The Saffron Swastika

Return of the Swastika presents a collection of essays by the Belgian historian and Indologist Koenraad Elst, who is renowned for his writings on Indian history and Hindu nationalism. The subjects of these essays are manifold, ranging over issues pertaining to the Hindu Right, communitarianism, the European New Right, immigration from Islamic countries, fascism both historical and contemporary, and European neo-paganism. Several of the essays also discuss the alleged connections between Hinduism and the more esoteric and pagan-oriented elements of Nazism, including a critique of the neo-Nazi mystic Savitri Devi, who attempted to depict Hitler as an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. The running theme through all of these essays is Elst’s exploration of how ideas and symbols are misrepresented by their opponents and those who seek to alter their meanings for their own purposes, and an insistence on understanding things as they are rather than through their representation by others. For Elst, the Nazi appropriation of the swastika, one of the most ancient symbols of human civilisation and a sacred sign of Hinduism, and its subsequent demonisation by anti-fascists in the West is a case in point. The answer is not to ban the swastika, and thus cede the right to define it to those who misuse it, but rather to insist on its actual meaning, allowing it to be reborn and to flourish freely once again.

Despite the enormous amount of material about Nazism, there has been no substantial work on its emblem, the swastika. This original contribution examines the popular appeal of the archaic image of the swastika: the tradition of the symbol.

"As one of the earliest of Holocaust deniers and the first to suggest that Adolf Hitler was an avatar -- a god come to earth in human form to restore the world to a golden age -- " ... [Devi's] appeal to neo-Nazi sects lies in the very eccentricity of her thought -- combining Aryan supremacism and anti-Semitism with Hinduism, social Darwinism, animal rights, and a fundamentally biocentric view of life."--Publisher informationt.

This book examines and establishes connections between Italian Fascism and Hindu nationalism, connections which developed within the frame of Italy’s anti-British foreign policy. The most remarkable contacts with the Indian political milieu were established via Bengali nationalist circles. Diplomats and intellectuals played an important role in establishing and cultivating those tie-ups. Tagore’s visit to Italy in 1925 and the much more relevant liaison between Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA were results of the Italian propaganda and activities in India. But the most meaningful part of this book is constituted by the connections and influences it establishes between Fascism as an ideology and a political system and Marathi Hindu nationalism. While examining fascist political literature and Mussolini’s figure and role, Marathi nationalists were deeply impressed and influenced by the political ideology itself, the duce and fascist organisations. These impressions moulded the RSS, a right-wing, Hindu nationalist organisation, and Hindutva ideology, with repercussions on present Indian politics. This is the most original and revealing part of the book, entirely based on unpublished sources, and will prove foundational for scholars of modern Indian history.

National Bestseller Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post * The Boston Globe * Minneapolis Star Tribune * NPR * Newsday * The Guardian * Financial Times * The Christian Science Monitor The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on an intimate journey across the Indian subcontinent—from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war. Braiding together the lives of a diverse cast of characters who have been broken by the world they live in and then rescued, patched together by acts of love—and by hope, here Arundhati Roy reinvents what a novel can do and can be.