The Hindu Mahasabha: How Humanitarian Relief Became an Agent of Hindu Nationalism

Humanitarianism is deeply linked with the politics of religion, and in South Asia, it has played a vital role in the spread of Hindu nationalism. Prior to British colonialism, South Asian humanitarianism was guided by spiritual traditions of service and duty, and relief typically took the form of religious donations. The only audience of those small-scale humanitarian actions were the giver’s interpersonal community and the gods. However, with the shift to British rule, humanitarian work in the Indian subcontinent became located within the state and donned broader political motivations. Once the audience of humanitarianism also included the ruling British state, relief work, in part, became a method of relationshipbuilding with the state and legitimizing one’s own status as a dutiful and charitable citizen. Therefore, the introduction of British imperialism led to the rise of a new strand of South Asian humanitarianism that was inseparable from political life under imperial conditions.