When I picked up Being Hindu, I expected a compact history; what I got was a focused, ambitious sweep across roughly eleven centuries of political life in India — beginning with Aditya I (the early Chola ascendancy around 870 CE) and moving forward to the present. Saumya Dey frames the story as a longue-durée inquiry into the political expressions of Hindu identity, aiming to show continuity in how ritual, symbolism and institutional arrangements have shaped political authority over time. The publisher and product descriptions make this scope clear.
The central argument — what convinced me
What I found most convincing in this book is its core claim: that many features of contemporary Hindu political culture have deep antecedents in medieval and pre-modern structures of governance and legitimization. Dey doesn’t reduce modern politics to a single root cause; rather, he situates parties and movements like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the BJP within a broader historical context of temple polity, ritual sovereignty and popular mobilization. Reading that argument made me rethink simple periodizations — the book invites the reader to see modern political formations as one outcome in a long chain of cultural–political practices.
Style and structure — how the book reads
The book is concise without feeling superficial. Dey writes with clarity and purpose: the prose is neither needlessly academic nor journalistic fluff. The narrative moves chapter to chapter with enough signposts that I never felt lost, and the use of historical episodes to illuminate political themes kept the account lively. This readability is one of the book’s strengths noted by other readers and reviewers as well.
Evidence and scholarship — why I trust it
I appreciated that the book is anchored in concrete historical episodes (medieval kingship, temple institutions, the colonial transition, and the post-Independence evolution of political organizations) rather than speculative generalities. While the work is synthetic and aimed at a general reader, Dey is careful to ground his claims in specific institutional and cultural practices — which made his broader interpretive moves feel responsible and persuasive to me. The publisher notes and academic profile for the author indicate his background in cultural and intellectual history, which further increased my confidence in the handling of sources.
What I loved — personal takeaways
I loved how the book made me see continuity where I had assumed radical breaks. Dey’s narrative sharpened my understanding of how symbols, ritual authority and institutional arrangements can persist and adapt, producing political forms that look new but have older logics behind them. For a reader like me who enjoys history that speaks directly to contemporary questions, this felt energizing and illuminating.
Who should read this book
If you’re interested in Indian political history, cultural history, or want a readable account that connects medieval institutions to modern political movements, this book is a very good starting point. It’s also suitable for readers who prefer a clear, argument-driven narrative rather than a sprawling encyclopedic tome.
Final verdict — short and positive
In short: I came away impressed. Being Hindu is a thoughtful, well-paced, and clearly argued book that successfully argues for seeing Hindu political life as historically rooted rather than wholly modern. It made me rethink continuities in India’s political culture and left me wanting to read more of Dey’s work. Highly recommended.
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