Editing Hindus (section)

== History of Hindu identity ==
Starting after the 10th century and particularly after the 12th century Islamic invasion, states [[Sheldon Pollock]], the political response fused with the Indic religious culture and doctrines.<ref name=pollockdevagiri>Sheldon Pollock (1993), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2059648 Rāmāyaṇa and political imagination in India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820001056/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2059648 |date=20 August 2016 }}, Journal of Asian studies, Vol. 52, No. 2, pages 266–269</ref> Temples dedicated to deity [[Rama]] were built from north to south India, and textual records as well as hagiographic inscriptions began comparing the Hindu epic of [[Ramayana]] to regional kings and their response to Islamic attacks. The [[Seuna (Yadava) dynasty|Yadava]] king of [[Devagiri]] named ''[[Ramachandra of Devagiri|Ramacandra]]'', for example states Pollock, is described in a 13th-century record as, "How is this Rama to be described.. who freed [[Varanasi]] from the ''mleccha'' (barbarian, Turk Muslim) horde, and built there a golden temple of Sarngadhara".<ref name=pollockdevagiri /> Pollock notes that the Yadava king ''Ramacandra'' is described as a devotee of deity [[Shiva]] (Shaivism), yet his political achievements and temple construction sponsorship in Varanasi, far from his kingdom's location in the Deccan region, is described in the historical records in Vaishnavism terms of Rama, a deity [[Vishnu]] avatar.<ref name=pollockdevagiri /> Pollock presents many such examples and suggests an emerging Hindu political identity that was grounded in the Hindu religious text of Ramayana, one that has continued into the modern times, and suggests that this historic process began with the arrival of Islam in India.<ref>Sheldon Pollock (1993), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2059648 Rāmāyaṇa and political imagination in India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820001056/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2059648 |date=20 August 2016 }}, Journal of Asian studies, Vol. 52, No. 2, pages 261–297</ref>

Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya has questioned the Pollock theory and presented textual and inscriptional evidence.<ref name=brajadulal2004 /> According to Chattopadhyaya, the Hindu identity and religious response to Islamic invasion and wars developed in different kingdoms, such as wars between Islamic Sultanates and the Vijayanagara kingdom, and Islamic raids on the kingdoms in [[Tamil Nadu]]. These wars were described not just using the mythical story of Rama from Ramayana, states Chattopadhyaya, the medieval records used a wide range of religious symbolism and myths that are now considered as part of Hindu literature.<ref name=brajadulal>Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (1998), Representing the other?: Sanskrit sources and the Muslims (eighth to fourteenth century), Manohar Publications, {{ISBN|978-81-7304-252-2}}, pages 92–103, Chapter 1 and 2</ref><ref name=brajadulal2004>Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2004), Other or the Others? in ''The World in the Year 1000'' (Editors: James Heitzman, Wolfgang Schenkluhn), University Press of America, {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2561-6}}, pages 303–323</ref> This emergence of religious with political terminology began with the first Muslim invasion of Sindh in the 8th century CE, and intensified 13th century onwards. The 14th-century Sanskrit text, ''Madhuravijayam'', a memoir written by ''Gangadevi'', the wife of Vijayanagara prince, for example describes the consequences of war using religious terms,<ref name=brajadulal306 />

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
I very much lament for what happened to the groves in [[Madurai|Madhura]],
The coconut trees have all been cut and in their place are to be seen,
  rows of iron spikes with human skulls dangling at the points,
In the highways which were once charming with anklets sound of beautiful women,
  are now heard ear-piercing noises of Brahmins being dragged, bound in iron-fetters,
The waters of [[Thamirabarani River|Tambraparni]], which were once white with sandal paste,
  are now flowing red with the blood of cows slaughtered by miscreants,
Earth is no longer the producer of wealth, nor does [[Indra]] give timely rains,
The [[Yama|God of death]] takes his undue toll of what are left lives if undestroyed by the Yavanas [Muslims],<ref>the terms were Persians, Tajikas or Arabs, and Turushkas or Turks, states Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2004), Other or the Others? in ''The World in the Year 1000'' (Editors: James Heitzman, Wolfgang Schenkluhn), University Press of America, {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2561-6}}, pages 303–319</ref>
The Kali age now deserves deepest congratulations for being at the zenith of its power,
gone is the sacred learning, hidden is refinement, hushed is the voice of [[Dharma]].
</poem>
|''[[Madura Vijayam|Madhuravijayam]]''|Translated by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya<ref name=brajadulal306>Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2004), Other or the Others? in ''The World in the Year 1000'' (Editors: James Heitzman, Wolfgang Schenkluhn), University Press of America, {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2561-6}}, pages 306–307</ref>}}

The historiographic writings in Telugu language from the 13th- and 14th-century [[Kakatiya dynasty]] period presents a similar "alien other (Turk)" and "self-identity (Hindu)" contrast.<ref>Cynthia Talbot (2000), Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia (Editors: David Gilmartin, Bruce B. Lawrence), University Press of Florida, {{ISBN|978-0-8130-2487-5}}, pages 291–294</ref> Chattopadhyaya, and other scholars,<ref name=cynthiatalbot701>{{cite journal |last=Talbot |first=Cynthia |date=October 1995 |title=Inscribing the other, inscribing the self: Hindu-Muslim identities in pre-colonial India |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=701–706 |jstor=179206|doi=10.1017/S0010417500019927 |s2cid=111385524 }}</ref> state that the military and political campaign during the medieval era wars in Deccan peninsula of India, and in the north India, were no longer a quest for sovereignty, they embodied a political and religious animosity against the "otherness of Islam", and this began the historical process of Hindu identity formation.<ref name=brajadulal />{{Efn|{{harvp|Lorenzen|2010|p=29}}: "When it comes to early sources written in Indian languages (and also Persian and Arabic), the word 'Hindu' is used in a clearly religious sense in a great number of texts at least as early as the sixteenth century. (...) Although al-Biruni's original Arabic text only uses a term equivalent to the religion of the people of India, his description of Hindu religion is in fact remarkably similar to those of nineteenth-century European orientalists. For his part Vidyapati, in his Apabhransha text Kirtilata, makes use of the phrase 'Hindu and Turk dharmas' in a clearly religious sense and highlights the local conflicts between the two communities. In the early sixteenth century texts attributed to Kabir, the references to 'Hindus' and to 'Turks' or 'Muslims' (musalamans) in a clearly religious context are numerous and unambiguous."}}

Andrew Nicholson, in his review of scholarship on Hindu identity history, states that the vernacular literature of [[Bhakti movement]] sants from 15th to 17th century, such as [[Kabir]], Anantadas, Eknath, Vidyapati, suggests that distinct religious identities, between Hindus and Turks (Muslims), had formed during these centuries.<ref name=andrewnicholson /> The poetry of this period contrasts Hindu and Islamic identities, states Nicholson, and the literature vilifies the Muslims coupled with a "distinct sense of a Hindu religious identity".<ref name=andrewnicholson>Andrew Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-14987-7}}, pages 198–199</ref>

=== Hindu identity amidst other Indian religions ===
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Scholars state that Hindu, Buddhist and Jain identities are retrospectively-introduced modern constructions.<ref name=leslie /> Inscriptional evidence from the 8th century onwards, in regions such as South India, suggests that medieval era India, at both elite and folk religious practices level, likely had a "shared religious culture",<ref name=leslie>Leslie Orr (2014), Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-535672-4}}, pages 25–26, 204</ref> and their collective identities were "multiple, layered and fuzzy".<ref name=leslieorr>Leslie Orr (2014), Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-535672-4}}, pages 42, 204</ref> Even among Hinduism denominations such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism, the Hindu identities, states Leslie Orr, lacked "firm definitions and clear boundaries".<ref name=leslieorr />

Overlaps in Jain-Hindu identities have included Jains worshipping Hindu deities, intermarriages between Jains and Hindus, and medieval era Jain temples featuring Hindu religious icons and sculpture.<ref>Paul Dundas (2002), The Jains, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-26605-5}}, pages 6–10</ref><ref>K Reddy (2011), Indian History, Tata McGraw Hill, {{ISBN|978-0-07-132923-1}}, page 93</ref><ref>Margaret Allen (1992), Ornament in Indian Architecture, University of Delaware Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87413-399-8}}, page 211</ref> Beyond India, on Java island of [[Indonesia]], historical records attest to marriages between Hindus and Buddhists, medieval era temple architecture and sculptures that simultaneously incorporate Hindu and Buddhist themes,<ref>Trudy King et al. (1996), Historic Places: Asia and Oceania, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-1-884964-04-6}}, page 692</ref> where Hinduism and Buddhism merged and functioned as "two separate paths within one overall system", according to Ann Kenney and other scholars.<ref>Ann Kenney et al (2003), Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java, University of Hawaii Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8248-2779-3}}, pages 24–25</ref> Similarly, there is an organic relation of Sikhs to Hindus, states Zaehner, both in religious thought and their communities, and virtually all Sikhs' ancestors were Hindus.<ref name=robertzaehner /> Marriages between Sikhs and Hindus, particularly among ''Khatris'', were frequent.<ref name=robertzaehner /> Some Hindu families brought up a son as a Sikh, and some Hindus view Sikhism as a tradition within Hinduism, even though the Sikh faith is a distinct religion.<ref name=robertzaehner>Robert Zaehner (1997), Encyclopedia of the World's Religions, Barnes & Noble Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-7607-0712-8}}, page 409</ref>

Julius Lipner states that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs is a modern phenomena, but one that is a convenient abstraction.<ref name=lipner17>Julius J. Lipner (2009), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-45677-7}}, pages 17–18</ref> Distinguishing Indian traditions is a fairly recent practice, states Lipner, and is the result of "not only Western preconceptions about the nature of religion in general and of religion in India in particular, but also with the political awareness that has arisen in India" in its people and a result of Western influence during its colonial history.<ref name=lipner17 />

=== Sacred geography ===
Scholars such as Fleming and Eck state that the post-Epic era literature from the 1st millennium CE amply demonstrate that there was a historic concept of the Indian subcontinent as a sacred geography, where the sacredness was a shared set of religious ideas. For example, the twelve ''Jyotirlingas'' of Shaivism and fifty-one ''Shaktipithas'' of Shaktism are described in the early medieval era Puranas as pilgrimage sites around a theme.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=51–56}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Knut A. Jacobsen|title=Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: Salvific Space |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn6_3oBFAqIC&pg=PA122 |year= 2013|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-59038-9|pages=122–129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=André Padoux|title=The Hindu Tantric World: An Overview |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odQZDgAAQBAJ |year=2017|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-42412-5|pages=136–149}}</ref> This sacred geography and Shaiva temples with same iconography, shared themes, motifs and embedded legends are found across India, from the [[Himalaya]]s to hills of South India, from [[Ellora Caves]] to [[Varanasi]] by about the middle of 1st millennium.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=51–56}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Linda Kay Davidson |author2=David Martin Gitlitz |year=2002 |title=Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland; an Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVYkrNhPMQkC |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-004-8 |pages=239–244 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-date=4 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704100931/https://books.google.com/books?id=YVYkrNhPMQkC |url-status=live }}</ref> Shakti temples, dated to a few centuries later, are verifiable across the subcontinent. Varanasi as a sacred pilgrimage site is documented in the ''Varanasimahatmya'' text embedded inside the ''[[Skanda Purana]]'', and the oldest versions of this text are dated to 6th to 8th-century CE.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|p=56}}<ref name=Eck2012p34 />

The idea of twelve sacred sites in Shiva Hindu tradition spread across the Indian subcontinent appears not only in the medieval era temples but also in copper plate inscriptions and temple seals discovered in different sites.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=57–58}} According to Bhardwaj, non-Hindu texts such as the memoirs of Chinese Buddhist and Persian Muslim travellers attest to the existence and significance of the pilgrimage to sacred geography among Hindus by later 1st millennium CE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Surinder M. Bhardwaj|title=Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XJFokSJzEC|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04951-2|pages=75–79|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=31 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331131330/https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XJFokSJzEC|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Fleming, those who question whether the term Hindu and Hinduism are a modern construction in a religious context present their arguments based on some texts that have survived into the modern era, either of Islamic courts or of literature published by Western missionaries or colonial-era Indologists aiming for a reasonable construction of history. However, the existence of non-textual evidence such as cave temples separated by thousands of kilometers, as well as lists of medieval era pilgrimage sites, is evidence of a shared sacred geography and existence of a community that was self-aware of shared religious premises and landscape.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=51–58}}<ref name=Eck2012p34 /> Further, it is a norm in evolving cultures that there is a gap between the "lived and historical realities" of a religious tradition and the emergence of related "textual authorities".{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=57–58}} The tradition and temples likely existed well before the medieval era Hindu manuscripts appeared that describe them and the sacred geography. This, states Fleming, is apparent given the sophistication of the architecture and the sacred sites along with the variance in the versions of the Puranic literature.{{sfn|Fleming|2009|pp=51–58}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Surinder M. Bhardwaj|title=Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XJFokSJzEC|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04951-2|pages=58–79|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=31 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331131330/https://books.google.com/books?id=D6XJFokSJzEC|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Diana L. Eck]] and other Indologists such as André Wink, Muslim invaders were aware of Hindu sacred geography such as Mathura, Ujjain, and Varanasi by the 11th century. These sites became a target of their serial attacks in the centuries that followed.<ref name=Eck2012p34>{{cite book|author=Diana L Eck|author-link=Diana L. Eck|title=India: A Sacred Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNlJOSf__xYC |year=2012|publisher=Harmony|isbn=978-0-385-53191-7|pages=34–40, 55–58, 88}}</ref>

=== Hindu persecution ===
{{Main|Persecution of Hindus}}
The Hindus have been persecuted during the medieval and modern era. The medieval persecution included waves of plunder, killing, destruction of temples and enslavement by Turk-Mongol Muslim armies from central Asia. This is documented in Islamic literature such as those relating to 8th century [[Muhammad bin-Qasim]],<ref>{{cite book|author=André Wink|title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC |year=2002|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8 |pages= 154–161, 203–205}}</ref> 11th century [[Mahmud of Ghazni]],<ref>{{cite book|author=André Wink|title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC |year=2002|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8 |pages= 162–163, 184–186}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Victoria Schofield|title=Afghan Frontier: At the Crossroads of Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2CXfd1johOAC&pg=PA25 |year=2010|publisher=Tauris|isbn=978-1-84885-188-7 |pages=25}}</ref> the Persian traveler Al Biruni,<ref>{{cite book|last=Sachau|first=Edward|title=Alberuni's India, Vol. 1|year=1910|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|page=22|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_001/pages/ldpd_5949073_001_00000078.html?toggle=image&menu=maximize&top=&left=|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102408/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_001/pages/ldpd_5949073_001_00000078.html?toggle=image&menu=maximize&top=&left=|url-status=live}}, Quote: "Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people."</ref> the 14th century Islamic army invasion led by Timur,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Tapan Raychaudhuri|author2=Irfan Habib|title=Cambridge Economic History of India Vol-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsyatLixPsUC&pg=PA91 |year=1982|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-81-250-2730-0 |pages=91}}, Quote: "When Timur invaded India in 1398–99, collection of slaves formed an important object for his army. 100,000 Hindu slaves had been seized by his soldiers and camp followers. Even a pious saint had gathered together fifteen slaves. Regrettably, all had to be slaughtered before the attack on Delhi for fear that they might rebel. But after the occupation of Delhi the inhabitants were brought out and distributed as slaves among Timur's nobles, the captives including several thousand artisans and professional people."</ref> and various Sunni Islamic rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.<ref>{{cite book|author=Farooqui Salma Ahmed|title=A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxhAtCflwOMC&pg=PA105 |year=2011|publisher=Pearson|isbn=978-81-317-3202-1 |pages=105}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Hermann Kulke|author2=Dietmar Rothermund|title=A History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPVq3ykHyH4C&pg=PA180 |year=2004|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-32919-4 |pages=180}}</ref><ref name=lorenzen50 /> There were occasional exceptions such as [[Akbar]] who stopped the persecution of Hindus,<ref name=lorenzen50>{{cite book|author=David N. Lorenzen |author-link=David Lorenzen |title=Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SO-YmMWpcVEC&pg=PA50 |year=2006|publisher=Yoda |isbn=978-81-902272-6-1 |pages=50}}</ref> and occasional severe persecution such as under [[Aurangzeb]],{{sfn|Ayalon|1986|p=271}}{{sfn|Avari|2013|p=115 |ps=: citing a 2000 study, writes "Aurangzeb was perhaps no more culpable than most of the sultans before him; they desecrated the temples associated with Hindu power, not all temples. It is worth noting that, in contrast to the traditional claim of hundreds of Hindu temples having been destroyed by Aurangzeb, a recent study suggests a modest figure of just fifteen destructions."<br /><br />In contrast to Avari, the historian Abraham Eraly estimates Aurangzeb era destruction to be significantly higher; "in 1670, all temples around [[Ujjain]] were destroyed"; and later, "300 temples were destroyed in and around Chitor, [[Udaipur]] and [[Jaipur]]" among other Hindu temples destroyed elsewhere in campaigns through 1705.<ref>Abraham Eraly (2000), Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals, Penguin Books, {{ISBN|978-0-14-100143-2}} pages 398–399</ref><br /><br />The persecution during the Islamic period targeted non-Hindus as well. Avari writes, "Aurangzeb's religious policy caused friction between him and the ninth [[Sikhism|Sikh]] guru, Tegh Bahadur. In both [[Punjab]] and Kashmir the [[Sikh]] leader was roused to action by Aurangzeb's excessively zealous Islamic policies. Seized and taken to Delhi, he was called upon by [[Aurangzeb]] to embrace [[Islam]] and, on refusal, was tortured for five days and then beheaded in November 1675. Two of the ten Sikh gurus thus died as martyrs at the hands of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]]. (Avari (2013), page 155)}}{{efn|See also "Aurangzeb, as he was according to Mughal Records"; more links at the bottom of that page. For Muslim historian's record on major Hindu temple destruction campaigns, from 1193 to 1729 AD, see Richard Eaton (2000), Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States, Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 3, pages 283–319}} who destroyed temples, forcibly converted non-Muslims to Islam and banned the celebration of Hindu festivals such as [[Holi]] and [[Diwali]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Kiyokazu Okita|title=Hindu Theology in Early Modern South Asia: The Rise of Devotionalism and the Politics of Genealogy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9X1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870926-8 |pages=28–29}}</ref>

Other recorded persecution of Hindus include those under the reign of 18th century [[Tipu Sultan]] in south India,<ref>{{cite book |author=Kate Brittlebank |year=1997 |title=Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy: Islam and Kingship in a Hindu Domain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zI-AAAAMAAJ |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=12, 34–35 |isbn=978-0-19-563977-3}}</ref> and during the colonial era.<ref>{{cite book|author=Funso S. Afọlayan|title=Culture and Customs of South Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJh4ziYPoksC&pg=PA78 |year=2004|publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-32018-7 |pages=78–79}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Singh | first=Sherry-Ann | title=Hinduism and the State in Trinidad | journal=Inter-Asia Cultural Studies | volume=6 | issue=3 | year=2005 | pages=353–365 | doi=10.1080/14649370500169987| s2cid=144214455 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Derek R. Peterson |author2=Darren R. Walhof |title=The Invention of Religion: Rethinking Belief in Politics and History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5k49IdzycwUC |year=2002 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3093-2 |pages=82 |access-date=2 October 2016 |archive-date=31 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331131351/https://books.google.com/books?id=5k49IdzycwUC |url-status=live }}</ref> In the modern era, religious persecution of Hindus have been reported outside India in [[Pakistan]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Sri Lanka]], and [[Myanmar]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul A. Marshall|title=Religious Freedom in the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIq-whVzNxoC&pg=PA89 |year=2000|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-6213-4 |pages=88–89}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grim |first1=B. J. |last2=Finke |first2=R. |title=Religious Persecution in Cross-National Context: Clashing Civilizations or Regulated Religious Economies? | journal=American Sociological Review | volume=72 |issue=4 |year=2007 |pages=633–658 |doi=10.1177/000312240707200407|s2cid=145734744 }}, Quote: "Hindus are fatally persecuted in Bangladesh and elsewhere."</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hindus from Pakistan flee to India, citing religious persecution |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=15 August 2012 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/hindus-from-pakistan-flee-to-india-citing-religious-persecution/2012/08/15/adf09888-e6e4-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html |access-date=15 July 2016 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009092547/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/hindus-from-pakistan-flee-to-india-citing-religious-persecution/2012/08/15/adf09888-e6e4-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Ruchi |title=The decline of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh communities |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/1/1/the-decline-of-afghanistans-hindu-and-sikh-communities |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What are Black July massacres that triggered Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/27/what-are-black-july-massacres-that-triggered-sri-lankas-26-year-civil-war |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-22 |title=Myanmar: New evidence reveals Rohingya armed group massacred scores in Rakhine State |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/05/myanmar-new-evidence-reveals-rohingya-armed-group-massacred-scores-in-rakhine-state/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}}</ref>

=== Hindu nationalism ===
{{Main|Hindu nationalism|Hindutva}}
Christophe Jaffrelot states that modern [[Hindu nationalism]] was born in [[Maharashtra]], in the 1920s, as a reaction to the Islamic [[Khilafat Movement]] wherein Indian Muslims championed and took the cause of the Turkish Ottoman sultan as the Caliph of all Muslims, at the end of the [[World War I]].<ref name=chrisjaffrelot /><ref name=minault>Gail Minault (1982), The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-05072-2}}, pages 1–11 and Preface section</ref> Hindus viewed this development as one of divided loyalties of Indian Muslim population, of pan-Islamic hegemony, and questioned whether Indian Muslims were a part of an inclusive anti-colonial Indian nationalism.<ref name=minault /> The Hindu nationalism ideology that emerged, states Jeffrelot, was codified by Savarkar while he was a political prisoner of the British colonial authorities.<ref name=chrisjaffrelot>Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-13098-9}}, pages 13–15</ref><ref>Amalendu Misra (2004), Identity and Religion, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-0-7619-3226-0}}, pages 148–188</ref>

Chris Bayly traces the roots of Hindu nationalism to the Hindu identity and political independence achieved by the [[Maratha Confederacy|Maratha confederacy]], that overthrew the Islamic [[Mughal empire]] in large parts of India, allowing Hindus the freedom to pursue any of their diverse religious beliefs and restored Hindu holy places such as Varanasi.<ref>CA Bayly (1985), The pre-history of communialism? Religious conflict in India 1700–1860, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, pages 186–187, 177–203</ref> A few scholars view Hindu mobilisation and consequent nationalism to have emerged in the 19th century as a response to [[British colonialism]] by Indian nationalists and [[neo-Hinduism]] gurus.<ref>Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-13098-9}}, pages 6–7</ref><ref>[[Antony Copley]] (2000), Gurus and their followers: New religious reform movements in Colonial India, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-564958-1}}, pages 4–5, 24–27, 163–164</ref><ref name = Hardy>Hardy, F. "A radical assessment of the Vedic heritage" in ''Representing Hinduism: The Construction of Religious and National Identity'', Sage Publ., Delhi, 1995.</ref> Jaffrelot states that the efforts of Christian missionaries and Islamic proselytizers, during the British colonial era, each of whom tried to gain new converts to their own religion, by stereotyping and stigmatising Hindus to an identity of being inferior and superstitious, contributed to Hindus re-asserting their spiritual heritage and counter cross examining Islam and Christianity, forming organisations such as the ''Hindu Sabhas'' (Hindu associations), and ultimately a Hindu-identity driven nationalism in the 1920s.<ref name=chrisjaffrelot2>Christophe Jaffrelot (2007), Hindu Nationalism: A Reader, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-13098-9}}, pages 13</ref>

The colonial era Hindu revivalism and mobilisation, along with Hindu nationalism, states Peter van der Veer, was primarily a reaction to and competition with Muslim separatism and Muslim nationalism.<ref name=peterveer /> The successes of each side fed the fears of the other, leading to the growth of Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name=peterveer>Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-08256-4}}, pages 11–14, 1–24</ref> In the 20th century, the sense of religious nationalism grew in India, states van der Veer, but only Muslim nationalism succeeded with the formation of the West and East Pakistan (later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh), as "an Islamic state" upon independence.<ref name=peterveer31>Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-08256-4}}, pages 31, 99, 102</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Jawad Syed|author2=Edwina Pio|author3=Tahir Kamran|display-authors=etal|title=Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Mx5DQAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-349-94966-3|pages=49–50|access-date=11 July 2017|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209183715/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Mx5DQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Farahnaz Ispahani|title=Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jl7ODQAAQBAJ|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-062167-4|pages=28–37}}</ref> Religious riots and social trauma followed as millions of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs moved out of the newly created Islamic states and resettled into the Hindu-majority post-British India.<ref name=peterveer53>Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-08256-4}}, pages 26–32, 53–54</ref> After the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Hindu nationalism movement developed the concept of [[Hindutva]] in second half of the 20th century.<ref name = RamPrasad>Ram-Prasad, C. "Contemporary political Hinduism" in ''Blackwell companion to Hinduism'', Blackwell Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-631-21535-2}}</ref>

The [[Hindu nationalism]] movement has sought to reform Indian laws, that critics say attempts to impose Hindu values on India's Islamic minority. Gerald Larson states, for example, that Hindu nationalists have sought a uniform civil code, where all citizens are subject to the same laws, everyone has equal civil rights, and individual rights do not depend on the individual's religion.<ref name=larson55>GJ Larson (2002), Religion and Personal Law in Secular India: A Call to Judgment, Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-253-21480-5}}, pages 55–56</ref> In contrast, opponents of Hindu nationalists remark that eliminating religious law from India poses a threat to the cultural identity and religious rights of Muslims, and people of Islamic faith have a constitutional right to Islamic [[sharia]]h-based personal laws.<ref name=larson55 /><ref>John Mansfield (2005), The Personal Laws or a Uniform Civil Code?, in Religion and Law in Independent India (Editor: Robert Baird), Manohar, {{ISBN|978-81-7304-588-2}}, page 121-127, 135–136, 151–156</ref> A specific law, contentious between Hindu nationalists and their opponents in India, relates to the legal age of marriage for girls.<ref name=sylviavatuk /> Hindu nationalists seek that the legal age for marriage be eighteen that is universally applied to all girls regardless of their religion and that marriages be registered with local government to verify the age of marriage. Muslim clerics consider this proposal as unacceptable because under the shariah-derived personal law, a Muslim girl can be married at any age after she reaches puberty.<ref name=sylviavatuk>Sylvia Vatuk (2013), Adjudicating Family Law in Muslim Courts (Editor: Elisa Giunchi), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-81185-9}}, pages 52–53</ref>

Hindu nationalism in India, states Katharine Adeney, is a controversial political subject, with no consensus about what it means or implies in terms of the form of government and religious rights of the minorities.<ref>Katharine Adeney and Lawrence Saez (2005), Coalition Politics and Hindu Nationalism, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-35981-8}}, pages 98–114</ref>