29 years ago, Ayodhya's Babri Masjid was destroyed by a mob, inspired by Hindutva ideology as well as VHP and BJP leaders. Many Muslims were killed in the subsequent riots.

We remember. A short #THREAD on what we know--and what we don't know--about this land and these events.
All sides agree that an early 16th-century mosque stood on this site.

It was a priceless part of India's heritage. It was destroyed illegally. Even India's Supreme Court--in a decision otherwise dripping with bias, callousness, and disregard for the law--agrees on this point.
Muslims worshipped at the Babri Masjid for over 300 years without issue.

Our first records of Hindu-Muslim conflict at the site date to the mid-19th century. It was a conflict birthed in British India, where religious identities were being elevated in importance and cemented.
The claim--first articulated in the mid-1800s so far as we know--is that Ram was born on the site of the Babri Masjid.

For decades, there were competing claims. Lots of places in Ayodhya claimed to be Ram's birthplace. Multiplicity is historically a non-issue for the Ramayana.
Speaking of historicity... There's no historical evidence for Ram's existence. Internal Hindu chronology places him before the dawn of homo sapiens. Some Hindus believe on faith; others don't much care about historicity.

But the Hindu Right is fragile beyond belief, literally...
There's much to say here, and it will all inflame Hindu nationalist who is still in utter denial about how they are the foremost bearers of colonial-era ideas and values. It's hard to imagine a group more colonized. Maybe they'll figure it out someday...

Back to Babri Masjid...
Tearing down the mosque was planned. There was agitation for years, decades beforehand.

Hindu icons were placed in the mosque in the mid-20th century, to fake a miracle.

Also note Advani's rath yatra--I'd call it himsa yatra--of 1990. It presaged the blood sacrifice to come.
When the mosque was reduce to rubble in mob violence, it set off riots in which thousands of Muslims were murdered.

Think of those losses. Of the families that still mourn. Of the children who didn't grow up, and the women and men who didn't grow old. Killed for being Muslim.
Now the Babri Masjid site is a construction site. A Hindu temple to Ram is rising, and the one undisputed fact about that temple will always be --

It lays upon the rubble of a historic mosque illegally destroyed in modernity, in an alleged democracy, in modern-day India.
Resources for those who want to learn more.

Documentary on lead-up to 1992 destruction:

Basic timeline of events through 2011: bbc.com/news/world-sou…

Supreme Court decision: caravanmagazine.in/religion/ayodh…

Images of Babri Masjid: gettyimages.com/photos/babri-m…

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More from @AudreyTruschke

6 Nov
"A raft of evidence shows that caste discrimination has been imported from India to the United States."

Covers the Cisco and BAPS temples cases from this year, along with surveys regarding #caste identity and caste-based #discrimination in the diaspora.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Further resources for those who want to learn further about #caste in the United States --

On the Cisco court case (ongoing), in which the allegation is that a Dalit has been discriminated against by two upper caste supervisors: thewire.in/caste/cisco-ca…
On the BAPS temple situation (ongoing), in which a temple is alleged to have used Dalits for forced labor.

This is the most extensive alleged case of forced labor on US soil since the 1990s: nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyr… #Dalit
Read 10 tweets
2 Nov
The arguments that the US-based Hindu Right is trotting out to defend casteism and to absurdly try to paint the discriminators as victims ... I've heard it all before. It is structurally very similar to white supremacist arguments. #Hindutva #caste #WhiteSupremacy
Both argue--in remarkably bad faith--that it is reverse racist to single out the aggressors (caste Hindus and white people, respectively).

They also try to paint the aggressors (racist on both sides) as the victims, for having their prejudice called out.
Both also engage in historical revisionism or denialism (e.g., denying the harsh realities of slavery and Jim Crow laws & the long history of caste).

When they do admit any part of this history, they downplay its effects, suggesting that racism / casteism are things of the past.
Read 6 tweets
13 Oct
And there we have it, the Hindutva American Foundation defending the RSS, a paramilitary organization that advocates Hindu supremacy, attacks minorities, and repeatedly uses violence to achieve its aims.

A short #THREAD on the RSS
The RSS, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is a paramilitary group founded in 1925.

What was going on in 1925? In India, independence movements, which the RSS largely sat out. The RSS had its eyes trained on Europe and imitated fascist movements, especially in Italy.
Hedgewar was the first head of the RSS. He called the group "Rashtriya", national, because he wanted to make Indian = Hindu. No room for religious minorities or other ways of being Indian. And it gets worse...
Read 13 tweets
17 Sep
One of the true joys in teaching overview classes is that I get to hit some of the highlights of South Asian history every year. Next week is #Mahabharata week.

How do historians teach this epic? Well, it depends on our subject. Short #pedagogy thread --
Starting point -- I can't teach the entire epic. I wish I could. I think about it every year before I come to my senses, again.

So, I teach select portions. Always a bit of the Gita, and then I tend to change-up the other part. This year, I'm doing Draupadi's disrobing.
The Mahabharata is not a straightforward historical text. It is mythology. But it tells us about things we want to know in the Indian past. Here's where I divide up by class.
Read 6 tweets
5 Sep
We are watching as right-wing Hindu American groups harass, intimidate, and endanger academics, including students.

What you're doing is beyond unacceptable. It is unethical, hate mongering, and very, very dangerous. Stop. Now. #Hindutva
Folks, if you are Hindu American and you think: "my goodness, that's not me! I like diversity. I value critical thought. Hindutva is not Hinduism." I hear you.

Know that right-wing groups are promoting intolerance and hate in your name. You have my condolences about that.
If you're wondering what a group who actually advocated on behalf of Hindu Americans would do right now, they would:

Reiterate the right to criticize political ideologies, including Hindutva.
Call for an end to threats and retaliations against all academics.
Read 5 tweets
3 Sep
Periodic reminder —

There are US-based Hindutva proponents that are attacking and smearing scholars, conferences, and even students.

They do not represent Hindu Americans as a group. They’re using this broad-based, diverse community as a smokescreen to promote hate. #Hindutva
We see this, by the way, with other groups also. In the US context, Christian nationalists have done something similar, advocating extreme political views under the guise of religion.

(Oh, the irony of Hindu supremacists borrowing a playbook from a group they rail against).
Birds of a feather flock together.

Hindu supremacists are closest too, not most Hindus, but rather advocates of other supremacist ideologies. They overlap in tone and methods; in some cases, we know of alliances.

Hindutva’s bedfellows are terrifying.
Read 4 tweets

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