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Princely States and the Hindu Imaginary: Exploring the Cartography of Hindu Nationalism in Colonial India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2008

Manu Bhagavan
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Abstract

In the early twentieth century, Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, was a philosophy premised on exclusivist notions of “nation-ness” and “nation-state-ness.” India, proponents claimed, had since the earliest times been the pitrabhumi and the punyabhumi of Hindus—their fatherland and holy land. This ideal realm was corrupted by Muslim and Christian “invaders,” foreigners who defiled and split asunder “Akhand Hindustan,” the one India of Hindus. In the context of British rule of the subcontinent, Hindu nationalists mirrored colonial claims and held up the native princely states as exemplars of “tradition,” as territories unspoiled by foreign hands and thus representative of the “true India.” The idea behind Akhand Hindustan came from a prominent member of the princely state bureaucracy, K. M. Munshi. Here the author explores how and why princely states were idealized in the Hindu imaginary and what role reformers, particularly Munshi, played in perpetuating this hard-line ideology. By exploring the regions on which early Hindu nationalism was mapped, the author illuminates the teleology of Hindutva while providing a better understanding of the place of princely states in the politics and society of colonial India.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 67 , Issue 3 , August 2008 , pp. 881 - 915
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2008

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References

List of Abbreviations

AISHMC,

All-India States’ Hindu Mahasabha Conference

BHSC,

Baroda Hindu Sabha Conference

HOK,

Hindu Outlook

MPRN#R#F#,

Munshi Papers, Reel no. # (R-#), File #

MSHM,

Mysore State Hindu Mahasabha

All-India States’ Hindu Mahasabha Conference

Baroda Hindu Sabha Conference

Hindu Outlook

Munshi Papers, Reel no. # (R-#), File #

Mysore State Hindu Mahasabha

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