The Hinduism and Hindu Nationalism of Lala Lajpat Rai

Bibliographic Data

ID4846596
AuthorsVanya Vaidehi Bhargav (0000-0002-8674-0290, Leipzig University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume14
Issue6
Pages744
Publication date2023-06-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14060744
OpenAlexW4379471434
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

Lala Lajpat Rai was a prominent figure of the Arya Samaj, the influential nineteenth-century Hindu socio-religious reform movement. He is also seen as having sown the seeds of Hindu nationalism in the first decade of the twentieth century. Exploring Lajpat Rai's thought between the 1880s and 1915, this article traces how felt imperatives of Hindu nation-building impelled him to regularly re-define Hinduism. These first prompted Rai to articulate a 'thin' Hinduism, defined less in terms of an insistence on a complex set of beliefs and more in broad, simple terms. They then induced him to culturalise Hinduism and make a distinction between 'Hinduism' and 'Hindu culture'. The article ends by comparing the Hinduism and Hindu nationalism of Lajpat Rai and V.D. Savarkar, the chief ideologue of the Hindutva ideology, which is considered the main influence on India's Hindu nationalist movement. It argues that while formulations of a thin and culturalised Hinduism enabled both men to articulate a 'Hindu nationalism', their nationalisms in fact remained qualitatively different. By scrutinizing intellectual trends and processes occurring in Rai's thought, the article demonstrates that the modern ideology of Hindu nationalism impacted how Hindu religion was defined and re-defined and how such re-definitions can still produce distinct forms of Hindu nationalism

Hindu nationalism · Hinduism · Hindutva · Ideology · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

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