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Paper short abstract

The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 22 Jan 2024 sparked a surge of AI-generated images on X. These affective, fictional visuals merged Hindu religiosity with digital platforms. This presentation examines their generation, circulation and resharing as "cultural imaginaries".

Paper long abstract

The inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 22 January 2024, led to a large-scale generation of AI-produced 'devotional' imagery on Twitter (now X). These generated images were affectively charged, fictionalised visual worlds that merged Hindu religiosity with the algorithmic infrastructures of digital platforms. Through the lens of Roland Meyer’s "platform realism" (2025), this presentation investigates the practice of generating, sharing and resharing of these images as "cultural imaginaries". I argue that generative AI models produce mythic depictions that are optimised for virality and that such practices demonstrate how Far-right religious-political movements aestheticise power through the infrastructures of generative technology.

These images crystallise into three affectively charged imaginaries that transform devotion into ideological performance: Hegemonic Masculinist Imaginaries, Restorative Imaginaries, and Techno-utopian Imaginaries. Through ethnographic research on the circulation of these images on Twitter (now X), I analyse these imaginaries using critical discourse analysis and affect theory, situating AI-generated Hindu imagery within broader debates on affect and Hindu Nationalist digital culture.