Looking for a Hindu Identity

Looking for a Hindu Identity PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788170072706
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 47

Get Book Here

Book Description

Looking for a Hindu Identity

Looking for a Hindu Identity PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788170072706
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 47

Get Book Here

Book Description


Rethinking Hindu Identity

Rethinking Hindu Identity PDF Author: Dwijendra Narayan Jha
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317490347
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 111

Get Book Here

Book Description
Recent years have seen the emergence of a virulent version of Hindu nationalism and fundamentalism in India under the banner of Hindutva. This xenophobic movement has obfuscated and mystified the notion of Hindu identity and reinforced its stereotypes. Its arguments range from the patently unscientific - humankind was created in India, as was the first civilisation - to historical whitewash: Hinduism has continued in one, unchanged form for 5000 years; Hinduism has always been a tolerant faith. 'Rethinking Hindu Identity' offers a corrective based on a deep and detailed reading of Indian history. Written in a riveting style, this study provides a fresh history of Hinduism - its practices, its beliefs, its differences and inconsistencies, and its own myths about itself. Along the way, the book systematically demolishes the arguments of Hindu fundamentalism and nationalism, revealing how the real history of Hinduism is much more complex.

Imagined Religious Communities?

Imagined Religious Communities? PDF Author: Romila Thapar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hinduism
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Get Book Here

Book Description


Unifying Hinduism

Unifying Hinduism PDF Author: Andrew J. Nicholson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231149875
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Get Book Here

Book Description
Some postcolonial theorists argue that the idea of a single system of belief known as "Hinduism" is a creation of nineteenth-century British imperialists. Andrew J. Nicholson introduces another perspective: although a unified Hindu identity is not as ancient as some Hindus claim, it has its roots in innovations within South Asian philosophy from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. During this time, thinkers treated the philosophies of Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga, along with the worshippers of Visnu, Siva, and Sakti, as belonging to a single system of belief and practice. Instead of seeing such groups as separate and contradictory, they re-envisioned them as separate rivers leading to the ocean of Brahman, the ultimate reality. Drawing on the writings of philosophers from late medieval and early modern traditions, including Vijnanabhiksu, Madhava, and Madhusudana Sarasvati, Nicholson shows how influential thinkers portrayed Vedanta philosophy as the ultimate unifier of diverse belief systems. This project paved the way for the work of later Hindu reformers, such as Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, and Gandhi, whose teachings promoted the notion that all world religions belong to a single spiritual unity. In his study, Nicholson also critiques the way in which Eurocentric concepts—like monism and dualism, idealism and realism, theism and atheism, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy—have come to dominate modern discourses on Indian philosophy.

Hindu Nationalism

Hindu Nationalism PDF Author: Christophe Jaffrelot
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400828031
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hindu nationalism came to world attention in 1998, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won national elections in India. Although the BJP was defeated nationally in 2004, it continues to govern large Indian states, and the movement it represents remains a major force in the world's largest democracy. This book presents the thought of the founding fathers and key intellectual leaders of Hindu nationalism from the time of the British Raj, through the independence period, to the present. Spanning more than 130 years of Indian history and including the writings of both famous and unknown ideologues, this reader reveals how the "Hindutuva" movement approaches key issues of Indian politics. Covering such important topics as secularism, religious conversion, relations with Muslims, education, and Hindu identity in the growing diaspora, this reader will be indispensable for anyone wishing to understand contemporary Indian politics, society, culture, or history.

Hindu Nationalism, History and Identity in India

Hindu Nationalism, History and Identity in India PDF Author: Lars Tore Flåten
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317208714
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
When the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power in India in 1998 as the largest party of the National Democratic Alliance, it soon became evident that it prioritized educational reforms. Under BJP rule, a reorganization of the National Council of Educational Research and Training occurred, and in 2002 four new history textbooks were published. This book examines the new textbooks which were introduced, considering them to be integral to the BJP’s political agenda. It analyses the ways in which their narrative and explanatory frameworks defined and invoked Hindu identity. Employing the concept of decontextualization, the author argues that notions of Hindu cultural similarity were conveyed, particularly as the textbooks paid scarce attention to social, geographical and temporal contexts in their approaches to Indian history. The book shows that intrinsic to the textbooks’ emphasis on similarity is a systematic backgrounding of any references to internal lines of division within the Hindu community. Through a comparison with earlier textbooks, it sheds light on the contested nature of history writing in India, especially in terms of nation building and identity construction. This issue is also highly relevant in India today due to the electoral success of the BJP in 2014, and the efforts of the Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad to construct a coherent Hinduism. Arguing that the textbooks operate according to the BJP’s ideology of Hindu cultural nationalism, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of South Asian studies, contemporary history, the uses of history, identity politics and Hindu nationalism.

Virat Hindu Identity

Virat Hindu Identity PDF Author: Subramanian Swamy
Publisher: Har-Anand Publications Pvt Limited
ISBN: 9788124117705
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, the author has ventured to blend his experience in active politics as a practitioner with his long tenure as a Professor of Economics to offer the Indian citizen a recipe for restoring the nation's glory through a renaissance. The book focuses on Virat Hindu Identity as a weapon of mass national churning and upsurge in society, to make Hindus rise above their petty local, linguistic and caste loyalties and weld society to reflect the 'Virat Hindu Identity' of India's ancient unbroken civilization. He argues that the dismantling of the USSR into sixteen sovereign countries in 1991, and the balkanization of Yugoslavia into four in 1995, makes clear that mere political ideology cannot by itself create social cohesion and preserve national integrity. Nor can religion by itself be the glue to keep a people together as a nation, as demonstrated in Pakistan in 1971 and Indonesia recently. Racial unity also cannot be a sufficient adhesive for national integrity as shown by the prolonged conflicts in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, where a people of one race have been in civil war. This glue that has kept India's integrity is the Hindus' commitment based on a common feeling of Hinduness or Hindutva.

Hinglaj Devi

Hinglaj Devi PDF Author: Jürgen Schaflechner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190850523
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, Jürgen Schaflechner examines the political and cultural influences at work at the most influential Hindu pilgrimage site in Pakistan, Hinglaj Devi. The unique character of this pilgrimage site and its modern importance not only for Hindus, but also for Muslims and Sindhi nationalists, brings to the fore the lives of Hindu minorities in the Islamic Republic.

Hindu Identity, Nationalism and Globalization

Hindu Identity, Nationalism and Globalization PDF Author: Stephen Jacobs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hinduism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Children of the Immortal

The Children of the Immortal PDF Author: Keshav Prasad Varma
Publisher: Notion Press
ISBN: 9789352061914
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Who is a Hindu?" This question mystifies both Hindus and non-Hindus around the world. Many Hindus, having lived in cosmopolitan cities across the globe, have not been brought up in a traditional Hindu society and are often at a loss to comprehend and describe their own identity. Their claim to being Hindu rests solely on their birth in a Hindu household. Western society also finds that Hinduism, with its countless gods, rituals and beliefs, does not fit its concept of an organised religion. In popular view, Hinduism may just be 'a way of life' and consequently the Hindu identity is perceived to be vague and non-uniform. Which of their many ancient books do the Hindus follow? How do they choose which gods to worship? What does karma actually mean? These questions are natural. The Hindu identity is complex, and bears the social, philosophical and religious influences of a long past. However, it continues to be well-defined. This book explains how it is so, and shows how the Hindu identity remains relevant in contemporary times and the global context. The varied elements that have shaped the Hindu identity are explored in the book. It demystifies ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Vedas and the Manusmriti, and provides engaging summaries of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. It tracks the influence of philosophies such as Vedanta, Tantra and Yoga, as well as the effect of exposure to Western thought. It also discusses contemporary issues such as the status of women, religious pluralism and the caste system today. The anecdotal style of narration makes subtle and complex topics easily comprehensible to all ages. Anyone who seeks an explanation of the Hindu identity, regardless of belief or age, will enjoy reading this book and will benefit from its contents.