mission is to provide leadership for a
renascent Hindu India. Most of its
members will never advance beyond
the local level, but those who do are
generally remarkably efficient, effective
leaders. Although the RSShas shunned
direct activism that would tarnish its
self-proclaimed cultural emphasis, it
has exercised considerable influence
through the formation of affiliated orga-
nizations, for which it has provided the
leadership cadre. These organizations
are spread throughout every level of
Indian society, from labor and student
unions to service organizations, reli-
gious organizations such as the Vishva
Hindu Parishad (VHP), and political par-
ties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Although the RSShas produced some
remarkably effective leaders, it has also
generated considerable controversy.
One reason is that it is a highly authori-
tarian organization, run on the model of
the Hindu joint family. All authority is
vested in a single supreme leader, the
sarsanghchalak, and proceeds down-
ward from there. In this way the RSSis
profoundly undemocratic, and many of
its opponents—particularly in the polit-
ical arena—have felt uneasy about hav-
ing it as the controlling hand behind
its affiliated organizations. Other
opponents have also worried about its
anti-Muslim and anti-Christian tone—
non-Hindus were not allowed to join the
organization until 1979—a tone rooted
in the organization’s Hindutva ideals. A
final reservation about the RSScomes on
social grounds. The RSShas long con-
demned untouchability, and has also
long asserted that castedistinctions did
not exist within its ranks—in keeping
with its Hindutva roots, it proclaims that
all its members are Hindus and Hindus
only. Nevertheless, critics have noted
that most RSS members come from
brahmin and other privileged castes,
and that all of its leaders have been
brahmins. These critics contend that
such public disavowal of caste distinc-
tions is a mask to perpetuate brahmin
control and to conceal whose interests
the RSStruly serves. For further informa-
tion see Walter K. Andersen and
Shridhar D. Damle, The Brotherhood in
Saffron, 1987; K. Jayaprasad, The RSSand
Hindu Nationalism, 1991; Daniel Gold,
“Organized Hinduisms: From Vedic
Truth to Hindu Nation,” in Martin
Marty and R. Scott Appleby (eds.),
Fundamentalisms Observed, 1991; Tapan
Basu et al., Khaki Shorts and Saffron
Flags, 1993; Lise McKean, Divine
Enterprise, 1996; and Christopher
Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement
in India, 1996.Rasik
Person able to appreciate a developed
artistic mood (rasa); someone who is
cultured and sophisticated. In the con-
text of religious practice, the word refers
to a person who has transposed this
appreciation of aesthetic mood into a
devotional setting. Rasik devotees
(bhakta) would engage in elaborate
visualizations of their chosen divinity
and mentally accompany that divinity
during the day. These meditative visual-
izations were said to give the devotee a
sense of participation in the divine play
(lila) of God’s presence on earth and
thus sharpen his or her enjoyment of
it. The two religious communities that
laid the greatest stress on this ability
were the Pushti Marg and the Ram
Rasik Sampraday, whose objects of
devotion were the gods Krishna
and Rama, respectively. This type of
worshipis almost exclusively focused
on these deities, or on other forms of
the god Vishnu.Raskhan
(late 16th c.) Poet-saint and devotee
(bhakta) of the god Krishna who was
born a Muslim, specifically a Pathan
(Afghan) and whose name may have
been Saiyid Ibrahim. According to leg-
end, Raskhan spent the early part of his
life in Delhi, where he became enam-
ored of a handsome boy. When the
object of his affections proved unattain-
able, he migrated to Brindavan, theRasik