Presenting the Past: Anxious History and Ancient Future in Hindutva India

230 Pages·2005·12.78 MB·English

by  S. P. Udayakumar

"Presenting" the Past
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"Presenting" the Past
Anxious History and Ancient Future in
Hindutva India
S.P. UDAYAKUMAR
Wespor, connecticut
PRAEGER
London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Udayakumar, S. P.
Presenting the past: anxious history and ancient future in Hindutva India /
S. P. Udayakumar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-97209-7 (alk. paper)
1. India—Historiography. 2. Nationalism—India—History. 3. Hinduism and
politics—India. I. Title.
DS435.U33 2005
954'.0072'054—dc22 2005000450
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2005 by S. P. Udayakumar
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005000450
ISBN: 0-275-97209-7
First published in 2005
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission for use of the following
material:
Reprinted from FUTURES, Vol. 28, No. 10, S. P. Udayakumar: "Betraying a Futurist," pp.
971-85, Copyright 1996, with permission from Elsevier.
To the memory of Harry J. Friedman
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Rambhakts: Defining "Us" and Depicting "Our Story" 17
2 Ramayana: Historicizing Myth and Mythologizing History 45
3 Ramarajya: Envisioning the Future and Entrenching the Past 75
4 Ramjanmabhumi: Hinduizing Politics and Militarizing
Hindudom 109
5 Ramraksha: Ram-ifying the Society and Modi-fying the State 147
Conclusions 173
Glossary 185
Selected Bibliography 189
Index 207
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Acknowledgments
This book project emerged from my graduate-school days in Hawaii,
grew with my activist work in Minnesota, and matured with my freelance
journalistic and teaching assignments in India and around the world.
Inevitably, it has gained much from many of my teachers, friends, fellow
activists, students, and readers. Since it is simply impossible to acknowl
edge the contributions of each one of them individually, I will recognize
the most crucial ones. I am deeply grateful to my teachers Jim Dator, Johan
Galtung, Jim Harpstrite, Manfred Henningsen, Robert C. Johansen, Ben
Kerkvliet, Sankaran Krishna, Gil Loescher, George Lopez, Glenn Paige,
Ebenezar Paulraj, Michael Shapiro, Carolyn Stephenson, and Phyllis Turn-
bull, who have been so generous to me with their time, energy, insights,
experiences, and resources. Special thanks are due to Professor Harry
Friedman, who took great interest in my research and writing without
limiting my intellectual freedom, advised me without imposing his opin
ions on me, and made himself available anytime for any kind of help,
which ranged from bureaucratic paperwork to brilliant conversations
about South Asian politics. I acknowledge his kindness by dedicating this
book to his memory.
Some of my wonderful friends offered critical helps at some crucial junc
tures of this project: Sadayappan Chidambaram, Dietrich Fischer, Monica
Ghosh, Andi Giri, Shabnam Hashmi, Joseph Patten, N. Ram, Joe Schwartz-
berg, Murugesan Vijayanand, Lynette Wageman, and Peter Yeronimuse.
The following institutions in the United States have been instrumental in
the research, writing, and manuscript preparation of this book project: the