Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Indian Religions
Episode: Nissim Mannathukkaren, "Hindu Nationalism in South India: The Rise of Saffron in Kerala" (Routledge, 2024)
Description: Hindu Nationalism in South India: The Rise of Saffron in Kerala (Routledge, 2024) engages with a range of factors that shapes the trajectory of Hindu nationalism in Kerala, the southern state of India. Until recently, Kerala was considered a socio-political exception which had no room for Hindu nationalism. This book questions such Panglossian prognosis and shows the need to map the ideological and political growth of Hindu nationalism which has been downplayed in the academic discourse as temporary aberrations. The introduction to the book places Kerala in the context of South India. Arguing that Hindutva is a real force which ne...