Hindutva and Violence. V. D. Savarkar and the Politics of History.

Black and white photographic illustrations, xvi + 463pp, bibliography, index. Hardback, as new. "This book explores the place of history in the political thought of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), the most controversial Indian political thinker of the twentieth century and a key architect of Hindu nationalism. Examining his central claim that "Hindutva is not a word but a history," the book argues that, for Savarkar, the purpose of this history was to trace key historical events to a powerful source - the font of motivation for "chief actors" of the past who had turned to violence in a permanent war for Hindutva as the founding principle of a Hindu nation." (Publisher's description).