Description

The book by an ex-police officer (IPS) , while emphasising upon the importance of one’s religion in life, proceeds to examine Hinduism in detail, and its allied concept Hindutva. It discusses views on Hinduism , of such stalwarts as Swami Vivekananda, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Hindutva as defined by Savarkar in his 1922-pamphlet “Essentials of Hindutva” has been taken up for detailed discussion , and compared with the concept of Hinduism as developed earlier in 1892 by Chandranath Basu in his ” Hindutva-Hindur Prakrita Itihas” ( Hindutva-the Authentic History of the Hindus).

The three essentials of Hindutva as prescribed for Hindus by Savarkar- those of common land, common race , and common culture which was tied up with the Holyland , excluded Muslims and Christians of India from the fold of Hindus as their Holyland was not within the territorial limits of India. This is what Savarkar himself wrote in his pamphlet.

Savarkar’s view that followers of the other three Indic religions -Buddhism , Jainism and Sikhism – were Hindus ( the oldest Indic religion being Hinduism ) has not been found to be acceptable , as all the four are different religions.

Relationship between Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism have been examined , and main principles of Sanatana Dharma as mentioned in ancient Hindu texts , have been delineated . Both are not directly mentioned in Vedic literature but have been found to have Vedic origin .

The concepts of nation and state have been discussed; it has been concluded that Hindus constitute a Nation in India, in a cultural sense but in a political set-up of the state, every citizen , irrespective of religion, has equal rights.

Ancient Hindu texts like Vedas, Brahmanas , Arayankas , Upanishads and Puranas have been briefly discussed ; in respect of the much-maligned Manusmriti, it has been shown that short of later interpolations ( more than half of it consists of interpolations/additions ),it is a fine text not containing anything against women or Shudras , the Varna system having been based on one’s vocation /deed , and not on birth ; there was mobility from one Varna to another , both ways, from Brahman to Shudra, and vice-versa.

Science and technology in ancient India have also been examined. It has been found that though there was good deal of knowledge in fields like mathematics and astronomy , but existence of Vimanas ( flying machines ) and other high-end technology has not been found.

Concepts of Bharat, Hindustan and India have been explored ; Bharat has been found to be the most ancient having Vedic origin , whereas India has been found to have Greek origin.

It has been discussed that borders of India were broader and wider many times in the past than what they are today but in view of geo-political situation now, it would not be possible to extend the same by military might, but making India strong by adding to its military power has been recommended so that it does not fall prey to foreign powers again . In order to increase the influence of Hinduism all over the world, a peaceful proselytization campaign has been suggested.

It has been made clear that declaring India as a Hindu Rashtra would not be legally sustainable as the required amendment of the Constitution would not be able to meet the test of Basic Structure doctrine enunciated by the Supreme Court. However , it has been suggested that Bharat i.e.India may be declared as a Sanatana Rashtra by amending the Preamble to the Constitution which would be legally sustainable , as “Sanatana” only means eternal and does not have any religious connotation .