assertion of Hindu majority privilege. It is often
referred to as Hindu fundamentalism, but this
phraseology glosses over the complexities and com-
peting values it represents. Nation-states need to
justify their existence ideologically. Pakistan shaped
its identity from the beginning around Islam, and
Hindus and other religions found themselves mar-
ginalized there from the beginning. India, however,
had preserved the values of a secular state. Muslims
regularly held the office of president of India and
cabinet posts and were kept visibly in government
offices and in positions in the army.
It can be argued that the movement for privi-
leging Hinduism in India and for a call to “Hin-
duize” India was directly related to the need for a
national ideology. Formation of national identity
for new nations is extremely complex, and flows
of power are difficult to track, but the emergence
of Hindu fundamentalism seems clearly related
to this need for the creation of national identity.
Hindu assertion was not new in India. Certain
groups, such as the Rashritriya Swayam Sevak
Sangh (The National Self-Help Organization),
who admired the fascists in Italy and Germany
and taught regimented military tactics for their
followers (along with hatred of Muslims), had
their roots in Hindu nationalist groups of the 19th
century. Suffice it to say that hatred of Muslims,
conversion of non-Hindu minorities (including
Christians), and reassertion of caste privilege were
all part of this larger movement. In the 1990s the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gained power with
this platform, and some of its officials presided
over a bloody anti-Muslim massacre in the Indian
state of Gujarat. In 2004 they were ousted from
power in favor of the Congress Party, the same
party that had led India to independence and cre-
ated the secular state of India. In the interim, great
damage was done to relationships between Hin-
dus and Muslims in India. Many Muslims began
to retreat into their own fundamentalisms, now
global in scope. Others simply left India, if they
could. This relationship is in deep crisis at this
time and will need skillful diplomacy and cultiva-
tion to be repaired, if it ever is.Dissemination
Through European scholarship and interest,
Hindu texts and practices became known in
Western Europe and North America as early as
the 18th century. In the 19th century, German
philosophy, French scholarship, and the American
transcendentalist movement served to dissemi-
nate Hindu ideas among Western readers, without
contributions from Indian emigrants. A diaspora,
which involved the resettlement of significant
numbers of emigrants from India, began as early
as the 17th century and reached significant size in
the 18th through 20th centuries. The pattern of
the diaspora was first characterized by the arrival
of indentured laborers in Indonesia, Africa, and
the Caribbean region to work the fields of large
landowners. From the 20th century, Hindus from
India migrated to the West for education. From
the first days of the diaspora, groups of Hindus
have cohered to transfer their faith and practices
from native India to their new homes, temples,
and communities. Thus, the dissemination of
Hinduism around the world has followed two
main routes: the route of scholarship and study, as
the religion has been studied by non-Indians and
introduced to non-Indian populations, and the
route of immigration, as devoted Hindus have cre-
ated Hindu homes and institutions in their places
of resettlement.
The acceptance of Hindu ideals and practices
in the West has depended upon a succession of
Hindu practitioners who visited the West. Begin-
ning with P. C. Moozumdar and Swami Vive-
kananda at the World Parliament of Religions in
Chicago in 1893 and continuing through the resi-
dence of Paramahansa Yogananda in the United
States from the 1920s, the West has received ever-
larger numbers of Hindu teachers, especially since
new immigration laws that allowed South Asian
migration to the West.
Philosophical and theological ideas from
Hinduism have been incorporated into Western
thought on a large scale, primarily through the
publications and activities of the TheosophicalIntroduction xxv Ji-xL-hindu-fm.indd xxv 12/14/06 1:02:38 AM