Hindu and Hindutava

 

You may have never heard on any channel a discussion to differentiate between Islam and Islamiat, Isai and Isait or Sikhism and Sikhi etc. but you can easily come across discussions in various TV channels on Hindu and Hindutva. This false narrative is being purposely created to make two different identities of the same idea. The height of things is that it figured in the speech of I.O.P in parliament stating, 'those calling themselves Hindus talk of violence and hatrid, he further tried to demean Manusmriti in the discussion. It is easy to demean /criticize Hindus and their scriptures because it makes you a secularist. Another leader of the same party Mani Shanker Aiyer went a step further in a recent discussion at Calcutta and held that Hinduism needs protection from Hindutva. The list of Hindu haters in political parties is too big. These political leaders show audacity to denounce Hinduism and remain silent on various issues involving other communities. The height of things is that they quite often mislead public with wrong information to support their interests. One of the biggest lies propagated by these so-called secularists is attaching Hindutva with BJP, RSs and Savarkar while as the fact is that Hindutva exists ever since Hindu came into existence, even the word Hindutva formally had come into existence much before all the three. Hindutva means Hindu way of life and is as old as Hindu Dharma. The problem arises when we start analysing dharma through the lens of sematic religions. Hindu dharma is a way of lifemuch away from Abrahamic culture. Its principles are universal and all-encompassing so any discrepancy in its form was corrected by saints and sages from time to time. whenever there was an attack on Hindu way of life different saints and sages took it upon themselves to protect the faith. It was Adi Sankara in early eight century who tried to protect Hindu way of life from; the growing influence of Buddhist and Jain traditions, and also protected Hindu way of life from the prevailing corrupt practice of preferring Karm Kanda over Vedic knowledge. Adi Sankar started Panchyatna puja to foster harmony in different sects. He performed ShanmataStapana under which six major Hindu traditions were brought under Sanatan dharma, organised dashnami Sanyasin order creating ten monastic traditions for preservation and spread of Vedic knowledge, established four cardinal monasteries at Sringeri, Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath to propagate Advaita Vedanta. It was Ramanuja in 11th century who propagated social equality, the contribution of Sikh Gurus to protect Hinduism is clear to everyone, the Arya Samaj also contributed to keep the faith alive and the list goes endless. Besides these sects numerous saints and sages in their individual capacity too tried to keep Hindu faith alive. It is due to their efforts that Hindu dharma exists till today despite draconian foreign rule of more than 1000 years plus seventy-five years of duplicity in the garb of secularism. It was not only saints and their sects who tried to uphold Hindu way of life but there were innumerable rulers who tried to defend the faith at the cost of their lives. If temples were broken by foreign rulers there were Indian rulers to rebuilt them to restore the faith of people. If there were people who wrote books to propagate foreign cultures there were also people who wrote about Indian ethos. People in their individual capacity also preferred to get their head chopped than accepting any other faith. There were numerous individuals who tried to keep the faith alive even at the cost of bearing brunt of foreign rulers. Shriya Bhat of Kashmir in 15th century preferred, concession from severe persecution his community was facing from the time of Sikander Bhutshikan, rather than personal rewards from Zain- ul -Abadin. There are endless contributions by unknown people to keep the faith alive from last 5000 years despite foreign invasions and attempts within. It is useless to credit BJP or RSS as the founding fathers of the term Hindutva; the matter of the fact is that Hindutva i.e. Hindu way of life is inseparable from Hindu beliefs and Scriptures and it has got new manifestations as per the requirement of time and situation. The wrong practices got rectified at different times as saints and sages upheld it as their duty to protect the faith. In this era it was informal,then it took the shape of Spiritual Hindutva ,it further took the shape of Hindu nationalism and lately it has taken the shape of political Hindutva as reaction to malafide intensions of foreign rulers .The cultural invasion and conversion started by them continues tilldate further new dimensions like appeasement for votes and militarisation of non-Hindus in Hindu land have been added to the list in the postindependence era. The reaction to all these activities has given Hindutva its present shape. The term Hindutva was formally coined by Chandra Nath Bose in 1892 in his magnum opus Hindutva - Hindu Prakrita Itihas propounding Advaita Vedanta school of thought which assumed a variety of traditional and contradictory beliefs and practices under a common fold. He defined Hindutva as Hinduness exploring the ideas of Hindu supremacy and cultural unity drawing from Advaita Vedanta. In 1870 Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote Vande Matram invoking imaginary of mother goddess (Bharat Mata) that resonated with nascent Hindu nationalist sentiments. Aurobindo and Bipin Chander Pal developed spiritual nationalism focussing on India's inherent spiritual greatness and Hindu cultural revival as central to national resurgence influencing Hindu national thought. Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak viewed Hinduism as a core cultural and ethical foundation for Indian nationalism, used Hindu scriptures for the independence of the country. Radha Kumud Mukherji wrote the Fundamental Unity of India emphasising historical and cultural inter- connectedness of India's diverse traditions predating RSS formal beginning. It was the writing of Sri Aurobindo, Bipin Chander paul's spiritual nationalism and other concepts of Hindu unity along with other political developments that led 26 to the Veer Saverkers transformation of Hindune into a cohesive ideology of cultural and geographical nationhood. He popularisedhe political meaning of Hindutva in 1923 through hs book 'essentials of Hindutva The shift of Hindutva from spiritua nationalism to political overtures had its ow causes like: Birth of Muslim League: Muslim league came into existence in 190 It stressed for separate electorates for Muslims which was granted through Morley Minto Reforms of 1909. The league amended its constitution in 1913 to adopt the goal of set govt. In 1916 Lucknow pact under which a separate electorate for Muslims in provincia legislatures was sought. The Muslim league al along tried to take care of Muslim identity whether along with congress or away from it It can be held that Hindutva was a reaction to the Muslim identity of Muslim league. The things got further deviated by the participation of Indian Muslims in Khilafat movement in1923. Hindu-Muslim riots: Hindu Muslim riots were a recurring feature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often driven by religious processions, cow protection disputes, and political manoeuvring during the British colonial era. Notable incidents included the Communal riots of 1874 Bombay Riots: Primarily Parsi-Muslim, but reflected rising sectarian tensions. 1877 Janjira Riots: Sparked by disputes over playing music during religious processions.1882 Salem Riots (Madras Presidency) Communal clashes resulting from disputes over the route of a Hindu procession near a mosque.1891, 1896, 1897 Calcutta Riots: A series of religious riots in the late 19th century. 1907 Bengal Riots: Following the 1905 Partition of Bengal, waves of religious violence hit the region.1910 Peshawar Riots: Occurred when the Hindu festival of Holi coincided with the Muslim day of mourning, Barawafat, resulting in significant injuries and damage.1917 Shahabad Riots (Bihar): Caused by tensions surrounding cow slaughter during Eid al-Adha. 1918 Katarpur Riot (Uttar Pradesh): A serious communal conflict.1921-1922 Malabar Rebellion (Moplah Riots): A major uprising in Kerala where the Muslim Mappila community targeted Hindus and the British, resulting in thousands of deaths, forced conversions, and the displacement of 100,000 Hindus. Religious conversion: It also contributed in shaping Hindutva. During the freedom movement (roughly 1850s-1947) was a complex, highly charged process, marked by missionary activity, colonial policy, and socioreligious reforms. While Christian missions targeted lower-caste groups and tribes for conversion, often through educational and social services. Khawaja Nizami wrote book published in 1920 titled Fatami Dawat-i-Islam, in which he advocated all means, fair and foul, by which Hindus were to be converted to Islam. He advised the mullahs to concentrate on Hindu 'untouchables', and convert them en masse so that Muslims could achieve parity of population with the Hindus. He disclosed in the introduction to his book that he had consulted many Muslim leaders including the Agha Khan regarding the soundness of his scheme, and that all of them had agreed with the caution that the scheme should be kept a closely guarded secret. Unfortunately for the Khwaja, the scheme came to the notice of Swami Shraddha Nanda who exposed it, fought it tooth and nail, and frustrated it completely by means of his Shuddhi Movement." As a reaction to conversion, Arya Samaj came into existence in 1875 under swami Dayanand Saraswati. Arya Samaj was silenced by a series of murders, notably that of Pandit Lekhram and Swami Shraddha Nanda. The latter had started shuddi in 1920s. B.R. Ambedkar in Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946) had stated that "It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shuddhi movement have been murdered by some fanatic Musalmans. First to suffer was Swami Shradha Nand, who was shot by Abdul Rashid on 23rd December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed." It may not be out of way to point out that induced or forced conversion by Muslim and Christians continues till date.

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Courtesy:   M K Bhat  and Koshur Samachar- February, 2026