Hindu nationalism treats all pre-Islamic Indian textuality as a unified Hinduism

Evidence

Implicit in all Hindu nationalisms is the notion, confirmed in much Orientalist writing, that the entire tradition of high textuality in India up to the Turko-Persian (called simply ‘Islamic’) invasions expresses a Hinduism. In this enlarged version, which elevates certain kinds of Brahminical ideas to canonicity while assimilating all other cultural tendencies under its own dominance, Buddhism, Jainism and all other large and small dissents, religious and not so religious, are obscured into secondariness bur also assimilated into processes of syndication. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1148

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Foucault-to-Spivak materialist critique: the syndication of ‘Hinduism’ as a homogenizing essentialism parallels how strategic essentialism flattens internal dissent and difference into a unified identity claim. — connects to: Hindu nationalism recruits diverse Bhakti movements into one essentialized spirituality — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1148; Hindu unification movements aimed to integrate even Untouchables as a defensive bloc — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1097; The unified ‘Indian Literature’ was assembled alongside a canonical syndicated Hinduism. — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1142 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The unified ‘Indian Literature’ was assembled alongside a canonical syndicated Hinduism. #corroborates (0.90) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1142
• Hindu nationalism recruits diverse Bhakti movements into one essentialized spirituality #expands (0.88) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1148
• Canonizing Sanskrit religious classics obscures the social grounds of Indian literature #expands (0.85) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 1134
• Sanatan dharma politically absorbs other religions to dominate rather than tolerate them #expands (0.82) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 160
• Hindu unification movements aimed to integrate even Untouchables as a defensive bloc #exemplifies (0.78) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1097
• Hindutva’s apparent religious liberalism hides a weaponized pantheon #expands (0.74) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1212