Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher

Sadhvi Rithambara

Hindu nationalist leader

Sadhvi Rithambara (born 31 December ) [1] is a Hindu Vestal (Sadhvi), public speaker and nationalist ideologue[2][3][4][5][6][7] who is the founder-chairperson of Durga Vahini, the women's wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), established in [8][9][10][11][12] She gained national prominence with VHP in the late s through the Jan Jagran Abhiyan, and in the s during the run up to the Babri Masjid demolition.

Subsequently, she was named an accused in the Liberhan Commission report, though later acquitted by the CBI court in [1][13]

Early life

Sadhvi Rithambhara was born as Nisha in at Doraha town in Ludhiana district of Punjab.[14][15]

She got her diksha from Swami Paramanand, at the age of sixteen and having become his disciple, followed him to his ashram in Haridwar and then, in his tours across India, while being primarily trained in spirituality.[15][16]

She entered the Margdarshak Mandal as a member of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, the organisation primarity organised Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Mukti Andolan and related to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).[15]

Activism

Rithambara gained public prominence through her roles in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).[15] She being a Sadhvi who renounced the world and living a life of ascetics (incl.

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    • herself) she never went into mainstream politics, she went for a reconstruction of Hinduism through selective reading of Bhagavad Gita.[17][18]

    Speeches

    During –, Rithambara disseminated several public-speeches that urged for waging a war against Anti Nationalists;[a] cassettes of those vitriolic outbursts were played at numerous temples and public places in India.

    Filled with rage and shrillness, the speeches heavily borrowed from gendered imagery; portraying the Hindu nation as a female body undergoing desecration by non-Hindus (and thus losing her morality), she drew parallels with rapes of Hindu women during partition[20] and appealed to Hindu masculinity for reclaiming their lands, attracting large numbers of men, in the process.[15][21][2][22]

    Equating the Muslims with lemon in milk to comparing them with flies, who were allegedly mass-breeding to out-populate the Hindus.[15][17] With historical sketches subsumed various classes and castes under a common banner of Hindu nationalism; some scholars have identified this agglomeration as the most valuable objective, fulfilled by Rithambara and associate women.[15]

    Rithambara has been widely noted to be the single most powerful voice behind the whipping up of anti-Muslim sentiments across the nation, in the run-ups to the demolition of Babri Masjid; there was an overwhelming sense of passion, urgency and spontaneity, oft-accompanied by dramatic physical posturing, which instilled a non-rational collective feeling, among the audience.[17][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] She was one of the three key women leaders of the movement, the other two being Uma Bharati and Vijayaraje Scindia; their leadership was largely responsible for the involvement of women in the movement and the form it took.[31]

    Scholars note that she operated far outside the traditional boundaries of feminine domains.[citation needed]

    Election campaigns

    Rithambara's skills at oratory made her a star-campaigner for Bharatiya Janata Party in both the and Lok Sabha elections and several state-legislature elections.[32]

    Demolition of Babri Majid

    On 6 December , a large group of Vishva Hindu Parishad activists and allied organisations demolished the Babri Masjid mosque in Uttar Pradesh, triggering riots all over the Indian subcontinent, resulting in the death of around 2, people.[33][34]

    Rithambara was present during the demolition, cheering the crowd[35] whilst standing atop the terrace of the Masjid.[36][b] Three days after the demolition, she was arrested on grounds of inciting communal tension.[28]

    Legal Trials

    The Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition held Sadhvi Ritambhara along with sixty-eight others of being individually culpable for leading the country "to the brink of communal discord" for their role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December [38]

    A CBI court framed criminal charges against Rithambara in May, [39]

    On 30 September , she along with other 32 accused people, were acquitted in the Babri Masjid Demolition Case by CBI special court.

    Later activities

    She retreated from her public role, soon after the demolition and kept a relatively low profile for a few years.[15]

    In , Sadhvi Rithambara attempted to establish an ashram near Vrindavan and Mathura on land that the Uttar Pradesh BJP government had granted her for a minimal fee.[16] However, the proposal fell through as the Kalyan Singh-led government was dismissed, and she was not allowed to take possession of the land by the subsequent Mulayam Singh Yadav led state government.

    In , the state government led by Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta granted 17 hectares of land in the area, valued at Rupee &#;million, to her Paramshaktipeth trust for 99 years for an annual fee of one rupee for this philanthropic cause.[40][41] Besides cultivating devotion in women, the Vrindavan Ashram has also imparted training in karate, horse-riding, handling air guns and pistols, with the stated aim of relieving the women from their traditional societal roles and making them confident and self-reliant.[42] She also runs ashrams for unwanted infants, ladies and widows in Indore, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.[41]

    In April , Rithambara was arrested in Indore for inciting communal passions, after she referred to Mother Teresa as a "magician", in the course of a speech denouncing Christian missionaries, who she alleged were converting Hindus.

    Rithambara's address sparked off a riot and led to several arson, leading to the arrest of people. During the Gujarat elections, she returned to the campaigning fold for BJP and alleged about a Hindu-phobic attitude of Congress (I); this helped in mobilizing public electoral sentiments, especially since VHP was banned in Gujarat.[28] She was arrested, soon after.[32]

    As of , she continued to run an ashram, ‘’Vatsalya Gram’’, at Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, for orphans, widows, and the elderly.[1] On 31 December to mark her 60th birthday, Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar released a book in Vrindavan, based on her role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.[43] In January , she along with fellow leader Uma Bharti was one of the invitees at the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.[44][1]

    Notes

    1. ^One of her speech had called for those who did not pay tribute to their ancestors shall quitt India (read:Hindus).[19]
    2. ^Contemporary news reports noted her exhorting Hindu volunteers through sloganing -- 'Ek dhakka aur do, Babri Masjid tor do [Give one more push, bring down Babri Masjid].[37]

    Bibliography

    • नर से नारायण: आध्यात्मिक उन्नति का मार्ग (Hindi) by Sadhvi Rithambara.

      Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN&#;

    • Sadhvi Ritambhara Aur Shriramjanmabhoomi Andolan (Hindi) Book. Prabhat Prakashan, ISBN&#;

    References

    1. ^ abcdef"Among the invitees at Ram Temple consecration ceremony was Sadhvi Ritambhara".

      Indian Express. 23 January

    2. ^ abBasu, Amrita (). "Appropriating Gender". In Jeffery, Patricia; Basu, Amrita (eds.). Appropriating Gender&#;: Women's Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia. New York: Routledge. pp.&#;15– doi/ ISBN&#;.
    3. ^Sarkar, Tanika ().

      "Aspects of Contemporary Hindutva Theology: The Voice of Sadhvi Rithambhara". Hindu wife, Hindu nation: community, religion, and cultural nationalism. Indiana University Press. ISBN&#;.

    4. ^Sangari, Kumkum (). "Consent, Agency and Rhetorics of Incitement". Economic and Political Weekly. 28 (18): ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;
    5. ^Sugirtharajah, Sharada ().

      "Hinduism and Feminism: Some Concerns". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 18 (2): ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;

    6. ^JAFFRELOT, CHRISTOPHE (). "Abhinav Bharat, the Malegaon Blast and Hindu Nationalism: Resisting and Emulating Islamist Terrorism". Economic and Political Weekly.

      45 (36): 51– ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;

    7. ^Gangoli, Geetanjali (). "Conclusions". Indian Feminisms&#;: Law, Patriarchies and Violence in India. Routledge. doi/ ISBN&#;.
    8. ^Kapur, Ratna (). "Who Draws the Line? Feminist Reflections on Speech and Censorship". Economic and Political Weekly.

      31 (16/17): WS ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;

    9. ^Cossman, Brenda; Kapur, Ratna (). "Secularism: Bench-Marked by Hindu Right". Economic and Political Weekly.

      Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher cross ISBN Your Name. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. For the safety of women, arrangements have been made in his ashram for training them in horse riding, gun firing, air firing, karate etc.

      31 (38): ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;

    10. ^Navlakha, Gautam (). "Politics of Silhouetted Anger". Economic and Political Weekly. 30 (7/8): ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;
    11. ^"Babri mosque was a year-old stigma: Giriraj Kishore". . 19 October Retrieved 14 August
    12. ^"Unite under RSS".

      The Hindu. 8 January Archived from the original on 21 January Retrieved 14 August

    13. ^"Ram Mandir event Diwali for all Hindus' — Ritambhara says movement leaders can't be forgotten". The Print. 4 August
    14. ^Singh, N.K. (31 May ). "Portrait of defiance". India Today. Retrieved 20 March
    15. ^ abcdefghGhosh, Bishnupriya ().

      "Queering Hindutva&#;: Unruly Bodies and Pleasures in Sadhavi Rithambara's Performances". In Bacchetta, Paola; Power, Margaret (eds.). Right-wing women: from conservatives to extremists around the world. New York: Routledge. doi/ ISBN&#;.

    16. ^ abJaffrelot, Christophe (), "The Vishva Hindu Parishad: Structures and Strategies", in Haynes, Jeff (ed.), Religion, Globalization and Political Culture in the Third World, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.&#;–, doi/_9, ISBN&#;
    17. ^ abcMenon, Kalyani Devaki ().

      "Violent Dharma". Everyday Nationalism: Women of the Hindu Right in India. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN&#;. JSTOR&#;3fj1wh. Archived from the original on 16 November Retrieved 16 November

    18. ^Banerjee, Sikata (). "In the Crucible of Hindutva: Women and Masculine Hinduism". Make me a man!&#;: masculinity, Hinduism, and nationalism in India.

      Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

      Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher They believe that all children are the future of our country, so they should get love, strength, education and food. India Today. Back to Factsheets. Download PDF.

      ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

    19. ^Kurien, Prema A. (). "Forging an Official Hinduism in India&#;: Hindu Umbrella Organizations". A Place at the Multicultural Table: The Development of an American Hinduism. Rutgers University Press. ISBN&#;. JSTOR&#;5hj9tk.
    20. ^Basu, Subho; Das, Suranjan (), Friedman, Max Paul; Kenney, Padraic (eds.), "Knowledge for Politics: Partisan Histories and Communal Mobilization in India and Pakistan", Partisan Histories: The Past in Contemporary Global Politics, Palgrave Macmillan US, pp.&#;–, doi/_7, ISBN&#;
    21. ^Pant, Niraj (1 May ).

      Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher paul: If the government temple will not be built in the government of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath, then when will it be built? And the treatment of this disease will require more money and will also take more time. In , she wanted to build an ashram between Vrindavan and Mathura but her wish could not be fulfilled due to some political people. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Views:

      "Facilitating Genocide&#;: Women as Fascist Educators in the Hindutva Movement". Ghadar. 1 (1). Archived from the original on 25 October

    22. ^Niranjana, Seemanthini (1 March ). "Off the Body: Further Considerations on Women, Sexuality and Agency". Bulletin (Centre for Women's Development Studies).

      6 (1): 1– doi/ ISSN&#; S2CID&#;

    23. ^Sarkar, Tanika (1 December ). "The Women of the Hindutva brigade". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 25 (4): 16– doi/ ISSN&#;
    24. ^Butalia, Urvashi ().

      Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher columbus Later, following his rules, he spent his time in his ashram Haridwar, and also did many tours to spread the religion all over India. Legal Trials [ edit ]. Doraha, Ludhiana district , Punjab [ 1 ]. A Concise History of Modern India.

      "Confrontation and Negotiation". In Kapadia, Karin (ed.). The Violence of Development: The Political Economy of Gender. Palgrave Macmillan. p.&#; ISBN&#;.

    25. ^Loomba, Ania (). "Dead Women Tell No Tales: Issues of Female Subjectivity, Subaltern Agency and Tradition in Colonial and Post-Colonial Writings on Widow Immolation in India".

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      "Khurja Riots Understanding the Conjuncture".

      Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher jackson She also stepped into social life and became a part of Rashtriya Sevika Samiti and also became a member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. She remained in jail for 11 days. There everyone calls her Didi Maa. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars.

      Economic and Political Weekly. 27 (18): ISSN&#; JSTOR&#;

    28. ^ abcJaffrelot, Christophe (). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: to the s&#;: Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India).

      Hurst. ISBN&#;.

    29. ^Metcalf, Barbara D.; Metcalf, Thomas R. (). "Democratic India at the Turn of the Millennium: Prosperity, Poverty, Power". A Concise History of Modern India. Cambridge University Press. doi/CBO ISBN&#;.
    30. ^Mazumdar, Sucheta (1 March ). "Women on the March: Right-Wing Mobilization in Contemporary India".

      Feminist Review. 49 (1): 1– doi/fr ISSN&#; S2CID&#;

    31. ^Lama-Rewal, Stéphanie T. (September ). Femmes et politique en Inde et au Népal (in French). Paris: Karthala Editions. ISBN&#;.
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    33. ^Khalid, Haroon (14 November ). "How the Babri Masjid Demolition Upended Tenuous Inter-Religious Ties in Pakistan". The Wire. Retrieved 30 May
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      The Morning Chronicle. 6 December Retrieved 30 May

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      "Babri Masjid case: Advani, Bharti, Joshi charged with criminal conspiracy". . Retrieved 17 November

    40. ^"No charges: Sadhvi Rithambara given prime land". India: The Statesman. 15 July
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      19 July

    42. ^"Sadhvi Rithambara Ashram trains women in martial arts!".

    43. Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher paul
    44. Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher lee
    45. Sadhvi ritambhara biography of christopher kennedy

      46. Hindustan Times. 16 July

    46. ^"Haryana CM releases book on Sadhvi's role in Ayodhya movement". Hindustan Times. 31 December
    47. ^Tears, hugs and happiness; ‘Pran Pratishtha’ an epochal moment for Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Rithambara The times of India, Jan 23,