Tag: Manu S Pillai

  • Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity

    Manu S Pillai

    The alternative title of Gods, Guns and Missionaries should be Bharat Ek Khoj – the Hindu Nationalism edition. But seriously, the amount of research that seems to have gone into this book is staggering – over 220 pages of this 549 pager consist of Notes.

    In some ways, it is a study of Hindu culture, seen through the perspectives of rulers and politicians, both Indian and European, and philosophers, missionaries, and revolutionaries, juxtaposed against ground reality, but if one had to pick a thread through the chapters, it would be the study of the dynamics across history (till Independence, not contemporary, smart choice for many reasons) that led to the Hindu nationalism we now see.

    The seven chapters of Gods, Guns and Missionaries span centuries, regions, and worldviews, switching between political, spiritual, and cultural currents and combining archival detail, anecdotal richness, and contemporary relevance. The evidence of the first two is right in the first page, in the story of the maharaja of Jaipur attending the coronation of King Edward VII in London in a steamer, with cows!

    From then on, the book, through about four centuries, traces the evolution of Hindu identity from the late medieval period up to the early 21st century, highlighting the political, religious, and cultural developments that shaped modern Hinduism as a more defined, self-conscious identity.

    The central theme of the book is that Hinduism has never really been a monolithic concept. In fact, it has thrived precisely because it was malleable – argued over, enriched and transformed in theology, ritual and identity, by contact with others. The early parts of the book is mostly about the rich and inherent diversity – what fascinated and caused bewilderment among early European missionaries.

    Practices varied widely across geography and sects, with no centralised authority. This religious elasticity was critical to Hindu society’s resilience. The anecdote I mentioned earlier is interesting for this detail on adaptability too – the Jaipur maharaja’s ship had an idol that the priests kept onboard so that the Raja wouldn’t technically violate the taboo against crossing the seas.

    Towards the end of Gods, Guns and Missionaries, there is an excellent analogy. Five brown persons in a room – each a different shade from the other – might not view themselves as a single organism. They might even fight with each other. But when a white person enters the room, they become aware of their common features, and if under threat, the shared brownness becomes a means to mount a joint action. This assertion happens because of the context. And that is what happened with Islamic rulers and later with European missionaries.

    These external pressures became the catalyst for a growing sense of communal identity. Muslim rule sharpened regional self-awareness among Hindus, and Christian missionaries, backed (inconsistently though) by the colonial rulers, pressed Hindus to consolidate a unified theological and ideological framework. Missionaries brought critiques: denouncing polytheism, idol worship, and caste-based inequality. The British East India Company initially viewed missionaries as distractions, but gradually, thanks to the influence of evangelical groups and reform-minded legislators, accommodated them to support a civilising mission, transforming Company policy.

    Reformist Hindus responded playing and many a time winning arguments even according to the rules of the West- sometimes embracing monotheism, sometimes rejecting rituals. They used these critiques to reform or rebrand Hinduism into a perceived monotheistic core compatible with Enlightenment values. Rammohan Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Jyotirao Phule are what the book calls ‘native Luthers’. Special mention for Serfoji II of Tanjore, really ahed of his time. They challenged tradition while shaping the contours of modern faith. Roy introduced the term “Hinduism” into modern discourse; Saraswati denounced idolatry and brought back Vedic teachings into the discourse; Phule attacked caste structures from within a reconstituted Hindu framework.

    The final section – Drawing Blood – features the two men who really gave shape to the brand of Hindu nationalism we see today. The first, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, had an overlap of Hinduism and nationalism early in his career. Converting large religious festivals into mass political rallies, riding on Ganapati, pun slightly intended. For him, internal caste differences were no impediment, it was all one religion. Everyone else would only be ‘tolerated’. For critics, Tilak wanted nationalism, but without surrendering caste prerogatives. Tilak doesn’t come out looking good in the book. (read Notes)

    The second – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar – the architect of modern political Hindutva. Savarkar clarified that Hindu-ness and Hinduism wasn’t the same. He unified cultural, racial, and religious identity into a nationalist ideology that deliberately drew boundaries between who was “in” and “out.” His criteria- India must be one’s fatherland, or the home of one’s ancestors, but it must be equally one’s “holy land”- hardened as he aged (partly because of the Muslim warders he dealt with in Andaman), but not only found emotional appeal, and , it now serves as the ideological foundation for the lotus kids.

    Gods, Guns and Missionaries is a fascinating read on how, through several centuries of interactions and mutations, a kaleidoscopic, regionally diverse Hindu world gradually became a (relatively) more consolidated modern identity that is now being harnessed in politics. An excellent read because it is balanced in that it neither romanticises pre-colonial unity nor does it accept colonial narratives uncritically. In my 2025 Bibliofiles long list.

    Notes from Gods, Guns and Missionaries


    1. Brahmi was the ancestor to almost all Indian scripts
    2. Hinduism’s evolution as per Savarkar was ‘a process of assimilation, elimination, and consolidation’
    3.The older portion of the Vedas are often called karma kanda (focused on sacrifice, rituals, and invocations). The vedanta is called jnana kanda – the repository of wisdom.
    4. Jacob Rama Varma (1814-56) existed!
    5. Tilak recommended that Pandita Ramabai restyle herself as reveranda – punning on reverend and randa (whore)
    6. Tilak was once driven off stage once with tomatoes and eggs when he spoke against women’s rights, and tucking away intra-Hindu dissonances on caste

    Gods, Guns and Missionaries

  • The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History

    Manu S. Pillai

    I had really liked the author’s earlier work – The Ivory Throne – and particularly the last 100 or so pages where he brought out the humans from behind the aura of regality. I began seeing them in a different perspective and my engagement with the book was much richer. I think the author has repeated this in The Courtesan the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin as well.

    The book is divided into three parts. The first part is set before the Raj, and the second, during. We’ll come to the third in a bit. All the essays are around 6 pages and I initially found this a little annoying. But it became easier once I got used to the format. The good thing is that many of them generate enough interest to make you go through the sources and that’s a lot of future reading!

    The first section definitely has the shadow of the Mughal empire looming, but barring a couple of essays, the focus is not on them. Through a collection of very interesting characters, the author illustrates the multicultural diversity of India. This section also shows how history itself changes from the time the event happens to now, and how they it lends itself to various narratives that suit a particular social context.

    The second section is relatively more contemporary, and in addition to well-known figures like Annie Besant, Veer Savarkar, V.K Krishna Menon, Vivekananda etc, it brings out those who occupy the by-lanes of history and some whom history too has left behind. I liked this more than the first section, probably because of the poignancy of stories like The Champion of Tuticorin and The Seamstress & The Mathematician. This section also offers a couple of interesting what-ifs – what would India have looked liked without the Raj, and what if the Mahatma had lived to 125 (the life span he preferred)?

    The final section is an afterword – an essay for our times, and makes excellent points on why our multiplicity is our strength, and the complicated fabric that holds us together is not something that hyper-nationalism should try to tear.

    The writing is lucid and the past does come alive. The tales are interesting in many ways – one features a Mappila Ramayana with Ravana as a sultan and Surpanakha seeking sanction from the Sharia, another one has Wajid Ali Shah trying to divorce twenty seven wives in one shot, there are a few with the East India Company’s honchos in India, and from the Italian brahmin to kamasutra to football, it covers vast tracts of history. Highly recommended if you have an interest in history, and especially off the beaten path journeys into the past.
    P.S. A few hundred more pages would have been welcome though!

  • Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore

    Manu S Pillai

    Absolutely fantastic, and the strange thing is, if you had asked me when I was even at about page 400 (out of 555) I probably would have used milder adjectives. I also wouldn’t have thought (at that point) that I was likely to change my opinion later because knowing the direction, I didn’t think the last 100 or so pages would even be interesting to me. But while they’re not really the focus of the book, and more an inevitable ending, it (to me) is what delivered the texture that mattered most.

    But let’s begin at the beginning. The focus of the book is definitely Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, who was the Regent of Travancore from 1924-31, but the author spends the first section of the book in setting the context. The canvas is vaster than Travancore itself and everything from the fall of the Zamorin and the entry of Europeans to the evolution of the intricacies that decide the ruler of the land and the prevalent socio cultural setting sets the stage for the reign of the Senior Maharani.  (more…)