actions, first in Tamil Nadu, but later
extending throughout the entire nation.
The VHP’s renewed activity corresponded
with a more activist bent in its parent
organization, the RSS, as well as the deci-
sion by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP),
a political organization that is also an RSS
affiliate, to assume a more militantly
Hindu identity. Many of the VHP’s
national campaigns coincided with
national or state elections, and many of
these centered on the campaign to build
a temple to the god Ramain the city of
Ayodhya, at the site claimed to be
Rama’s birthplace. The site on which
they proposed to build the temple was
occupied by a Muslim mosque, the
Babri Masjid, which the VHP claimed
had been built only after tearing down
the original Rama temple. This temple
campaign thus carried powerful images
of past oppression, as well as the
assertiveness of a renascent Hindu iden-
tity. The VHP’s activism has enormously
boosted the BJP’s political fortunes, and
helped make it the dominant political
party through much of northern India.
The VHP’s activism has generated
sharply contrasting emotions through-
out India. Proponents point to its long
record of social service and its role in
helping strengthen and define a mod-
ern Hindu identity. Detractors point to
its disregard for the niceties of law,
which was epitomized by the destruc-
tion of the Babri Masjid in December
1992, its often vitriolic anti-Muslim
rhetoric, and its ultimate control by the
RSS, despite its separate institutional
identity. Other critics have censured
the VHPfor attempting to declare cer-
tain “required” Hindu rites as antitheti-
cal to the Hindu tradition and for
attempting to define and control the
nature of “Hinduism.” Other critics
question the organization’s claim to
speak for all Hindus, noting that its real
power lies in the hands of brahminsand
other privileged classes; these critics see
the VHPas an organization designed to
conceal its true purpose, the mainte-
nance of upper-class influence and priv-
ilege. For further information see Walter
K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle, The
Brotherhood in Saffron, 1987; James
Warner Björkman, Fundamentalism,
Revivalists, and Violence in South Asia,
1988; Tapan Basu et al., Khaki Shorts and
Saffron Flags, 1993; Lise McKean, Divine
Enterprise, 1996; and Christophe Jaffrelot,
The Hindu Nationalist Movement in
India, 1996.Vishvakarma
(“doing all things”) A minor deitywhose
mythic roles include being the architect
of the gods; creator of innumerable
handicrafts, ornaments, and weapons;
the finest sculptor; and the inventor of
the aerial chariots used by the gods. He
is the patron and paradigm for all the
skilled crafts in which materials are
shaped and formed, and in particular he
is said to have fixed the canons for carv-
ing images of the gods. According to one
story, Vishvakarma’s daughter, Sanjna,
is married to Surya, the sun, but
because of the sun’s radiance cannot
bear to be with him. Vishvakarma takes
the sun to his workshop and trims off
enough of his effulgence so that Sanjna
can bear his brightness. He then shapes
the cut-off pieces of the sun into the
god Vishnu’sdiscus (Sudarshana), the
god Shiva’s trident (trishul), various
other divine weapons, and the Pushpak
Viman, the most famous of the
aerial chariots.
Vishvakarma is sometimes identified
with Tvashtr, the workman of the gods
in theVedas, the oldest Hindu religious
texts. Yet it seems that these are two dif-
ferent deities, homologized to each
other through their common function.
Tvashtr’s name means “builder of car-
riages,” and this seems to have been his
primary function, although he is also
noted for crafting the weapons of the
gods, especially the mace with which
the storm-god Indraslays the serpent
Vrtra. Still, his name seems to indi-
cate that his major function is in
building carriages, which is believed
to be highly significant in a Vedic con-
text,since many Vedic hymns mentionVishvakarma