Table Of Content‘Arenas of Service and the
Development of the Hindu
Nationalist Subject in India’
A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of
Humanities
2015
Katan Alder
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
Contents
CONTENTS 2
ABBREVIATIONS 5
ABSTRACT 6
DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT 7
GLOSSARY 8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15
DEDICATION 16
1. INTRODUCTION: FASHIONING MY APPROACH 17
Introduction 17
1. Approaching Hindu Nationalism 19
2. Theoretical Frameworks and Concepts 31
3. Approaching Field Research 37
4. Trajectory of the Text 44
2. THE COLONIAL ENCOUNTER AND 48
REWORKING PRACTICE
Introduction 48
1. Ordering Philanthropy 49
2. Reimagining Community 52
3. Reinscribing Seva 57
4. Spaces of Difference 63
Conclusion 68
2
Contents
3. SEVA, SANGATHAN AND ALTERNATIVE SPACES 70
Introduction 70
1. Of Seva and Sangathan 72
2. Imagining the Post-Colonial Nation 81
3. Shared Languages and Porous Arenas 91
Conclusion 96
4. ‘VISIBILIZED’ SPACES 98
Introduction 98
1. Visibilized Spaces of ‘Popular’ Hindu Religiosity 100
2. Vernacularization and Formative Power 108
Conclusion and the Move to Field Research 116
5. MODES OF EXPANSION 119
Introduction 119
1. The VKK and Seva: Reiterative and Refocused Practices 121
2. Seva and the Transgressive Subject 129
Conclusion 143
6. MODES OF PERFORMATIVITY 145
Introduction 145
1. Seva and Shikshan 147
2. The VKK, ‘Abstract Hinduism’ and the Ethical Hindu Self 149
3. Hygiene, Bhajans and Assemblies 153
Conclusion 168
3
Contents
7. MODES OF EMPOWERMENT 170
Introduction 170
1. Approaching Empowerment and Development 173
2. Seva, Development and the Ethical Hindu Self 176
3. Spaces of Empowerment and ‘Talking Back’ 185
Conclusion 196
8. CONCLUSION: KEY ARGUMENTS, WIDER CONTRIBUTIONS
AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS 198
1. Key Arguments: Seva and Hindu Nationalism 198
2. Wider Contributions 203
3. Future Directions 207
4. Final Remarks 213
APPENDIX ONE 214
APPENDIX TWO 215
BIBLIOGRAPHY 218
Word Count: 79,204
4
Abbreviations
ABVP Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
EV Ekal Vidyalaya
JN Jnana Prabodhini
NHSF National Hindu Students Forum
RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
SPAR Society for Participatory Action and Reflection
SSM Saraswati Shishu Mandir
VHP Vishva Hindu Parishad
VK Vivekananda Kendra
VKA Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram
VKK Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra
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Abstract
The study of the relationship between Hindu nationalism and Hindu activist traditions
of seva (selfless service) has been principally organised into three approaches: firstly, the
instrumentalist deployment of the practice, secondly, the political appropriation of
traditions of seva, and thirdly, that these related associational spaces are internally
homogenous and distinct from alternative ‘legitimate’ religious arenas. These
frameworks largely reflect approaches to Hindu nationalism which place emphasis on its
forms of political statecraft and relationship to spectacular violence. These approaches
raise manifold concerns.
This thesis retheorizes the relationship between Hindu nationalism and seva with
reference to primary and secondary sources, together with field research in the seva
projects of the Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra (VKK), a Hindu nationalist association.
Through deploying a reworked understanding of Fraser’s (1990) approach to
associational space and Butler’s (1993, 2007) theorisation of performative acts and
subject formation, this thesis contributes to rethinking Hindu nationalism and seva.
I demonstrate firstly that the colonial encounter worked to produce a series of social
imaginaries which were drawn upon to transform traditions of seva. Through their
articulation in shared religious languages, practices of seva were productive of porously
structured Hindu activist spaces in which the tradition was contested with regard to
‘radical’ and ‘orthodox’ orientations to Hinduism’s boundaries. Increasingly,
articulations of seva which invoked a sangathanist ‘orthodoxy’ came to gain hegemony in
Hindu activist arenas. This influenced the early and irregular Hindu nationalist practices
of seva. Fractures in Hindu nationalist articulations developed as a result of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) sangathanist organisational idioms, allowing the association
to inscribe its practices with pro-active meanings. In the post-independence period the
alternative arenas of Hindu nationalist seva projects expanded greatly, a point evident in
the degrees of dialogue between the Sangh and the sarvodaya movement. The importance
of porous associational boundaries is further demonstrated through noting how
engagement in visibilized arenas of popular Hindu religiosity worked to both broaden
the fields of reference and vernacularize Hindu nationalist practices of seva.
With reference to field research, I demonstrate that central to the expansion of the
VKK’s arenas of service into spaces associated with Ayurvedic care is the incorporation
of both refocused and transgressive practices. In the educational projects of the VKK, I
note how seva works to inscribe daily practices of hygiene, the singing of bhajans and
daily assemblies with Hindu nationalist meanings, and so works to regulate conduct
through the formation of an ‘ethical Hindu self’. However, arenas of seva are also a
location where we can witness subjects negotiating power. I demonstrate this through
examining how participants in the VKK’s rural development projects rearticulate
Othering practices of seva, with actors using the discourse to position themselves as
active subjects, break gendered restrictions on public space, and advance an ‘ethically
Hindu’ grounded claim on development and critique of power.
This work illustrates that far from being of inconsequence to the circulation of Hindu
nationalist identities, alternative arenas of seva operate as spaces where discourses are
performatively enacted, refocused, transgressed and rearticulated. These acts contribute
to the consolidation and disturbance of Hindu nationalist subject formations.
6
Declaration and Copyright
Statement
DECLARATION
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other
institute of learning.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis)
owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The
University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for
administrative purposes.
ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic
copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance
with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must
form part of any such copies made.
iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other
intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright
works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be
described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third
parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made
available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant
Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.
iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and
commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or
Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant
Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University
Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations)
and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses.
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Glossary
Conceptual Terms
Alternative Public: Drawn from a reworked understanding of Fraser’s (1990) construct of
the counterpublic as a way of thinking through issues of civil society, associational
spaces and cultures. The concept outlines an approach to civil society composed of
numerous fractured alternative publics structured in differing degrees of access to
power, inside of which circulate alternative identities and interests. See further entries:
Porosity, Visibilization.
Discourse: In Butler’s reading (1988, 1993, 2004, 2007) discourse establishes the potential
conditions for a range of personhoods. Discourses contribute to the construction of
subjectivities through daily embodiment. Identities are a process of performatively
enacting discursive norms, creating the illusion of a natural self. The inability of
discourse to fully achieve its ideal opens the potential for the performance of alternative
meanings and disciplinary policing. See further: Inscribe, Invoke, Performativity,
Rearticulation, Transgression.
Ethical Hindu Self: Through the reiterative enactment of norms participants attempt to
approximate ethical Hindu formations. These acts are seen as exhibiting more than
religious markers of the self, in that they are productive of wider ethical Hindu
sensibilities. See further entries: Discourse, Invoke, Inscribe, Performativity, Transgression,
Rearticulation.
Inscribe: Acts are involved in the production and reproduction of meaning (Butler 1988).
See further entries: Discourse, Invoke, Performativity, Transgression, Rearticulation.
Invoke: Performative acts invoke meanings. Invocation then refers to the ways in which
performative acts can reiterate, rearticulate and transgress received norms and meanings
(Butler 2007: 192) See further entries: Discourse, Performativity, Inscribe, Transgression,
Rearticulation.
Porosity: Porous boundaries mean that alternative publics may be structured around
collaboration and exchange, allowing for the emergence of shared associational cultures.
Porosity points towards reading alternative publics as both externally intersecting and
internally diverse, and so partial, resisting homogeneity and closure (Felski 1989). See
further entries: Alternative Public, Visibiliization
Performativity: Associated with the work of Butler (1988, 1993, 2004, 2007),
performativity is a theoretical concept which reads subject formations as produced
through a series of disciplinary structured and reiterative daily acts. Through performing
norms in banal time and space, these discursive practices naturalise the illusion of an
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abiding self. See further entries: Discourse, Invoke, Inscribe, Performativity, Transgression,
Rearticulation.
Rearticulation: This refers to the ways in which actors use language to reinscribe but also
question and challenge the normative categories associated with a discourse (Butler
2007: 190, Bhabha 1997). Discourse, Performativity, Inscribe, Transgression, Invoke.
Transgression: Human action stretches beyond simply the reiteration of or resistance to
power. Through performative acts which fail to invoke normative constructions subjects
take up transgressive positions. Transgressive acts are the focus of regulatory
mechanisms, ranging from incorporation to disciplinary policing (Butler 2007: 191-193).
See further entries: Invoke, Inscribe, Performativity, Rearticulation
Visibilization: The concept draws attention to the processes by which both alternative
publics and their associated identities become visible within a variety of public spaces
(Zavos 2008).
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Hindi and Sanskrit Terms
Aabangs: Religious Texts Associated with the Adi Tribe
Aam Janata: Colloquial, ‘Ordinary People’.
Aarti: Hindu Ritual Practice of Offering Light to a Deity
Abhiseka: Ritual Practice of Offering Liquid to a Deity
Adhinata: Lit. ‘Dependency’
Adi Dharm: Associations linked to the Brahmo Samaj Movement
Adivasi: Lit. ‘First Inhabitants’ / ‘First People’
Ahimsa: Non-Violence
Alankara: Musical Techniques
Aroyga: Holistic Health
Ayurveda: Knowledge of Life / Holistic Health
Bare Bare Log: Colloquial, ‘Important People’
Bhagwa Dhwaj: Saffron Flag
Bhajan: Hindu Devotional Song
Bhakti: Path of Devotion
Bharat Bhakti Stotra: Sanskrit Hymn
Brahmacharya: Celibacy as a Pre-Condition of Religious Practice
Chamar: A Section of Dalit Identity
Changa: Musical Instrument, Tambourine
Chappals: Sandals
Charak Samhita: Vedic Text
Chikitsaa: Medicine
Chinmaya Mission: Hindu Reform Movement, Est 1953
Chridar: Tight Trousers
Dana: Giving
Darshan: Blessing, Gained Through Vision / Presence of the Divine
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