Hindu fundamentalism: natsionalism and religioon Indias
Hindu fundamentalism: Nationalism and Religion in India

Summary/Abstract: The most prominent form of Hindu fundamentalism is Hindutva. The term, meaning hinduness, derives from the book „Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?” by V. D. Sāvarkar and is an ideology that combines both nationalism and religious fundamentalism. Its main goal is to create a Hindu state out of the now secular India. A Hindu state would be both a nation-state of the Hindu nation and a state based on Hinduism. Hindutva is hostile to both Islam and Christianity, regarding these two as religions not to be allowed on what they consider as the holy ground of India. Because of its usage of nationalist ideas, it is often hard to tell religious fundamentalism apart from nationalism and that has led most authors to address it as nationalism. But scientists from the field of religious studies, such as Hans Joachim Klimkeit (1981) have clearly shown the religious nature of Hindutva. In this paper I would like give a brief account of the history and characteristics of the Hindu fundamentalism. The beginnings of the phenomenon trace back to the 19th century, when the negative image of Hinduism, created by the British, had a great influence on Hinduism itself, resulting in a number of reform movements, trying to cleanse Hinduism of ritualism and idolatry in order to be able to compete with Christianity. Some of the reformers like Dayananda Sarasvati (1824–1883) or Bāl Gangadhār Tilak (1856–1920) can be seen as fundamentalists or predecessors of the fundamentalist thought. In the last two decades of the 20th century, Hindu fundamentalism saw a rapid growth, resulting in a coalition led by BJP, the political party advocating Hindutva. The rise of Hindutva in Indian politics can be explained by a shift in the Indian society, leading to the formation of a middle class. In this paper I demonstrate that Hindu fundamentalism has all the characteristics of a religious fundamentalism. According to the University of Chicago Fundamental Project,literalism does not occur in Hindutva. Based on events of 2007 it can be shown that literalism, too, is a feature of Hindu fundamentalism.

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