Most debated work of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also known as Veer Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? is often misinterpreted purposefully.
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Hindutva is the spirit that unites all who love this land, beyond religion, in the shared journey of our nation
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also known as Veer Savarkar, was born in 1883 in Bhagur, Maharashtra. Life tested him early by taking away his parents while he was young. As a young kid, he learned poetry and history with the same spirit with which he practised archery and wrestling in dusty village grounds. He once led a band of children with catapult to guard his village during communal tensions. When he was in high school, he founded Mitra Mela, later called Abhinav Bharat, a secret society to unite those who wanted freedom. He believed that Bharat needed to wake up with its spine straight. He was a man who believed that freedom was not charity to be begged for but dignity to be claimed. His time in London studying law was not just a quest for degrees to hang on a wall. It was a mission to connect with radical thinkers and to find ways to awaken a nation that had forgotten its strength. There, he wrote The Indian War of Independence 1857, arguing that the 1857 revolt was much more than a mutiny. It was the first true war for freedom. The British banned the book, but it travelled across oceans, hidden in false covers, reaching young minds ready to fight for freedom, giving them a sense of pride and a reason to believe that Bharat must be free again.
Savarkar was very audacious and never let fear defeat him ever. His arrest and dramatic escape attempt at Marseilles, France, which led to his re-capture, became part of freedom movement folklore, leading to his 10 long years in the harsh Cellular Jail in the Andaman. But even prison could not cage his mind. He taught other prisoners, organised them, and scratched poetry on walls with nails when denied paper. His works like Kamala and Saha Soneri Pane were not just words but living flames that kept hope alive among fellow prisoners. His book Majhi Janmathep offered a chilling but inspiring record of his years in jail, turning personal suffering into a call for resilience. He never let the silence of prison swallow him. Instead, he used it to think deeply about our nation’s past and future. His Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History traced the glory of our civilisation across centuries, reminding us that our ancestors had faced challenges and emerged stronger.
His most debated work, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? is often misinterpreted purposefully, in today’s loud and cunning deliberations. He made it explicitly clear that Hindutva was not about religious rituals or excluding others. He saw Hinduism as a religion but Hindutva as a cultural identity shared by all who saw this land as their sacred and ancestral land. For him, Hindutva was a civilisational memory, a quiet underlying force that reminded us of who we were while facing the world with confidence. He believed that a divided Bharat would be a weak Bharat, and Hindutva was a thread that could hold Bharat together while respecting its diversity. A nation, for Savarkar, was not just a map on paper. It was the stories told by grandmothers, the laughter at tea stalls, the prayers in many languages and cultures, and the spirit that made people stand up for each other during hard times. Hindutva, in his eyes, was not a show-piece to be displayed on occasions but a reminder to uphold our nobility without snobbishness.
Critics often claim that Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva risks excluding Bharatiya Muslims and Christians and can be used as a shield for communal arrogance. But these criticisms need to be judged in the honest context of what he faced during his time and what he intended. India during Savarkar’s time was a nation subdued under foreign rule, with its confidence systematically humiliated. Savarkar’s call was not about rejecting people of other faiths but about rejecting any ideology that placed foreign power above loyalty to our land. His concern was not against the individual Muslim or Christian who feel this land as their home but against political separatism that weakened the collective spirit of nationalism. Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva was about uniting people in a shared ancestral identity while allowing them to practise their faiths freely. It was about saying, “Let us first remember we belong to this land, and let that guide us before any other identity.” This was not exclusion by any means. When critics tag his nationalism militant, they undermine that he was trying to lift a nation that had been forced to bow for centuries, urging it to stand with self-respect. His emphasis on courage was not a call for violence but for introspection.
Savarkar’s intellectual discourse was rooted in logic, history, and practical solutions to challenges. He was one of the few leaders who argued that true patriotism must include social reform. He challenged untouchability, caste discrimination, and superstitions that held society back. He supported inter-caste dining and marriage. He believed that traditions must serve society, not imprison it. For him, Hindutva meant a fearless examination of traditions, retaining what helped society grow while discarding what weakened it.
Savarkar never formally joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but his thoughts found a home in its work. Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS, shared Savarkar’s belief that a nation’s strength lay in its people’s character and cultural confidence. While Savarkar wrote and spoke about Hindutva, the RSS turned those ideas into practical exercises through its shakhas by imparting discipline, service, and patriotism among people. The RSS taught that Bharat Mata, the personified symbol of Hindutva, was not a slogan but a mother to protect with love and dedication. Today, Hindutva is not trapped in Savarkar’s books alone but is a living idea that has evolved through the work of organisations and individuals who believe in serving this land without discrimination. Whether it is during floods or earthquakes, volunteers who believe in Hindutva work for all people, regardless of faith, showing its practical and inclusive aspects. Hindutva today is also about Bharat’s development and its dignified place in the world, about remembering who we are while embracing modernity scientifically without fear.
At the end, let us remember that he was not just a freedom fighter or a poet. He was a thinker who saw this civilisation as a living continuum. He believed that this land needed to rediscover its confidence to stand tall. His ideas continue to spark debate, which is healthy for a democracy that wishes to grow with clarity. His methods can be examined and discussed, but his relevance remains hard to deny. For Veer Savarkar, Hindutva was never about religious supremacy. It was about imbibing courage, dignity, and unity that would help us collectively while walking confidently into the future. As we move forward, Savarkar’s Hindutva offers a soft but steady reminder of balancing tradition and modernity. It is the inherent strength of knowing who we are, where we belong, and how to walk forward with hope, service, and pride.
Ranjan Das
Patkai Christian College