party’s image was damaged by its asso-
ciation with Mohandas Gandhi’sassas-
sin, Nathuram Godse. It continued
to field political candidates until the
early 1960s, but never gained significant
political power. For further information
see Kenneth W. Jones, “Politicized
Hinduism: The Ideology and Program
of the Hindu Mahasabha,” in
Robert D. Baird (ed.), Religion in
Modern India, 1998.
Hindutva
(“Hindu-ness”) An idea first propounded
by the political activist Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar. It first appeared in a
pamphlet titled Hindutva/Who is a
Hindu?and is the fundamental basis of
modern Hindu nationalism.
Savarkar’s thesis was that the
Hindus were a nation, despite their
sharp regional, cultural, linguistic,
and religious differences; further-
more, he defined a Hindu as anyone
who considered India both fatherland
and holy land. This loose definition
was broad enough to encompass all
of the variety found in Indian Hindu
culture. But it was also clearly reach-
ing for the lowest common denomi-
nator. For most Indians, identity is
invariably based on concrete region-
al, linguistic, or sectarian grounds,
rather than an abstract notions of
being “Hindu.”
Yet it is important to note who this
loose definition excludes—Muslims
and Christians, India’s most visible
minorities, who are marginalized by
virtue of their “alien” holy lands. By
this definition, Hindus “belong” in
India simply by virtue of who they are,
whereas Muslims and Christians, no
matter how long their families may
have lived in India, are always consid-
ered to be outsiders.
Hindutva ideology is a fundamental
assumption of the Rashtriya Svayamsevak
Sangh(RSS), a contemporary conserv-
ative Hindu organization, and the
organizations that are affiliated with
theRSS, particularly the Vishva Hindu
Parishad, and to a lesser extent the
Bharatiya Janata Party. Hindutva ideals
are also a prominent feature of parties
such as the Shiv Sena, which combine
Hindu and regional identity. For further
information see Christophe Jaffrelot,
The Hindu Nationalist Movement in
India, 1996.Hinglaj
Sacred site (tirtha) located on the
coast of the Arabian Sea in the
Baluchistan Province of modern
Pakistan. Hinglaj is one of the Shakti
Pithas, a network of sites located
throughout the subcontinent that are
sacred to the goddess Sati. Each Shakti
Pitha marks the site where a body part
of the dismembered goddess fell to
earth, and then took form as a differ-
ent goddess; in the case of Hinglaj, the
body part was the crown of Sati’s head.
Hinglaj is the furthest west of all the
Shakti Pithas, and thus represents the
furthest boundaries of the traditional
Hindu cultural area.
The presiding goddess at Hinglaj
is known by various names, the most
common being Hinglaj Devi. She is
considered an extremely powerful
goddess—partly because of her
dangerous location on the periphery of
India, but also because the crown of the
head (brahmarandhra) is considered
the highest and most powerful part of
the subtle body.
The subtle body is an alternate phys-
iological system believed to reside on a
different plane of existence than the
actual body, but with certain correspon-
dences to the actual body. It is visualized
as a set of six psychic centers (chakras)
running roughly along the course of the
spine. Above and below these centers
are found the two divine principles,
Shiva(awareness) and Shakti(power)—
the latter at the base of the spine, and
former in the crown of the head.
Because of Hinglaj’s association with
mastery of the subtle body, a visit to her
shrine was considered essential for any-
one striving for perfection in yoga. ByHinglaj