Invitation to World Religions

136  CHAPTER 4  Hinduism

to train freedom fighters. The ashram chose as its motto a statement from the Upanishads: satyameva jayate , “the truth alone will prevail.” Like his Upanishadic forebears, Gandhi believed that truth could be sought only through selfless service and humility, which could in turn be achieved by disciplining the body through fasting and celibacy. Gandhi did not hesitate to criticize certain Hindu beliefs and practices, particu- larly that of varnashrama dharma , the ancient system by which society was ordered into various classes or castes. He worked tirelessly to abolish untouchability, calling the untouchables Harijans (“Children of God”), thereby seeking to increase their respectability. Gandhi also strove to improve the status of women. Gandhi’s charisma and influence were so great that even in his lifetime he was revered as a saint or Mahatma (Sanskrit, “Great Soul”). A lifelong Hindu, Gandhi also advocated the universality and truth of all religions and sought throughout his life to reconcile Hinduism and Islam. Tragically, on January 30, 1948, he was assas- sinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who thought Gandhi was too accommodating of Muslims. Godse was later executed for the crime despite the pleas of Gandhi’s two sons and Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), India’s first prime minister, who believed that violence would dishonor everything Gandhi repre- sented. After decades of struggle, Gandhi had lived to enjoy just five months of freedom after Great Britain had partitioned colonial India into the independent Whereas reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda, and Gandhi sought to build bridges with the West through calling attention to the commonalities between Hinduism and other religions, other figures, such as V. D. Savarkar (1883–1966), insisted on the distinctiveness of Hinduism. Savarkar called this concept hindutva (Sanskrit, “Hindu-ness”), a term he coined in a 1923 pamphlet. For Savarkar, hindutva was a force to unite Hindus in repelling all dangerous foreign influences. As president of the Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu nationalist political party that embraced this concept, Savarkar argued that India was an exclusively “Hindu Nation.” states of India and Pakistan in mid-1947. Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism

In 1925, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS; National Volunteer Corps) was founded. Although it has presented itself as a Hindu cultural organization, its members have a long history of political actions that have intensified communal tensions, precipitated violence, and propagated religious intolerance. The founder of the RSS, K. B. Hedgewar (1889–1940), was himself inspired by V. D. Savarkar’s concept of hindutva . The RSS was meant to be a training ground for the self- empowerment of Hindu youth who were committed to defending a Hindu nation from the perceived threat posed by the Muslim world. Gaining independence from oppressive foreign rule can often rob nationalist movements of their momentum, but this was not the case in India after 1947. Hindu nationalists continued to be a PROPERTY OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS