation. We see what Muslim majority will mean to Hindus when we look at the situation in Kashmir. Even if Muslims are in a majority at the municipality level, they begin to oppress the Hindu minority. We can witness this in Thondi in Ramanathapuram and Rasathipuram in Vellore districts, in Mau and Meerut in U.P., and in the Northeast.

The desecration of Hindu icons, for example the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, is being made to look legal, thereby completely confusing the Hindu people, and thus making them unable to recognize the danger, or to realize that Hindus have to unite to defend against the threats to their legacy. Hindus are under siege today, and they do not know it! That is, what is truly alarming is that Hindu society could be dissembled today without much protest since they have been lulled or lost the capacity to think collectively as Hindus. Restoration of the fundamental of Hindutva is the only means to resist this siege.

The Rise of Terrorism Directed at Hindus

If one were to study the terrorism in Kashmir, Manipur, and elsewhere it is apparent that only Hindus are the target. The driving away of the Hindu population from the Kashmir valley by targeted terrorism of Islamic jihadis is the single biggest human rights atrocity since Nazi Germany pogroms against the Jews. Yet it has hardly received noticed in international fora. Why?

Hindu population in Bangladesh has declined from 30 percent to less than 8 percent of the total population by deliberate targeted ethnic cleansing by Islamic fanatics aided and abetted by their government [see Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India’s State of Jammu& Kashmir: A Survey of Human Rights, June 17, 2005; hinduamericanfoundation. Org], and yet there is no outcry. Why?

Terrorist attacks against India and Hindus in particular are growing because we seem today incapable of retaliating in a manner that it deters future attacks.

Mutual Nexus

In brief, Hindutva is overwhelmingly being opposed by the mutually incompatible ideologies such as Communism, Christianism, Islamism, and Marxism.Macaulayism is another component that is shared and propagated by these ideologies to further their respective goals. They have discovered a common enemy in Hindutva (India's indigenous spiritual culture and tradition) as a bottleneck that hinders the expansion of their respective ideology and agenda. To achieve their nefarious motives, these opponents indulge in spreading false propaganda and misrepresents facts to instill fear in the minds of general public.

The Rise of Hindutva

It is against the background of such depressing and deeply disturbing developments that the national resistance movement of India came into being.

It was heart-breaking enough for the gentle Indian people to see their beloved Motherland being invaded, trampled underfoot, taken over, robbed, divided, fragmented and mutilated by the evil colonialists. Having, on top of that, their mind and Soul systematically colonized, enslaved, contaminated, polluted and poisoned by a Western-imposed neo-colonialist culture of corruption, manipulation, delusion and deceit proved too much even for the goodhearted Indian people to bear.

Therefore, already in 1915, when India was under British occupation, the Hindu Mahasabha (Great Hindu Council) was founded as an instrument of opposition to Western domination. A number of other pro-Hindu organisations soon appeared on the political scene: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and others. Their common goal was to put an end to the deliberate attempt by Westernist forces to discredit, demonise, undermine and destroy Indian religion and culture.

Thanks to the Hindutva movement, after centuries of subjugation and oppression, Indians were able for the first time to claim their right to express and advance their own view of state and society which - as citizens of India - had always been theirs by birth but had been denied by the colonial powers. Apart from campaigning for the right of the Indian people to their own cultural and Spiritual identity, and working for true democracy, freedom and equality, the Hindutva movement is also a campaign of clarification, illumination and information aiming to expose the parasitic and malign nature of the Westernist powers and their allies. Through the Hindutva movement the Indian people are asserting their moral and legal right to promote the time-honoured Spiritual Principles of India as a legitimate alternative to the materialist agenda of Western-imposed "democracy". As the eminent historian Dr. Arnold J Toynbee observed, "the only way of Salvation is the ancient Hindu way".

India needs Hinduism and its Hindutva movement to complete the necessary transition from a shameful and humiliating past of colonial subjugation to a proud future of freedom and self-determination. As for the World, it needs the Spirituality of India as a counterweight to the World-dominating Western concepts or neo-colonial forces. Indeed, without the timeless Spirituality of India Mankind will remain incomplete, less balanced and less human.

References


Bibliography
1. Religion & Ethics -- Hinduism homepage, www.bbc.co.uk Thursday, 6/10/05.
2. Hindunet: Hindutva, Hindu Universe, Social and Contemporary Issues, Hindutva
3. Hindu Revivalism and the Hindutva Movement, Temenos 32 (1996), 221-238.

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