Muscular Hinduism Explained

Muscular Hinduism is a philosophy that advocates for Hindus to be physically strong. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda are considered to have been major early proponents in the early 20th century.[1] [2] [3] [4] Muscular Hinduism intertwines with Hindu nationalism and communal violence in India.[5]

History

Colonial era

The muscularisation of Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh began to occur in the early 20th century, when communal conflicts expanded and urban Hindus became more visible in performing armed displays as part of processions during their religious festivals.[6]

Gita Press, which has links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is one of the oldest publishers that has supported Muscular Hinduism since the early 20th century.[7]

Muscular Hinduism has been partly inspired by fears of violence by Muslims towards Hindus, particularly towards Hindu women.[8] Muscular Hinduism was also inspired to a significant extent by Western influences such as Muscular Christianity and general British ideas of religion, sport, and masculinity,[9] [10] [11] [12] which were propounded in South Asia during British rule, with some influences in this direction also having come from the YMCA.[13] Opposition to colonialism in general,[14] [15] and British stereotyping of Indian men as effeminate was also used as a rationale for Muscular Hinduism;[16] [17] [18] Mahatma Gandhi propounded Muscular Hinduism as a counter to muscularity as propounded by the British during his early life as a way of addressing his feelings of physical inferiority.[19] Muscular Hinduism promoted various sports alongside traditional Indian physical culture at a time when some practitioners of indigenous physical culture were opposed to the recently imported British physical culture and were actively standardising Indian sports for usage in formal competition,[20] [21] with yoga in particular having been somewhat remolded into a tool of physical and martial strengthening.[22] These physical culture practices were pursued in gymkhanas and akhadas.[23]

Post-colonial era

Muscular Hinduism is supported by the RSS as part of a broader project to politically remake India and further nation-building;[24] this effort takes place in part in opposition to Hindus of a less nationalistic character.[25] The RSS provides paramilitary training for its members.[26] Major Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians such as Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath have been associated with the promotion and execution of Muscular Hinduism at the governmental level.[27]

The muscularity of the narratives present in the Mahabharata, which culminates in a brutal war fought for righteousness, have been propounded to a greater extent in the modern era.[28]

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Ghosh . Gautam . Summer 2015 . An 'infiltration' of time? Hindu Chauvinism and Bangladeshi migration in/to Kolkata, India . English. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology. 6. 1 . 263–288. .
  2. News: Khilnani . Sunil . 2016-02-19 . Forgotten heroes – the true story of India . 2024-02-17 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  3. Madaio . James . June 2017 . Rethinking Neo-Vedānta: Swami Vivekananda and the Selective Historiography of Advaita Vedānta1 . Religions . en . 8 . 6 . 101 . 10.3390/rel8060101 . free . 2077-1444.
  4. Book: Sherma, Rita D. . Swami Vivekananda: His Life, Legacy, and Liberative Ethics . 2021-01-15 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1-4985-8605-4 . en.
  5. Web site: Phanjoubam . Pradip . 2024-02-09 . Drawing lines on terrain of the mind . 2024-02-17 . The New Indian Express . en.
  6. Gooptu . Nandini . October 1997 . The Urban Poor and Militant Hinduism in Early Twentieth-Century Uttar Pradesh . Modern Asian Studies . en . 31 . 4 . 879–918 . 10.1017/S0026749X00017194 . 146484298 . 1469-8099.
  7. News: 2015-09-08 . Caste and the battle for secularism . 2024-02-17 . The Hindu . en-IN . 0971-751X.
  8. Web site: 15 Hindu Victimhood and India's Muslim Minority . 2024-02-17 . academic.oup.com.
  9. Fletcher . Ian Christopher . 2003 . Review of Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire . Victorian Studies . 45 . 3 . 532–534 . 3830190 . 0042-5222.
  10. Shame, Modesty, Identity: Lived Religion In Athletic Spaces . Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa . 2023-04-04 . Thesis . en . Keelin . Pringnitz.
  11. Web site: Arora . Namit . 2013-01-15 . No saints or miracles . 2024-02-17 . Himal Southasian . en.
  12. Web site: The emergence of modern Hinduism: religion on the margins of colonialism . 2024-02-17 . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
  13. Alter . Joseph S. . 2004 . Indian Clubs and Colonialism: Hindu Masculinity and Muscular Christianity . Comparative Studies in Society and History . 46 . 3 . 497–534 . 10.1017/S0010417504000258 . 3879472 . 143633263 . 0010-4175.
  14. Web site: Press . Stanford University . Start reading Faithful Fighters Kate Imy . 2024-02-17 . www.sup.org . en.
  15. Roy . Parama . 2014-05-01 . A dietetics of virile emergency . Women's Studies International Forum . 44 . 255–265 . 10.1016/j.wsif.2013.11.007 . 0277-5395.
  16. Roy . Abhik . Hammers . Michele L. . June 2014 . The Recuperation of Hindu Manhood: Echoes of the Past in Present Day Hindu Nationalism . Comparative Literature: East & West . en . 21 . 1 . 19–38 . 10.1080/25723618.2014.12015472 . 2572-3618. free .
  17. Book: van der Veer, Peter . Imperial Encounters: Religion and Modernity in India and Britain . 2001 . Princeton University Press . 10.2307/j.ctv128fp9s . j.ctv128fp9s . 978-0-691-07478-8. 242274388 .
  18. Web site: Cultural entrenchment of Hindutva : local mediations and forms of convergence . Berti . D. . Jaoul . Nicolas . Kanungo . P. . 2010 . 128700316 .
  19. https://history.illinoisstate.edu/downloads/recounting-the-past/Spring%202017a.pdf#page=78 The Diet of Nonviolence: Fasting and the Meaning of Masculinity in Gandhian Philosophy
  20. Book: Strozier . Charles B. . The Fundamentalist Mindset: Psychological Perspectives on Religion, Violence, and History . Terman . David M. . Jones . James W. . Boyd . Katherine A. . 2010-04-19 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-970202-2 . en.
  21. Book: Macaloon, John J. . Muscular Christianity and the Colonial and Post-Colonial World . 2013-09-13 . Routledge . 978-1-317-99792-4 . en.
  22. Alter . Joseph S. . August 2006 . Yoga at the Fin de Siècle : Muscular Christianity with a 'Hindu' Twist . The International Journal of the History of Sport . en . 23 . 5 . 759–776 . 10.1080/09523360600673146 . 144740850 . 0952-3367.
  23. 2013 . Delap . Lucy . Morgan . Sue . Men, Masculinities and Religious Change in Twentieth-Century Britain . SpringerLink . en . 10.1057/9781137281753. 978-1-349-44828-9 .
  24. Book: Banerjee, Sikata . Make Me a Man!: Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India . 2012-02-01 . State University of New York Press . 978-0-7914-8369-5 . en.
  25. Web site: Reader . The MIT Press . 2022-02-28 . The Rise of Hindu Nationalism . 2024-02-17 . The MIT Press Reader . en.
  26. Subramanian . Samanth . 2022-10-10 . When the Hindu Right Came for Bollywood . 2024-02-17 . The New Yorker . en-US . 0028-792X.
  27. Web site: Rafiq . Arif . 2019-08-14 . Hindu Nationalist Extremist Emerges as India's Most Favorite State Leader . 2024-02-17 . Globely News . en-US.
  28. Kanjilal, Sucheta. "Muscular Mahabharatas: masculinity and transnational Hindu identity." Nidan: International Journal for Indian Studies 3.2 (2018): 18-39.

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