Реферат: Hindu Revival Essay Research Paper Hindu revivalism

independent country. The RSS emerged during a wave of Hindu-Muslim riots that

had swept across India at the time. The RSS viewed communal rioting as a symptom

of the weakness and division within the Hindu community, and argued that

independence could be achieved only after the splintered Hindu community,

divided by caste, religion, language, and sect, united. (Andersen and Damle 32)

The formation of the RSS can be attributed to the defensive nature of the Hindu

community at the time. The deterioration of Hindu-Muslim relations and the

continual frustration with the Indian National Congress led to the rise of the

RSS. During India?s pre-independence period, the two leaders of the RSS, its

founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and Madhav Sadashiv Golwalker, felt that a

fundamental change in social attitudes was a necessity before any changes

occurred in the nation. The creation of a properly trained force of nationalists

would be the first step in altering such attitudes. Most revivalists argued that

Gandhi?s efforts in the early 1920s to strengthen Hindu-Muslim bonds by lining

up the Congress organization behind the Muslim protest against the dismemberment

of the Turkish Empire encouraged Muslim separatism. When he launched his first

major non-cooperation movement in India on August 1, 1920, one of the issues was

the British unwillingness to satisfy Muslims on the Turkish issue. Gandhi called

for a complete boycott of government institutions, while simultaneously

including the doctrine of ahimsa as an integral part of the movement. A

considerable number of Congress members, including many revivalists, opposed

both the objectives and tactics of the boycott. Widespread communal rioting

followed the apparent failure of Gandhi?s non-cooperation movement. (Malkani

5) Hindu revivalists were particularly alarmed by the widespread communal

rioting which took place on the Malabar coast of southwestern India during

August 1921. Events there, emphasized the revivalist concern about the dangers

facing the Hindus of the subcontinent. Muslim resentment against British rule in

the Malabar area, was coupled with anti-Hindu sentiment, and the rioting grew to

such proportions that the civil administration was unable to contain the