Big Book on Hindutva- Origin, Evolution and Future

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About the Book Hindutva: Origin, Evolution and Future studies Hindutva in both critical and holistic terms-an approach that oft found missing in most studies on Hindutva, where a lot of critical knowledge has been left out either intentionally or out of ignorance. This book is built on the strong foundation that Hindutva is not an ideology but a process-a historical-civilizational process. As such, it does not fit the expectations of any ideological framework. It is also an answer to another fundamental question:

Is Hindutva different from, and perhaps even opposed to, Hinduism?

About the Author Aravindan Neelakandan is currently a contributing editor for Swarajya magazine. He has worked for more than a decade with the Natural Resources Development Project of Vivekananda Kendra (VK-NARDEP). He has authored books on sustainable agricultural technologies and traditional knowledge systems in Tamizh.

Preface Hindutva: Origin, Evolution and Future studies Hindutva in both critical and holistic terms-an approach that is oft found missing in most studies on Hindutva, where a lot of critical knowledge has been left out either intentionally or out of ignorance. This omission has led to characterize Hindutva as a dangerous exclusivist majoritarian supremacist ideology. Hindutva is often studied similar to other extreme right-wing ideologies. However, the thesis presented in this book is built on the strong foundation that Hindutva is not an ideology but a process-a historical-civilizational process. As such, it does not fit the expectations of any ideological framework.

As a process. Hindutva predates Savarkar. There have been many contributors to it beyond Savarkar and even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the organization most prominently associated with Hindutva. Further, Hindutva is not monolith. It cannot be a monolith by its very nature. As a very fluid process, it is more a river than an ideology or dogma. There are many streams feeding into this river. From Vedic rishis to Veer Shivaji, Sri Aurobindo to Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Savarkar to Pandit Nehru, Acharya J. C. Bose to Bodhisattva Ambedkar, and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya to Narendra Modi-the contributors and influencers as well as the manifestations of the flow of Hindutva are varied and even may look contradictory to each other. At another level, Hindutva has many streams flowing into it-Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, atheistic streams. Christianity, Islam and Marxism also interact with and influence Hindutva.

This really necessitates that one must jettison the usual academic and political frameworks to study Hindutva and Hindutva organizations. This book is an attempt at that.

**Contents and Sample Pages**