In a Hindu religious context, the
Himalayan regions in the first three
states are the most significant; the
mountains in these three contiguous
states are all part of an extended
Himalayan cultural region, fronted by
the Shiwalik Hills. They are consid-
ered sacred, both as the literal abode
of the Hindu gods (in particular Shiva,
who is believed to live on Mount
Kailas) and also as the source of
sacred rivers such as the Ganges,
Yamuna, and Indus. These high
mountains are also a traditional home
for Hindu ascetics wishing to
renounce the everyday world and
search for personal spiritual realiza-
tion; the physical hardships these
ascetics must endure in the moun-
tains are also believed to generate
spiritual power.
Given their religious importance,
the Himalayas are full of sacred
sites (tirthas); among the most impor-
tant are Amarnath, Yamunotri,
Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, and
Nanda Devi.
Hindi
Modern Indian language classified as a
member of the Indo-European lan-
guage family; Hindi is the “official”
language of the Republic of India.
Hindi is spoken throughout most of
northern and central India as a second
or “link” language and as a “mother”
tongue in much of the states of Uttar
Pradeshand Madhya Pradesh. It is
also one of the broadcast languages
for the television and radio networks
run by the Indian government and by
virtue of these mediums can be found
throughout the nation.
As with many of India’s regional
languages, Hindi has a long history as
a literary language, particularly in an
earlier version known as Braj Bhasha,
which was the dominant language in
which northern Indian devotional
(bhakti) poetry was written. The slow
demise of Sanskritin contemporary
times has helped make Hindi an
important language for fiction,
learned scholarship, and writing on
Indian culture.
In modern India, speaking a certain
language often carries political impli-
cations, since an important factor in
preserving regional identities has been
the stress on maintaining one’s region-
al language. For this reason, many peo-
ple are not about to let Hindi replace
their regional languages. This senti-
ment is particularly marked in south-
ern India, where the imposition of the
Hindi language is decried as a new
form of imperialism.Hindu Mahasabha
Hindu religious and political organiza-
tion, formed at the 1915 Kumbha Mela,
a gigantic religious festival. The Hindu
Mahasabha was originally formed to
help foster Hindu causes, such as a
call for a complete ban on cow
slaughter, promoting the use of the
Hindi language in the DevaNagari
script, and addressing the problem of
castediscrimination.
In the early 1920s, the movement
became more overtly political and
by the early 1930s espoused an
unabashed Hindu nationalism, exem-
plified by its leader, Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar. The dark underside of this
Hindu nationalist crusade was a pro-
nounced animus toward Muslims,
which was only strengthened by the
deteriorating relations between the
two communities in the years preced-
ing World War II.
Although the Hindu Mahasabha was
eager for official recognition by the rul-
ing British government and sought to be
recognized as the sole legitimate speak-
er for the Hindu community, these
hopes were never realized. The British
government included them in talks only
after negotiations with the Indian
National Congress Party had broken
down, and cut relations with the
Mahasabha after fences had been
mended with the Congress.
After independence in 1947, theHindi