I recently finished a draft of a chapter on the #Mahabharata. So, quick Q and A round.

Anything you want to know about this stunning epic, ask away. Please keep in mind -- You are asking a historian; expect historian answers.
I'm cutting this off because, well, work doesn't do itself.

Thanks everyone for engaging. The common question was about the historicity of the myth....
Reducing the grand Mahabharata tradition to some alleged kernel of historical truth is an impoverished approach.

There's so much in the epic in terms of narrative, human insights, ethical propositions, and more. Don't get hung up on hard political history and miss the point.

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More from @AudreyTruschke

Jan 16
Your periodic grim reminder, given the recent US attention to anti-Semitism --

If you oppose anti-Semitism, you also oppose Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), a hateful political ideology that still uses anti-Semitic slurs at times.
scroll.in/article/901309… #Hindutva #antiSemitism
If you're not familiar with Hindutva, you might be wondering -- Does that salute in the photo looks kinda Nazi? Yes, and not accidentally.

Hindutva is a global phenomenon, with significant support in the US. Educate yourself.
What else do Hindu nationalists do while giving a Nazi-inspired salute? Promise to commit genocide.

This is no exaggeration. This happened a few weeks ago, and is still trickling into international news: cnn.com/2022/01/14/asi… #Hindutva #genocide
Read 6 tweets
Dec 13, 2021
Alright folks, upon request a brief #THREAD on Shivaji and caste.

Trigger Warning -- If you're into #Hindutva, think that the past somehow justifies your present-day bigotry, or hate historians, please, don't read further.
Shivaji was a 17th-century Maratha warrior who won himself a kingdom.

He was most well-known in his day for his guerrilla warfare tactics, which were remarkably effective against the numerically superior but bulky Mughal army.

He was most infamous for his caste problems.
Shivaji was born a shudra, in a world where caste mattered.

Shivaji could win a land-based kingdom on the battlefield. But you cannot use weapons to raise your status in the social hierarchy of caste. Shivaji wanted to be a kshatriya, the proper caste, many say, for rulers.
Read 12 tweets
Dec 6, 2021
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.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 6, 2021
"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
Nov 2, 2021
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
Oct 13, 2021
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

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