Ram Swarup Explained

Ram Swarup
Birth Date:12 October 1920
Birth Place:Sonipat,Haryana,India
Alma Mater:University of Delhi
Period:Late 20th century
Genre:History, Politics, Comparative Religion
Subject:Hinduism, Dharmic traditions, British Imperialism

Ram Swarup (Hindi: राम स्वरूप ; 1920 10, df=yes –), born Ram Swarup Agarwal, was an Indian author and one of the most important thought leaders of the Hindu revivalist movement.[1]

Life

Ram Swarup was born in 1920 to a banker father in Sonipat, now a part of the state of Haryana in the Garg gotra of the merchant Agrawal caste. He graduated with a degree in economics from Delhi University in 1941. He started the Changer's Club in 1944, members of which included Lakshmi Chand Jain, Raj Krishna, Girilal Jain and Sita Ram Goel. In 1948–49, he worked for Mahatma Gandhi's disciple Mira Behn (Madeleine Slade).[2]

Swarup wrote a book on the Communist Party that was published under an assumed name. In 1949, he founded the Society for the Defence of Freedom in Asia. The Society published books, reviewed in the West, that criticised both the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet-mouthpiece Izvestia as well as Pravda, another mouthpiece for that same foreign power's Communist Party.[3] The Society for the Defence of Freedom in Asia ceased operations in 1955. His early book Gandhism and Communism from around this time had some influence among American policymakers and members of Congress.[4] Swarup also wrote for mainstream Indian weeklies and dailies, like the Telegraph, The Times of India, Indian Express, Observer of Business and Politics, Hindustan Times and Hinduism Today.

In 1982, Swarup founded the Hindutva publishing house Voice of India,[5] which has published works by Harsh Narain, A. K. Chatterjee, K.S. Lal, Koenraad Elst, Rajendra Singh, Sant R.S. Nirala and Shrikant Talageri, among others.[6]

Views

Hinduism

Ram Swarup upheld the polytheistic interpretation of the Vedas by rejecting the concept of one God,[7] and states that, "only some form of polytheism alone can do justice to this variety and richness."[8]

Swarup was influenced by Sri Aurobindo, whom he held to be the greatest exponent of the Vedic vision in our times.[9]

Ram Swarup was "most responsible for reviving and re-popularizing" the Hindu 'critique' of Christian missionary practices in the 1980s, according to Chad Bauman. He insisted that monotheistic religions like Christianity "nurtured among their adherents a lack of respect for other religions".[10] In the 1980s, he and Goel were involved in a "vigorous debate" with the Christian Ashram movement represented by Bede Griffiths.[11] Swarup has been named one of the most important thought leaders of the Hindu revivalist movement.[1]

European paganism

Swarup also had an interest in European Neopaganism, and corresponded with Prudence Jones (chairperson of Pagan Federation) and the Pagan author Guðrún Kristín Magnúsdóttir.[12] Under the influence of Ram Swarup, other Hindu revivalists also took an interest in European paganism.[13]

Christopher Gérard (editor of Antaios, Society for Polytheistic Studies) said: "Ram Swarup was the perfect link between Hindu Renaissance and renascent Paganism in the West and elsewhere."[14]

Swarup has also advocated a "Pagan renaissance" in Europe, saying He argued that the European Pagans "should compile a directory of Pagan temples destroyed, Pagan groves and sacred spots desecrated. European Pagans should also revive some of these sites as their places of pilgrimage."[15]

Bibliography

Writings as a contributor
Writings in other languages

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt: Hindutva zwischen „Dekolonisierung“ und Nationalismus. Zur westlichen Mitwirkung an der Entwicklung neuen hinduistischen Selbstbewußtseins in Indien In: Manfred Hutter (Hrsg.): Religionswissenschaft im Kontext der Asienwissenschaften. 99 Jahre religionswissenschaftliche Lehre und Forschung in Bonn. Lit, Münster 2009, S. 233–248. p. 240
  2. Web site: VOI . 2016-09-24 . Ram Swarup: Outline of a biography – Koenraad Elst . 2022-03-08 . Voice of India . en.
  3. Sita Ram Goel Genesis and Growth of Nehruism (1993)
  4. Web site: Ram Swarup A Fearless Intellectual by V. Sundaram . 2022-03-08 . boloji.com.
  5. Web site: 1998-07-01. Letter by Goel to Hinduism Today, July 1998. Letters. 2021-07-04. Hinduism Today. en-US.
  6. Goel, Sita Ram, "How I became a Hindu", Chapter 9
  7. Book: Goel, Sita Ram. Defence of Hindu Society. 1987. Voice of India. New Delhi, India. "In the Vedic approach, there is no single God. This is bad enough. But the Hindus do not have even a supreme God, a fuhrer-God who presides over a multiplicity of Gods." – Ram Swarup. 2011-08-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm. 2016-03-03. dead.
  8. Book: Goel, Sita Ram. Defence of Hindu Society. 1987. Voice of India. New Delhi, India. 2011-08-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181337/http://voi.org/books/hindusoc/ch5.htm. 2016-03-03. dead.
  9. Goel:How I became a Hindu. ch.8
  10. Pentecostals, Proselytization, and Anti-Christian Violence in Contemporary India by Chad M. Bauman, Oxford University Press, 2015
  11. Theology in the Public Sphere Sebastian C. H. Kim
  12. Koenraad Elst. Who is a Hindu, 2001
  13. Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt: Hindutva zwischen „Dekolonisierung“ und Nationalismus. Zur westlichen Mitwirkung an der Entwicklung neuen hinduistischen Selbstbewußtseins in Indien In: Manfred Hutter (Hrsg.): Religionswissenschaft im Kontext der Asienwissenschaften. 99 Jahre religionswissenschaftliche Lehre und Forschung in Bonn. Lit, Münster 2009, S. 233–248.
  14. Web site: 1999-04-01. The Voice of India. 2021-07-04. Hinduism Today. en-US.
  15. Hinduism Today. July 1999. Antaios 1996 (Interview with Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel)Web site: Archived copy . 2007-01-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061030024504/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1999/7/1999-7-07.shtml . 30 October 2006 .

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