Hindu religious and
political organization founded in 1915 during the Kumbha Mela, a massive
religious celebration.
The Hindu Mahasabha was founded to support Hindu objectives
such as the need for a full prohibition on cow slaughter, the promotion of the
Hindi language in DevaNagari script, and the elimination of caste prejudice.
The movement grew more explicitly political in the early
1920s, and by the early 1930s, it had embraced unapologetic Hindu nationalism,
as shown by its leader, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The dark underbelly of this Hindu nationalist crusade was a
strong anti-Muslim sentiment, which was further exacerbated by worsening
relations between the two populations in the years leading up to World War II.
Although the Hindu Mahasabha hoped for formal recognition
from the British government and to be acknowledged as the Hindu community's
only legal voice, these expectations were never achieved.
After failing to reach an agreement with the Indian National
Congress Party, the British administration engaged them in discussions and
dissolved ties with the Mahasabha after mending wounds with the Congress.
Following independence in 1947, the party's reputation was
tarnished by its association with Nathuram Godse, Mohandas Gandhi's assassin.
It ran political candidates until the early 1960s, but it
never developed any serious political clout.
Kenneth W. Jones, "Politicalized Hinduism: The Ideology and Program of the Hindu Mahasabha," in Robert D. Baird (ed. ), Religion in Modern India, 1998, for further details.
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