What is the main message of Why I Am a Hindu?

The main message of Why I Am a Hindu is an exploration of Hinduism's diverse practices, beliefs, and its role in modern India.

How long does it take to read Why I Am a Hindu?

The reading time for Why I Am a Hindu varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Is Why I Am a Hindu a good book? Is it worth reading?

Why I Am a Hindu is a thought-provoking read that offers insights into Hinduism's history, philosophy, and current social and political relevance.

Who is the author of Why I Am a Hindu?

Shashi Tharoor is the author of Why I Am a Hindu.

Religion & Spirituality

Why I Am a Hindu Book Summary - Why I Am a Hindu Book explained in key points

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Why I Am a Hindu summary

Name: Why I Am a Hindu
Rating: 3.4 (216 reviews)
Author: Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor

An insider’s guide to the history of Hinduism

3.4 (216 ratings)

19 mins

Brief summary

"Why I Am a Hindu" by Shashi Tharoor is a personal exploration of the author's Hindu identity, providing a nuanced understanding of the religion's history, beliefs, and practices, while critiquing the Hindu nationalist movement in India.

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Why I Am a Hindu
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? An insider’s guide to the history of Hinduism.

“Secularism” is often defined as a movement opposed to religion. Things work a little differently in India, a country in which Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Sikhs have rubbed shoulders for centuries. There, the idea has long been about preventing the state from becoming attached to one faith and favoring it over others.

Today, that ideal is under attack by proponents of Hindutva or “Hinduness,” the ideology of India’s ruling party – the BJP. At both the local and national levels, it’s spearheaded a campaign to redefine Indian national identity along religious lines and exclude non-Hindus, above all Muslims.

The results, Shashi Tharoor argues, speak for themselves. Intolerance, violence and bigotry are on the rise while reminders of the country’s non-Hindu past like the Taj Mahal have been on the receiving end of a campaign of cultural vandalism.

That, he concludes, has to change. How? Well, that’s where the history of Hinduism comes in. As Tharoor shows, Hindus are the inheritors of a proud, millennia-old tradition of tolerance and diversity. If they choose to embrace that heritage instead of the BJP’s divisive nationalism, they can put their country on the path to a better future.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why so many Hindus revere other religions’ sacred texts;
about the connections between Hindutva ideology and Nazism; and
why pride in Hinduism doesn’t mean rejecting toleration.

Hinduism is a rich religion full of diversity.

Every faith is unique. Take the Semitic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the most common creeds in the Western world. Each has its own distinctive set of beliefs about the world and the divine. But they also overlap: all three, for example, believe that there’s only one God and that he’s a real, if intangible, entity. A true believer must accept that core doctrine.

Hinduism, on the other hand, is a completely different kind of religion. Unlike their monotheistic counterparts, Hindus believe in many gods. These include Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, and Shiva, the destroyer. There are also a wide array of sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Rigveda. Every Hindu is free to choose which god she worships, which texts she reads and when and where she prays.

That makes Hinduism a deeply personal faith which varies from one believer to the next. The common thread? Every Hindu strives for self-realization and oneness with Brahman, a genderless soul which represents the ultimate truth permeating all reality. The absence of rules means that Hindus can follow different paths toward that goal: no one but the individual believer can determine which one is best suited to achieving their spiritual aims.

This idea is deeply rooted in the tradition itself. Take Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), a monk whose religious teachings have had a profound effect on the author’s understanding of his own faith. According to Vivekananda, anyone can achieve divinity if they study, pray and maintain their discipline. How exactly they did that, he argued, was up to them – after all, the path to divinity can’t be predetermined. Dogma and doctrine thus took a back seat in Vivekananda’s understanding of Hinduism. What really mattered was merging one’s soul with Brahman and achieving true freedom.

As we’ll see in the next blink, this profound commitment to diversity and freedom means that Hinduism even recognizes the value of following different religions.

Hinduism traditionally respected and accepted all other religions.

Today’s Hindus are the inheritors of a tradition which was long synonymous with tolerance. For thousands of years, believers co-existed with other faiths without feeling the need to assert the superiority of their own creed. In fact, Hindus frequently revere other religions’ sacred texts, viewing them as one of many possible paths to self-realization.

That’s something the author experienced firsthand. When he was a child, he was taught that books from other religious traditions like the Quran or the Torah were as holy as Hinduism’s sacred texts. That’s because they all contain valuable insights that can aid a person’s spiritual development. It’s an idea that still shapes his outlook. If he drops a book and accidentally touches it with his foot, for example, he’ll pray for forgiveness for having disrespected a source of wisdom!

In 1989, the BJP adopted Hindutva as its official ideology.

The BJP or Indian People’s Party has been in power since 2014. Since then, the country has witnessed an outburst of intolerance which would’ve been inconceivable to its Hindu forefathers. In this blink, we’ll see what the BJP represents and where it comes from.

Let’s start with its ideology. The BJP is committed to Hindutva, meaning “Hinduness.” That’s an idea which first emerged in the early twentieth century. When India’s great independence leader Mahatma Gandhi preached unity between the would-be nation’s religious communities, he came under fire from a number of critics. One of them was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a politician and writer who helped popularize the concept of Hinduness with his 1923 book Essentials of Hindutva.

The current government promotes intolerance against non-Hindu minorities, particularly Muslims.

Being a Muslim in today’s Hindutva-dominated India is a scary business. That’s hardly surprising given that members of parliament regularly promote Islamophobia. Take BJP member and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath.

Adityanath first rose to prominence for his angry tirades against Islam, but he also led a gang of extremists which physically attacked Muslims. Before becoming a politician, he served an 11-day prison sentence for hate speech after calling the popular Muslim Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan a terrorist. In 2017, he copied Donald Trump and called for a travel ban to prevent Muslims from entering India.

The BJP has managed to turn an inherently liberal culture against liberal ideals and has thwarted progress.

Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t the only break with India’s traditions of tolerance that can be laid at the BJP’s door. Historically, Hinduism didn’t just accept homosexuality, transgender identity and sexual diversity – it celebrated them. Just think of the ancient mythical figure Ardhanarishwara, a deity with a half-male, half-female body, or the many homoerotic sculptures made by Hindus.

That’s all changed with the rise of Hindutva, however. Take the law forbidding gay marriage, a relic from the days of British rule. When the author attempted to have it amended in parliament, the proposal was shut down without even being discussed – a dismissal he attributes to the outsized influence of Hindutva ideology.

To return to a Hinduism of acceptance and inclusivity of which they can be proud, Hindus must reject Hindutva ideology.

The author is a self-declared patriot and proud Hindu. That makes the transformation of those two beliefs into something as toxic and dangerous as Hindutva ideology even more galling. But what’s the best response to the rise of the BJP? Well, as he sees it, there’s only one solution: if Hindus want to save their faith and country, they have to start speaking out against the atrocities being committed in their name.

Those include reported cases in which Hindus have raped Muslim girls and rejoiced at non-Hindus being burned alive. That reflects just how much Hindutva has distorted the faith – after all, how else could people who prize vegetarianism to such an extent that they literally wouldn’t harm a fly end up cheering on such sickening acts of violence against fellow humans?

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What is Why I Am a Hindu about?

Why I Am a Hindu (2018) is a meditation on religion and national identity from the perspective of one of India’s leading politicians, Shashi Tharoor. Written with an eye to the rise of Hindu fundamentalism, it unpacks the 4,000-year-old history of his faith and argues that today’s Hindutva movement is perverting an ancient tradition of tolerance and diversity. If Indians want to see their country flourish, Tharoor concludes, they’ll have to reject the ruling party’s chauvinism and embrace that great cultural legacy.

Why I Am a Hindu Review

Why I Am a Hindu (2018) by Shashi Tharoor is a thought-provoking exploration of Hinduism and its significance in contemporary India. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Tharoor's insightful analysis sheds light on the complexities of Hinduism, offering a nuanced understanding of its diverse traditions and practices.
The book challenges misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding Hinduism through rigorous research and the author's personal experiences, fostering a deeper appreciation for the religion.
Tharoor's compelling arguments about the importance of pluralism and inclusivity make this book a timely and essential read for anyone interested in understanding the role of Hinduism in contemporary society.

Who should read Why I Am a Hindu?

Politics buffs and history students
Anyone fascinated by one of the world’s largest religions
Champions of multiculturalism and tolerance

About the Author

Shashi Tharoor is an Indian parliamentarian, author and ex-diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress party, he has represented the district of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala since 2009. His previous books include the novel Riot (2001) and An Era of Darkness (2017), a study of British misrule in India during the colonial period.

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