Editing Hindutva (section)

=== Savarkar ===
For Savarkar, in ''[[Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?]]'', Hindutva is an inclusive term of everything Indic. The three essentials of ''Hindutva'' in Savarkar's definition were the common nation (''rashtra''), common race (''jati''), and common culture or civilisation (''sanskriti'').<ref name="Sharma">{{cite journal |last=Sharma |first=Arvind |title=On Hindu, Hindustan, Hinduism and Hindutva |journal=Numen |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=22–23, 1–36 |year=2002 |jstor=3270470 |doi=10.1163/15685270252772759}}</ref> Savarkar used the words "Hindu" and "Sindhu" interchangeably.<ref name="Sharma"/><ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86">{{cite book|author=Christophe Jaffrelot|title=Hindu Nationalism: A Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOXWgr53A5kC|year=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2803-6|pages=14–15, 86–93|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221357/https://books.google.com/books?id=mOXWgr53A5kC|url-status=live}}</ref> Those terms were at the foundation of his Hindutva, as geographic, cultural and ethnic concepts, and "religion did not figure in his ensemble", states Sharma.<ref name="Sharma"/><ref name="NUSSBAUM2009p58"/> His elaboration of Hindutva included all [[Indic religions]], i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Savarkar restricted "Hindu nationality" to "Indian religions" in the sense that they shared a common culture and fondness for the land of their origin.<ref name="Sharma"/><ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86"/> Savarkar had made clear distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva, that they are not same things as Hindutva does not concern religion or rituals but the basis of India's national character.<ref>{{cite web | last=Purandare | first=Vaibhav | title=Hindutva is not the same as Hinduism said Savarkar | website=Telegraph India | date=2019-08-22 | url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/hindutva-is-not-the-same-as-hinduism-said-savarkar/cid/1699550 | access-date=2023-03-30 | archive-date=20 April 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420011457/https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/hindutva-is-not-the-same-as-hinduism-said-savarkar/cid/1699550 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Noorani2000">{{cite book | author=[[A G Noorani]] | title=The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour | publisher=LeftWord Books | series=Green School Series | year=2000 | isbn=978-81-87496-13-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PnBFW7cdtsC&pg=PT106 | page=106 | access-date=30 March 2023 | archive-date=7 October 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221357/https://books.google.com/books?id=6PnBFW7cdtsC&pg=PT106#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=A Hindu means a person who regards this land of Bharatvarsha, from the Indus to the seas as his Fater-Land as well as his Holy-Land that is the cradle land of his religion|author=Vinayak Damodar Savarkar|title="Hinditva - Who Is a Hindu"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/hindutva-vinayak-damodar-savarkar-pdf "Hinditva - Who Is a Hindu"]</ref>}}

In summary, Savarkar's Hinduism is a concept beyond the practice of religion. It encompasses India's cultural, historical, and national identity rooted in Hindu traditions and values. Hindutva is to build a strong Hindu nation, and this is the principle that holds together the customs and culture of this land.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. |url=http://archive.org/details/hindutva-vinayak-damodar-savarkar-pdf |title=hindutva-vinayak-damodar-savarkar-pdf}}</ref>

According to [[Christophe Jaffrelot]], a political scientist specialising in South Asia, Savarkar – declaring himself as an [[Hindu atheism|atheist]] – "minimizes the importance of religion in his definition of Hindu", and instead emphasises an ethnic group with a shared culture and cherished geography.<ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86" /><ref name="NUSSBAUM2009p58">{{cite book|author=Martha Nussbaum|title=The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLMQh4oc38gC|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-04156-1|pages=58–59}}, Quote: "Savarkar had long lived abroad, and his Hindutva is a European product from its opening words on. [...] Savarkar was not a religious man; for him, traditional religious belief and practice did not lie at the heart of Hindutva. He did, however, consider the religion's cultural traditions to be key markers of Hindutva, along with geographical attachment to the motherland and a sense of oneself as a part of a "race determined by a common origin, possessing a common blood".</ref> To Savarkar, states Jaffrelot, a Hindu is "first and foremost someone who lives in the area beyond the Indus river, between the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean".<ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86" /> Savarkar composed his ideology in reaction to the "pan-Islamic mobilization of the [[Khilafat movement]]", where Indian Muslims were pledging support to the Istanbul-based Caliph of the Ottoman Empire and to Islamic symbols, his thoughts predominantly reflect deep hostility to Islam and its followers. To Savarkar, states Jaffrelot, "Muslims were the real enemies, not the British", because their Islamic ideology posed "a threat to the real nation, namely Hindu Rashtra" in his vision.<ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86" /> All those who reject this historic "common culture" were excluded by Savarkar. He included those who had converted to Christianity or Islam but accepted and cherished the shared Indic culture, considering them as those who can be re-integrated.<ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86" />

According to Chetan Bhatt, a sociologist specialising in Human Rights and Indian nationalism, Savarkar "distances the idea of Hindu and of Hindutva from [[Hinduism]]".<ref name="Bhatt1997p186"/>{{efn|According to sociologist Aparna Devare, Savarkar distinguishes between Hindutva and Hinduism, but includes it in his definition. Savarkar wrote, "Hinduism is only a derivative, a fraction, a part of Hindutva".<ref>{{cite book|author=Aparna Devare|title=History and the Making of a Modern Hindu Self|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1drfCgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-19708-6|pages=195–196|access-date=3 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221940/https://books.google.com/books?id=1drfCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}} He describes Hindutva, states Bhatt, as "one of the most comprehensive and bewildering synthetic concepts known to the human tongue" and "Hindutva is not a word but a history; not only the spiritual or religious history of our people as at times it is mistaken to be by being confounded with the other cognate term Hinduism, but a history in full".<ref name="Bhatt1997p186">{{cite book|author=Chetan Bhatt|title=Liberation and Purity: Race, New Religious Movements and the Ethics of Postmodernity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aap0HaCzrFwC|year=1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-85728-423-2|page=186|access-date=3 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221859/https://books.google.com/books?id=aap0HaCzrFwC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Savarkar's notion of ''Hindutva'' formed the foundation for his [[Hindu nationalism]].<ref name="Sharma"/> It was a form of [[ethnic nationalism]] per the criteria set by [[Clifford Geertz]], [[Lloyd Fallers]], and [[Anthony D. Smith]].{{sfn|Jaffrelot|1996|pp=12-13}}<ref name="Jaffrelot2009p86"/>