Scatologising Hindu Eschatology
An (In) Auspicious Journey from Devalaya to Shauchalaya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13069883 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Subhendra Bhowmick (Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, corresponding author), Anindya Sekhar Purakayastha (0000-0003-4287-9108, Kazi Nazrul University) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 162-183 |
| Publication date | 2016-06-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Sociology of South Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2230-8075 • E-ISSN: 2249-5312 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2230807516633589 |
| OpenAlex | W2415705582 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
The Indian prime minister’s clarion call for a ‘Swachh Bharat’ or ‘transparent India’ officially seeks to cleanse the image of a ‘squatting’ nation through building ‘toilets first, temples later’ (‘Devalaya Se Pehle Shauchalaya’)—a laudable slogan that sounds bizarre when heard from the member of a nationalist ‘Hindutvavadi’ political group that usually prioritises hardcore religious sentiments over civic issues. Keeping in mind the traditional Hindu discourse of ritual pollution, it is hard to believe that the Hindu mindset could bear the juxtaposition of the two sites within the space of one single sentence without considering the act as straightforward blasphemy! This article seeks to understand how—and under what sort of social circumstances—this kind of ideational somersault is being attempted today. This ingenious move is polysemic too, we argue, as the virtues of transparency and cleanliness could be rhetorically employed for a variety of purposes. We would examine whether a finer version of Hindutva is on its way to replace a cruder one by enfolding a series of tropes—from Shauchalaya to Mahatma Gandhi—that have never been within its order so far
Aesthetics · Blasphemy · Evocation · Hindu nationalism · Hinduism · Hindutva · Media studies · Nationalism · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Slogan · Sociology · Subaltern · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Religious Studies
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |