Hindus

• A Muslim student at Michaela School in London has lost her High Court challenge against the school’s ban on prayer rituals.
• The school argued that the ban was put in place to avoid prayers “undermining inclusion”.
• But permitting religious diversity is a tradition in education in England.

Understanding secularism

• Michaela School has two-week holidays over the Christmas and Easter periods, and names them for these Christian festivals.
• The school week is Monday to Friday, which does not impinge upon the Christian day of rest.
• This is a version of secularism that benefits the members of one religion but not another.
• The state’s burgeoning financial involvement in education was accompanied by a pluralist approach to minority religions and denominations.

Matters of conscience

• It contained a conscience clause, allowing non-Anglican parents to withdraw their children from religious instruction.
• The end of Empire and the 1948 Nationality Act brought migrants to Britain from the Indian subcontinent.
• By the mid-1960s, Muslim children began to appear in schools in sufficient numbers that they were able to campaign collectively for the accommodation of their needs.
• And since the 1960s local education authorities and schools have accommodated Muslim needs within the same framework as those of Jews and Catholics.

Helen Carr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The BJP claims India as a Hindu nation.
• The use of Indian popular cinema for political ends has a long history – one that predates Indian independence.
• Since the 1980s, it also set in motion a nationwide trend of using cinematic means to capture the attention of voters.

Mobilizing film fans for electoral campaigns

• She discusses case studies of film fans who even worship their favorite celebrities as deities by creating temples to these stars within residential and commercial spaces.
• Srinivas found that film fans can make or destroy the careers and lives of stars.
• If a star decides to venture into politics, these film fans can become active participants in the star’s political campaigns.
• But if the star does something that the fans disapprove of, they will as easily boycott his films and even destroy the star’s career.

An alignment of cinema and politics

The cinema industry in Tamil Nadu, more than any other in India, has evolved closely with political and social developments in the region since the 1940s. The ideals of Tamil nationalism, a political movement that changed the course of history in Tamil Nadu, were powerfully communicated through the medium of entertainment films. Often, the personalities associated with these films were physically present alongside politicians at party meetings.

• In my research, I found that the alignment of cinema and politics in Tamil Nadu was helped by the use of identical advertising media.
• A favored publicity medium of both the cinema industry and party members was the hand-painted plywood cutout.
• In this way, they helped to transfer the power of the cinematic star image to the image of the leader.
• I argued that these advertisements played an important role in visualizing, and shaping, the identity politics of Tamil nationalism.

Cinema’s role in divisive politics

• Another series of films in the biopic genre showcases the historical legacy of right-wing Hindu nationalist organizations and their leaders.
• “PM Narendra Modi,” which reminded voters of the prime minister’s rise from poverty, was scheduled for release just before the 2019 elections.
• The film, which demonizes Muslims and shows them committing extremely barbaric and cruel acts, is among those publicly endorsed by the prime minister himself.

Preminda Jacob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The bridge has been built and now it's time for us to crossover,"  said the keynote speaker for the evening, Rep. Carl Gilliard , Chairman of the Georgia Black Legislative Caucus.
• "The history of Black America is the history of America itself, so we are very pleased today to be celebrating it with our friends in the Hindu American community.
• In later years, I was privileged to work alongside pioneering leaders like Maynard Jackson and to give back to my community."
• "The historical connections and cultural exchange between the African American and Hindu communities offer a great foundation for future collaboration," said Rajeev Menon, Vice President of CoHNA.

• One literary tradition rarely highlighted is that of Hindu “bhakti” or ecstatic devotion, which birthed some of the most stirring mystical poetry composed in the world.
• This is especially true in the poems to Vishnu, which I study, where many male poets assume the female voice to express their longing for union with the divine beloved, conceived as male.

Poetics of longing

• Much of the alvars’ poetry reveals an intense longing for a silent and absent god, so much so that it has been called “viraha bhakti,” or devotion in separation.
• The love appears, at least as presented by the poet, as completely one-sided – sparked by a chance encounter with a mysterious and inscrutable deity.
• The use of a female voice by a male poet is not unusual in the Tamil or Sanskrit literature.

• To this cast of characters, the poets also occasionally use, as Kodhai herself does, mythological female figures.
• The cowherd women of the wondrous town of Vrindavan, where the youthful divine Krishna is eternally at play, is a particular favorite for the alvar poets.

Male poets and female voice of longing

• Two ninth century alvar poets, Nammalvar and Tirumankai, are particularly deft in their use of these female voices of longing.
• Their heroine dominates their poems; her tone in turns demanding, insistent and despairing as she seeks through language to call the absent divine beloved back to her.

Love in many shades

• Not all the male alvar poets use one of these archetypal female voices, and a female voice does not always have to speak about romantic love.
• These poems are not composed from the vantage of separation; rather, they are poems of intimacy and joy, celebrating maternal love.
• In the poems of the alvar, love, directed toward Vishnu, takes many forms: humble service; unconditional, protective maternal adoration; and the intense intimacy of lovers.

Archana Venkatesan receives funding from the American Institute of Indian Studies in the form of a four-month short-term Senior Fellowship (June-Sept 30, 2024) to conduct field research in Tamil Nadu, India.