Man-making, Nation-Building and National Reconstruction: the Engaged Hinduism of the RSS and the Vivekananda Kendra

Abstract

AbstractThe offering of sevā in its more recent sense of organized service to humanity has been central to engaged Hinduism. Despite the scale of the practice of sevā by Hindutva-inspired organizations, scholarly studies have tended to focus on the political rather than the cultural and religious dimensions of their activities. An examination of the nature and extent of these organizations’ commitment to sevā reveals that, far from being monolithic in character, these organizations are characterized by different blends and balances of cultural, political, and religious aspirations and symbolism. This article explores examples of sevā activities drawn from two Hindutva-inspired organizations, the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the more recently formed Vivekananda Kendra, and aspects of the development of this practice within these groups. It considers what such groups might understand by engaged Hinduism, their goals, how they seek to realize these goals, and the relationship between their sevā activities and their wider cultural and political agendas, and some would say, in the terms of this volume, about the “benevolence” of their aims.