In today’s India, there are few historical figures whose writing and thinking help explain the current ideological zeitgeist more than Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Despite this newfound attention, Savarkar is often viewed in black and white—as a staunch Hindu nationalist who devoted his life to expounding the virtues of conservative, Hindu majority rule.

A new book by the Berkeley historian Janaki Bakhle, Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva, paints a much more nuanced picture of the Hindutva ideologue. Savarkar was certainly a Hindu champion, but he was also an anti-caste progressive, a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, and a patriotic poet.

To talk more about Savarkar’s multiple identities—and his legacy in today’s India—Janaki joins Milan on the podcast this week. They discuss Savarkar’s life under surveillance, shifts in his views on Muslims, and his desire to jettison caste in order to strengthen Hindu identity. Plus, the two discuss Savarkar’s Marathi poetry and his ideas about the nation-state.

Episode notes:

1. Janaki Bakhle, “Savarkar accepted intercaste marriages for one reason—it kept Hindus within the community,” ThePrint, February 24, 2024.

2. Janaki Bakhle, Two Men and Music: Nationalism in the Making of an Indian Classical Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).