Hindu nationalists and local History: From ideology to local lore

International audienceThis article analyses how the Hindutva ideological programme on history-writing is concretely implemented at grass-root levels by an rss-affiliated organisation. The organisation's name is the Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojna. The area of fieldwork moves from its rss headquarters to its Chandigarh branch and to its Kullu branch. The primary objective of the article is to shed light on the multiple forms of mediation of the organisation, which show how Hindutva influence in local society cannot be simply reduced to the direct effects of its militants' actions. It also examines how the Hindutva discourse on history infiltrates the local conception of regional culture , merges with pre-existent conceptions and encounters specific forms of resistance. Finally, the article suggests the importance of understanding the Hindutva rereading of Indian history in the light of other post-colonial historiographies, engaged in a similar effort of placing the locality within a wider and prestigious framework. o ver the last few years quite a virulent debate has animated the circle of indian historians who have actively denounced and decon-structed the rewriting of indian history by rss-affiliated organisations.. rss is the abbreviation of rashtriya swayamsevak sangh, "association of national Volunteers ", a militant organisation for the propagation/diffusion of Hindutva ("Hinduness"). The aim of the organisation is to build a new (and strong) Hindu people/nation. its members' training is paramilitary. The rss is the real core of the other organisations that together form the sangh Parivar ("family of the sangh", with reference to the rss), a journalistic expression for the complex network of organisations formed around the rss. among these, one is a political party, the bjp (Bharatiya Janata Party, "Party of the indian People "), and another is a religious organisation, the vhp (Visva Hindu Parishad, "universal Hindu congress")