Book review
The upsurge of militant Hindu nationalism in the past decade has brought to the fore questions of who is a Hindu, what is Hinduism, and what does Hindutva and Hinduism mean to Hindus. Seeking answers, this book attempts to explain political Hindutva as an outcome of the endeavours by various philosophers and ideologues in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to restate Hinduism, while simultaneously addressing questions of nationalism, identity and culture. It delves into the writings of Swami Dayanand, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda and V.D. Savarkar, to show how the four have forged elements constituting political Hindutva in its contemporary guise.

Erudite, incisive and unsparing, Hindutva offers us original insights into the intellectual traditions that have nourished political Hindutva. While being a powerful indictment of this position, it proposes the need for an enquiry into traditions that perceive Hinduism as complimentary with multiple identities, openness to new currents of thought, and to understanding, accommodation and assimilation of even contrary philosophical strains.

HardCover | 216 pages



About the author Jyotirmaya Sharma lectured in political philosophy at the universities of Hull, Oxford and Delhi. He was a Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. In 1998, he joined the editorial page of the Times of India, and was till recently the resident editor of its Hyderabad edition.