ABSTRACT
As the previous chapter demonstrated, Church administrators at San Thome and St. Thomas Mount have utilized various forms of published media in order to increase local awareness about St. Thomas’s Indian legacy and to foster a deeper connection between the Apostle and Tamil Catholic identity and indigeneity. However, the Church in Chennai’s utilization of the St. Thomas story in order to emphasize Indian Christian indigeneity barely scratches the surface regarding the greater socio-political context from which the St. Thomas sites in Chennai have launched their recent revivals. This chapter will analyze the development of India’s current sociopolitical landscape, paying particular attention to the rise of Hindu nationalism and how its rhetoric of Hindutva has influenced contemporary Catholic renewal in Chennai.
