ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on conceptual themes and theoretical strategies associated with postmodernism to a meta-analysis of empirical scholarship concerning religion and politics, more accurately, a particular discourse of politicized religion prominent in South Asia and some South Asian diaspora communities. It re-examines seminal contributions to studies of Hindu nationalism in an attempt to highlight the extent to which — consciously or inadvertently — they have asked postmodern questions and/or provided postmodern answers. The chapter discusses some of the events and historical developments over the last twenty years that have caught the attention of politicians, journalists and academics alike. It isolates and analyzes the three issues of 'history', 'violence', and the very concept of 'religion' as well as their frequent discursive 'treatment'. The chapter examines some of the discursive and self-consciously political uses, to which the concept has been put within and around Hindutvacircles.
