Visions of Hindu Identity and Indian Nationalism

In this essay I address the emergence and growth of the Hindu identity in late colonial Punjab, giving special attention to the participation of Lala Lajpat Rai both as an ideologue and activist in the context of the shifts taking place in Hindu identity politics as well as in the national movement. The study of Hindu consciousness in the colonial Punjab is indeed significant not only because it grew in a powerful manner in this province but also because of some specificities it displayed there. While exploring this subject, the main thrust remains on the processes by which this consciousness was structured and restructured and the discourse which was evolved for this purpose in order to understand and explain eventually the rise of ‘Hindu nationalism’ or the idea of ‘Hindu Rashtra’.