Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on populism, ascetism and religious fundamentalism in India to demonstrate the critique of essentialism from within and shows that Hinduism can essentially create its own criticism especially with respect to essentialism.

Paper long abstract:

In South Asia, the ascetic has always had a unique position that put him/her outside or above social relations; which means that the ascetic was often external to the essentialized religious self, internalized by the fundamentalist. Whereas fundamentalism is about drawing boundaries, asceticism is about breaking or transcending them. Contemporary populism in India has succeeded in creating an essentialized Hindu core identity that is also upper caste and patriarchal and is now being equated with the nation. Yet South Asia has always eulogized the ascetic, the person without any social markings, gender, caste or religion. Even today there are both individuals as well as cults and communities that identify with, or otherwise follow an ascetic sacred entity that does not subscribe to the essentialized religiosity of the fundamentalist; of any religion. In this paper it is proposed to show how ascetism has always played a role to critique religious essentialism providing a platform for both rebellion and contest in South Asia. The ascetic saint has been particularly eulogized by the marginal and the low castes but they cannot be denied by the upper castes and dominant groups either. Therefore the kind of essentialism that the present populist state is trying to create has its own internal contradictions and ideologies that cannot be 'othered' with impunity. In this paper the internal rather than external challenges to essentialism will be discussed within a South Asian perspective.