Making India Hindu: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy in India

For the past few decades powerful political forces have sought to make the Indian state Hindu. Their rising influence since 1980 has occurred during a period of radical change in Indian society and politics, and has been accomplished by electoral means as well as by organized violence. The 1996 elections have been a major test of their power and the influence of Hindu majoritarianism among the Indian electorate. Thirteen prominent scholars from India, Europe and the United States provide perspectives from the fields of political science, religious studied, history, art history, and anthropology, comparing trends in India with ethnic, religious, and cultural movements in other parts of the world. The second edition has been brought up-do-date with a new preface in which Ludden provides as incisive analysis of the 2004 elections and highlight direct and indirect operations of Hindutva inside India’s political mainstream. It also carries a revised bibliography.