Dec 30, 2022

Hindu Nationalism and the Politics of Lord Parshuram

A Discussion with Solano da Silva and Jigisha Bhattacharya

Solano da Silva and Jigisha Bhattacharya

Hosted by Kenneth Bo Nielsen

Summary

In this episode, we focus the use of religious myths, icons and deities in Hindu nationalist politics in India. More specifically, we discuss the political invocation of Lord Parshuram, a deity in the Hindu pantheon who has, in recent years, become more visible as a mobilizing political symbol for the Hindu nationalist movement. But who is Lord Parshuram? Why has he now become politically salient? And what does his politicization tell us about Hindu nationalist politics in India today? We look for answers to these questions in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Goa, where Lord Parshuram has recently been a focal point for political contestation and conflict along caste and religious lines.

Solano da Silva, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at BITS Pilani in Goa.

Jigisha Bhattacharya, The Faculty of English at Cambridge University.

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor at the dept. of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and one of the leaders of the Norwegian Network for Asian Studies.

The Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) based at the University of Copenhagen, along with our academic partners: the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, University of Helsinki, and Asianettverket at the University of Oslo.

We aim to produce timely, topical, and well-edited discussions of new research and developments about Asia.

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