Hindutva

English

Etymology

Transliteration of Hindi हिंदुत्व (hindutva) / Bengali হিন্দুত্ব (hindutto, literally “Hinduness”). Coined by Chandranath Basu in 1892 and further popularised by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɪnˈdʊtvə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hinˈdətvə/, /hɪnˈdətvə/

Proper noun

Hindutva

1. The state or quality of being Hindu [from 20th c.]
2. The ideology of Hindu nationalism.
   • 2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, page 284:

     In India, too, people now wish to bring that argument to a close: to replace the ruckus of politics with the moralized ideology of Hindutva.

   • 2022 March 30, Ross Douthat, “Yes, There Is a Clash of Civilizations”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     China’s one-party meritocracy, Putin’s uncrowned czardom, the post-Arab Spring triumph of dictatorship and monarchy over religious populism in the Middle East, the Hindutva populism transforming Indian democracy — these aren’t just all indistinguishable forms of “autocracy,” but culturally distinctive developments that fit well with Huntington’s typology […]

Related terms

• Hindutvavadi
• Hinduness

See also

• saffronization
• bhagwa, sanghi, bhakt, nationalist, rashtravadi, Bharatwasi (online slang terms for Hindutva supporters, may sometimes be derogatory)
• swayamsevak (a member of RSS, a Hindutva paramilitary organisation)
• chaddi (derogatory online slang term for Hindutva supporters)

Noun

Hindutva (plural Hindutvas)

1. (informal) A member of a Hindutva group or a supporter of Hindutva.