CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Erasmus University Digital Repository MAKING THE PITRUBHUMI : MASCULINE HEGEMONY AND THE FORMATION OF THE HINDU NATION Prem Kumar Vijayan This dissertation is part of the Research Programme of Ceres, Research School for Resource Studies for Development Funded by the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) © Prem Kumar Vijayan 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. ISBN 978-94-91478-02-4 MAKING THE PITRUBHUMI : MASCULINE HEGEMONY AND THE FORMATION OF THE HINDU NATION DE VORMING VAN HET PITRUBHUMI (VADERLAND ): MASCULIENE HEGEMONIE EN DE VORMING VAN DE HINDOE -STAAT Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the rector magnificus Professor dr H.G. Schmidt and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board The public defence shall be held on 11 May 2012 at 16.00 hrs by Prem Kumar Vijayan born in Madras, India Doctoral Committee Promotor Prof.dr. B.N.F. White Other members Prof.dr. C.B. Bhatt, London School of Economics and Political Science Associate Professor dr. N. Gooptu, University of Oxford Associate Professor dr. D. Zarkov Co-promotor Associate Professor dr. A. Chhachhi Acknowledgements This thesis has had a precarious existence: it has suffered from severe neglect, malnutrition, lack of direction, illusions of progress, scientific, technical and technological backwardness, misplaced ambition, rampant internal conflict (often of faith), innumerable distractions and occasional- ly, complete lack of interest – in short, it has been, in its making, the very embodiment of the condition of underdevelopment. If it has neverthe- less survived to show some sort of development, it is due as much to the contribution of others, as to my own (needless to add, I have full and sole copyrights on its shortcomings). At the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, the original supervisory team had Prof. Martin Doornbos and Prof. Peter van der Veer. Alt- hough they are not, for various reasons, there at the finish line, this the- sis had benefited much from their input while they were there. Prof. Doornbos was instrumental in the thesis staying its course for as long as he was there. I remain grateful to both. I am particularly appreciative of the efforts made subsequently by Prof. Ben White and Dr. Amrita Chhachhi, who took on the supervisory role, in tiding over the crisis that loomed at one point, regarding my continued institutional affiliation with the ISS, and for coaxing, goading and generally ensuring that I would complete this thesis. Prof. White, in particular, employed much sagacity and sarcasm, to my great benefit. Their input in the course of preparing the final draft of the thesis was vital to the shape it has taken. I have en- joyed working with all of them, and am truly glad to have had that op- portunity. I am certain that all PhD participants at the ISS share this sentiment: Ms. Ank v d Berg, Ms. Maureen Koster and Ms. Dita Dirks constituted a holy triumvirate for us all. Their unflappable demeanours, even in the v vi MAKING THE PITRUBHUMI : MASCULINE HEGEMONY & THE FORMATION OF THE HINDU NATION face of the most psychotic participants, and often the most outrageous of demands, were sources of much reassurance and support. I am partic- ularly appreciative of their quiet efficiency, promptness and the warmth they brought to their interactions. The ISS proved to have been the ideal place to undertake a thesis of this nature. Its mutlinational, mutlicultural ambiance was enormously educative, in curricular and extracurricular terms. My interactions with the PhD group, as well as with the participants in the Masters Pro- gramme, were very important sources of both intellectual and social sus- tenance, in the otherwise rather lonely and somewhat perplexing pursuit of knowledge. The companionship of Yusuke Kubo, Richmond Tiemoko, NC Narayanan, Imani Tafari-Ama, Grace Fisiy, Nahda Sheha- da, Ann Karanja, Maha Mahfouz, Gudavarthy Vijay were particularly valuable; we spent much time discussing everything possibly unrelated to our PhD topics and discovered many solutions to the world's many problems (though somehow, we could not implement them). From out- side the PhD group, Yetty Haning in particular was (and remains) a steadfast friend. This was true also of the many others whom I do not name here, for the list would be too long. The sharing of our moments of sometimes profound alienation from our contexts was one of the strongest bonds between us, and no doubt helped each one of us deal with it better. I learned much from them all, and am truly grateful for the time we shared together. Ranjit Dwivedi was a towering presence in this group. He was a friend of rare value, possessed of a razor-sharp intellect, acerbic wit, a passionate engagement with whatever he took up, and a generally intense joie de vivre . So many years later, the vacuum he left still remains in our lives like an amputation. Another very close companion from those times, Mahmoud El-zain Hamid, to my deep sorrow, is also not with us to see this thesis complet- ed. I can only imagine the generous joy with which he would have re- ceived the news of my completion. Mahmoud's easy, gentle, wise and compassionate presence was a source of much succour to many of us: the world is a smaller place without him. Back in India, work on the thesis happened in fits and starts. I am in- debted to my colleagues in the Department of English at Hindu College for the support and encouragement they showed, in the periods when I did get immersed in my research. My parents and sisters somehow re- Acknowledgements vii tained faith in my ability to complete the research, and never ceased to remind me that I had not in fact, done so: their role in the completion of my work cannot be estimated. Working with gender always cuts close to the bone, and this thesis has in many ways been a long and somewhat bumbling process of self- surgery. In this, Karen Gabriel has been variously my instructing sur- geon, assistant surgeon, anaesthetist, nurse, and on some not always for- tunate occasions, my unsuspecting patient. She has been my rock, my oasis and my guiding star. This thesis would not have been possible without her, from its inception as a proposal so many years ago, to its final completion. Partner, mentor, intellectual foil, incisive critic and steady supporter, in innumerable ways she has contributed to this thesis more profoundly than perhaps even she knows. She has witnessed more closely than anyone else the ambivalences I have experienced towards this thesis, has struggled with me and in spite of me, to keep them in check, and has generally borne the intellectual and emotional conse- quences of its vagaries with fortitude, strength, understanding and enor- mous patience. These are debts I can only note, with no hope of repay- ing. My son Suyash has shown patience, understanding and a quiet belief in me that was way beyond his years. Given that this thesis is almost as old as he is, he has shown surprisingly few traces of sibling rivalry. Growing with him, the thesis only benefited from the joy and pride he has given me over the years. Nevertheless, it is with sadness that I note that he has borne the cost of this thesis, in ways I cannot begin to enu- merate. My daughter Samara came along, as children do, just when I seemed set to finalize the thesis. For several sleepless years she was an unavoida- ble but happy distraction. Her contributions were occasionally indelibly smeared on the hard copies I printed for revision, when I eventually be- gan work on it again; I have no doubt that she was drawing my attention to connections I had not seen, and to some I did not want to see. This thesis is dedicated to my children, Suyash and Samara: if there is any light it throws on our complex world, it has its source in them. Contents Acknowledgements v Abstract xii Samenvatting xvi 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 The Object of this Study 3 1.3 Theoretical Aspects of the Research 4 Nationalism 4 Religion and religious politics: 5 Caste and caste politics 8 Gender relations and masculinity 8 1.4 Discursive Location of the Thesis 9 1.5 Objectives and Relevance of Research 12 1.6 Research Questions 13 1.7 Methodological and Analytical Issues 15 1.8 Epistemological/Ethical Issues 20 1.9 Chapter Outline 22 Notes 23 2 TOWARDS A THEORY OF MASCULINE HEGEMONY 25 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 Objectives 25 2.3 Preliminary Propositions on ‘Patriarchy’ 26 2.4 On Masculinity Studies 28 Sources of Masculine Trouble 35 viii Contents ix 2.5 Examining Patriarchy and Masculinities 38 2.6 Hegemonic Masculinity and Masculine Hegemony 42 2.7 Intersectionalities and Masculine Hegemony 49 2.8 Hindutva Masculinities 55 2.9 Conclusion 59 Notes 60 3 THE EMERGENCE OF THE HINDU RIGHT - I 65 3.1 Introduction 65 3.2 Objectives 65 3.3 Conceptual Issues 66 3.4 The History of ‘Hindu’ 67 The Pre-Christian Era to the Tenth Century AD 67 Unity and Heterogeneity 70 The Assertion of Brahmanical Dominance 72 3.5 Islamic Rule and the ‘Hindu’ Identity 74 3.6 ‘Hindu’ Identity and the European Impact 77 The Emergence of ‘Hinduism’ 78 Colonial British Perceptions and the Construction of ‘Hinduism’ 80 The Impact of 1857 83 3.7 Heterogeneity, ‘Hinduism’ and the ‘Hindu’ Identity 85 3.8 The Emergence of