ABSTRACT
Hindutva is a word that was first introduced in 1923 by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966), a leader in India’s independence movement against British colonial rule. Savarkar defined Hindutva as “… not a word but a history. Not only the spiritual or religious history of our people as at times it is mistaken to be by being confounded with the other cognate term Hinduism, but a history in full” (Savarkar, 2012: 3, quoted in Gandhi 2016). He argued that any “ism” (like Hindu-ism) was inadequate for his needs because he was attempting to describe an essence that connected “all those who love the land … as their fatherland” (Deshpande, 2003: 998). As Christophe Jaffrelot has pointed out, “declaring himself an atheist, Savarkar argued that religion was only one aspect of Hindu identity, and not even the most important” (Jaffrelot, 2010: 45). Jaffrelot has noted that Savarkar considered a common geography and race as more important parameters than religion, and a common language at least as vital. He defined citizens of India as having a common pitrubhoomi, a “land of ancestors” (fatherland), and a punyabhoomi, “land of worship” (holy land), within the geography of the country, and said such people shared a common Hindu-ness or, literally, hindutva. It is an ongoing debate among scholars, cultural debaters and politicians whether this definition includes Muslim and Christian Indians, that is, those who belong to faiths which have “holy lands” outside the geographical boundaries of India. On caste, the Hindu system of division of society based on birth, Savarkar had more unambiguous views. Caste, he said, was not immutable, and “through their ‘iron actions’ individual Hindus may lose the caste status assigned to them at birth” (McKean, 1996: 81). Savarkar denounced caste-based discrimination vigorously in his lifetime. He noted “seven social chains” that kept Hindu society, and indeed India, from developing: the religious and social bar on the study of ancient theological texts including the Vedas, bar on changing one’s caste profession (many castes had—and in some parts of India, still have—defined professions attached to them like barber, butcher and in the most exploitative form, manual scavengers), untouchability (where upper castes would not touch a lower caste or accept food or water from the lower caste), bar on crossing the seas, reconversion and inter-caste marriage (Grover, 1993: 567).
