In Hindutva as Political Monotheism, Anustup Basu offers a genealogical study of Hindutva-Hindu right-wing nationalism-to illustrate the significance of Western anthropology and political theory to the idea of India as a Hindu nation. Connecting Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt's notion of political theology to traditional theorems of Hindu sovereignty and nationhood, Basu demonstrates how Western and Indian theorists subsumed a vast array of polytheistic, pantheistic, and henotheistic cults featuring millions of gods into a singular edifice of faith. Basu exposes the purported Hindu Nation as itself an orientalist vision by analyzing three crucial moments: European anthropologists' and Indian intellectuals' invention of a unified Hinduism during the long nineteenth century; Indian ideologues' adoption of ethnoreligious nationalism in pursuit of a single Hindu way of life in the twentieth century; and the transformations of this project in the era of finance capital, Bollywood, and new media. Arguing that Hindutva aligns with Enlightenment notions of nationalism, Basu foregrounds its significance not just to Narendra Modi's right-wing, anti-Muslim government but also to mainstream Indian nationalism and its credo of secularism and tolerance.
Anustup Basu is Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and author of Bollywood in the Age of New Media: The Geo-televisual Aesthetic.
Title: Hindutva as Political Monotheism
Author: Anustup Basu
ISBN: 9781478009887
Binding:
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication Date: 2020-09-25
Number of Pages: 296
Weight: 0.5442 kg
Hindutva as Political Monotheism is an original, important book, brilliant in its juxtaposition of major strands of European Enlightenment thought and Indian nationalist thought. -- Peter van der Veer, author of * The Value of Comparison *
A project of impressive intellectual scope and reach, based on erudition across a number of fields and archives. Hindutva as Political Monotheism is a much-awaited and timely study of Hindu nationalism that both extends the scope of well-worn historical terrain and reconfigures it through an utterly fresh conceptual lens. Given the present attempt to transform India's democratic republic into a Hindu state, it could not have come at a more appropriate time. It will be an invaluable aid in understanding the contemporary situation in historical terms. -- Aamir Mufti, author of * Forget English! Orientalisms and World Literatures *
A powerful, erudite, and timely study of the historical formations and contemporary manifestations of Hindu nationalism in India.... The laudable interdisciplinarity of the book and its rich archive of literature, film, and new media provide compelling and diverse entry points for a wide range of readers. -- Manav Ratti * South Asian Review *
Basu's monograph is a path-breaking attempt to trace [Hindutva's] genealogy as a political monotheism.... Hindutva is an eclectic and multidimensional work that makes major interventions in multiple knowledge-fields.
-- Amit R. Baishya * Boundary 2 *
Anustup Basu's monograph,
Hindutva as Political Monotheism, presents a hitherto underutilized lens of analysis. The book extends the works of political theorist Carl Schmitt on the monotheistic imperative found in the European theorizations of religious and ethnocentric nationhood, to India's history with ethnonationalism. . . . [It] does an excellent job of tracing [Hindutva's] origins. -- Iman Fathima Sheik Abdullah * Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society *
Anustup Basu takes a researcher's perspective and approaches the topic with academic rigor and passion, thereby contributing immensely to the study of the subject of Hindutva. . . . Elaborately designed, the text invites readers to delve deeper into the sociopolitical, religious, and cultural environment of contemporary India and with greater awareness address and encounter the fascistic structures of Hindutva 2.0. -- Swapna Gopinath * Cultural Politics *
