Arenas of Service and the Development of the Hindu Nationalist Subject in India
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The University of Manchester Research Arenas of Service and the Development of the Hindu Nationalist Subject in India Link to publication record in Manchester Research Explorer Citation for published version (APA): Alder, K. (2015). Arenas of Service and the Development of the Hindu Nationalist Subject in India. University of Manchester. Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on Manchester Research Explorer is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Proof version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Explorer are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Takedown policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester’s Takedown Procedures [http://man.ac.uk/04Y6Bo] or contact [email protected] providing relevant details, so we can investigate your claim. Download date:09. Oct. 2021 ‘Arenas of Service and the Development of the Hindu Nationalist Subject in India’ A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 Katan Alder School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents CONTENTS 2 ABBREVIATIONS 5 ABSTRACT 6 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT 7 GLOSSARY 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15 DEDICATION 16 1. INTRODUCTION: FASHIONING MY APPROACH 17 Introduction 17 1. Approaching Hindu Nationalism 19 2. Theoretical Frameworks and Concepts 31 3. Approaching Field Research 37 4. Trajectory of the Text 44 2. THE COLONIAL ENCOUNTER AND 48 REWORKING PRACTICE Introduction 48 1. Ordering Philanthropy 49 2. Reimagining Community 52 3. Reinscribing Seva 57 4. Spaces of Difference 63 Conclusion 68 2 Contents 3. SEVA, SANGATHAN AND ALTERNATIVE SPACES 70 Introduction 70 1. Of Seva and Sangathan 72 2. Imagining the Post-Colonial Nation 81 3. Shared Languages and Porous Arenas 91 Conclusion 96 4. ‘VISIBILIZED’ SPACES 98 Introduction 98 1. Visibilized Spaces of ‘Popular’ Hindu Religiosity 100 2. Vernacularization and Formative Power 108 Conclusion and the Move to Field Research 116 5. MODES OF EXPANSION 119 Introduction 119 1. The VKK and Seva: Reiterative and Refocused Practices 121 2. Seva and the Transgressive Subject 129 Conclusion 143 6. MODES OF PERFORMATIVITY 145 Introduction 145 1. Seva and Shikshan 147 2. The VKK, ‘Abstract Hinduism’ and the Ethical Hindu Self 149 3. Hygiene, Bhajans and Assemblies 153 Conclusion 168 3 Contents 7. MODES OF EMPOWERMENT 170 Introduction 170 1. Approaching Empowerment and Development 173 2. Seva, Development and the Ethical Hindu Self 176 3. Spaces of Empowerment and ‘Talking Back’ 185 Conclusion 196 8. CONCLUSION: KEY ARGUMENTS, WIDER CONTRIBUTIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS 198 1. Key Arguments: Seva and Hindu Nationalism 198 2. Wider Contributions 203 3. Future Directions 207 4. Final Remarks 213 APPENDIX ONE 214 APPENDIX TWO 215 BIBLIOGRAPHY 218 Word Count: 79,204 4 Abbreviations ABVP Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad BJP Bharatiya Janata Party EV Ekal Vidyalaya JN Jnana Prabodhini NHSF National Hindu Students Forum RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SPAR Society for Participatory Action and Reflection SSM Saraswati Shishu Mandir VHP Vishva Hindu Parishad VK Vivekananda Kendra VKA Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram VKK Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra 5 Abstract The study of the relationship between Hindu nationalism and Hindu activist traditions of seva (selfless service) has been principally organised into three approaches: firstly, the instrumentalist deployment of the practice, secondly, the political appropriation of traditions of seva, and thirdly, that these related associational spaces are internally homogenous and distinct from alternative ‘legitimate’ religious arenas. These frameworks largely reflect approaches to Hindu nationalism which place emphasis on its forms of political statecraft and relationship to spectacular violence. These approaches raise manifold concerns. This thesis retheorizes the relationship between Hindu nationalism and seva with reference to primary and secondary sources, together with field research in the seva projects of the Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra (VKK), a Hindu nationalist association. Through deploying a reworked understanding of Fraser’s (1990) approach to associational space and Butler’s (1993, 2007) theorisation of performative acts and subject formation, this thesis contributes to rethinking Hindu nationalism and seva. I demonstrate firstly that the colonial encounter worked to produce a series of social imaginaries which were drawn upon to transform traditions of seva. Through their articulation in shared religious languages, practices of seva were productive of porously structured Hindu activist spaces in which the tradition was contested with regard to ‘radical’ and ‘orthodox’ orientations to Hinduism’s boundaries. Increasingly, articulations of seva which invoked a sangathanist ‘orthodoxy’ came to gain hegemony in Hindu activist arenas. This influenced the early and irregular Hindu nationalist practices of seva. Fractures in Hindu nationalist articulations developed as a result of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) sangathanist organisational idioms, allowing the association to inscribe its practices with pro-active meanings. In the post-independence period the alternative arenas of Hindu nationalist seva projects expanded greatly, a point evident in the degrees of dialogue between the Sangh and the sarvodaya movement. The importance of porous associational boundaries is further demonstrated through noting how engagement in visibilized arenas of popular Hindu religiosity worked to both broaden the fields of reference and vernacularize Hindu nationalist practices of seva. With reference to field research, I demonstrate that central to the expansion of the VKK’s arenas of service into spaces associated with Ayurvedic care is the incorporation of both refocused and transgressive practices. In the educational projects of the VKK, I note how seva works to inscribe daily practices of hygiene, the singing of bhajans and daily assemblies with Hindu nationalist meanings, and so works to regulate conduct through the formation of an ‘ethical Hindu self’. However, arenas of seva are also a location where we can witness subjects negotiating power. I demonstrate this through examining how participants in the VKK’s rural development projects rearticulate Othering practices of seva, with actors using the discourse to position themselves as active subjects, break gendered restrictions on public space, and advance an ‘ethically Hindu’ grounded claim on development and critique of power. This work illustrates that far from being of inconsequence to the circulation of Hindu nationalist identities, alternative arenas of seva operate as spaces where discourses are performatively enacted, refocused, transgressed and rearticulated. These acts contribute to the consolidation and disturbance of Hindu nationalist subject formations. 6 Declaration and Copyright Statement DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 7 Glossary Conceptual Terms Alternative Public: Drawn from a reworked understanding of Fraser’s (1990) construct of the counterpublic as a way of thinking through issues of civil society, associational spaces and cultures. The concept outlines an approach to civil society composed of numerous