Ep 385: Vinayak Calling Vinayak

To understand modern India, we must understand the history of Hindutva -- and we must wrestle with Savarkar. Vinayak Chaturvedi joins Amit Varma in episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and work as a historian -- and the importance of history in shaping the present moment.

(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)

(This episode was recorded in March, 2024.)

Also check out:
1. Vinayak Chaturvedi at UC Irvine and Amazon.
2. Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of History -- Vinayak Chaturvedi.
3. Peasant Pasts – History and Memory in Western India -- Vinayak Chaturvedi.
4. Imaginary Homelands -- Salman Rushdie.
5. The Road and No Country for Old Men -- Cormac McCarthy.
6. No Country for Old Men -- Joel and Ethan Coen.
7. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
8. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan).
9. Partha Chatterjee on Amazon, Wikipedia and Columbia University.
10. The Egg -- Andy Weir.
11. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen.
12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
14. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran.
15. Some plagiarism complaints against Claudine Gay: 1, 2, 3, 4.
16. The Exquisite Irony of Claudine Gay's Downfall -- Glenn Loury with John McWhorter.
17. Why Did Harvard Cancel Its Best Black Professor? -- Documentary by Rob Montz on the destruction of Roland Fryer.
18. “A White Male Would Probably Already Be Gone” -- Carol Swain interviewed by Christopher Rufo.
19. How one hearing brought down two Ivy League presidents -- Sareen Habeshian.
20. Carlo Ginzburg and Christopher Bayly.
21. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly.
22. Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire -- CA Bayly.
23. The Indian Ideology -- Perry Anderson.
24. Event, Metaphor, Memory : Chauri Chaura -- Shahid Amin.
25. Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania -- Steven Feierman.
26. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India -- Ranajit Guha.
27. Maps Are Magic -- Episode 44 of Everything is Everything.
28. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges.
29. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars -- CA Bayly.
30. The Cheese and the Worms -- Carlo Ginzburg.
31. From Peasant Pasts to Hindutva Futures? -- Vinayak Chaturvedi.
32. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
33. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
34. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.
35. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi.
36. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).
37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah).
38. Essentials Of Hindutva -- VD Savarkar.
39. Farewell Waltz -- Milan Kundera.
40. A Zone of Engagement -- Perry Anderson.
41. Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas -- Perry Anderson.
42. BR Ambedkar's interview on BBC from 1955.
43. Hindutva before Hindutva: Selected Writings and Discourses of Chandranath Basu in Translation -- Edited by Amiya Sen.
44. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila).
45. The Many Shades of George Fernandes -- Episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen.
46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes — Rahul Ramagundam.
47. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi.
48. Annihilation of Caste — BR Ambedkar.
49. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
50. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
51. The Indian War of Independence: 1857 -- VD Savarkar.
52. Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva -- Vaibhav Purandare.
53. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything.
54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel).
55. Hindu-Padpaadshahi (Hindi Edition) -- VD Savarkar.
56. Veer Savarkar -- Dhananjay Keer.
57. GS Sardesai, VK Rajwade and Jadunath Sarkar.
58. The Collected Works of MK Gandhi and BR Ambedkar.
59. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen.
60. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
61.  Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4.
62. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi.
64. John McEnroe plus Anyone -- Edward Said.
65. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste -- Pierre Bourdieu.
66. Lendl, Becker, McEnroe, & Wilander interviewed in the Tennis Legends Podcast.
67. Ben Böhmer, Sultan+Shepard, Nora En Pure, U2 and New Order on Spotify.
68. The Zone of Interest -- Jonathan Glazer.
69. Oldboy -- Park Chan-wook.
70. Burning -- Lee Chang-dong.
71. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho.
72. Return to Seoul -- Davy Chou.
73. Past Lives -- Celine Song.
74. Monster -- Kore-eda Hirokazu.
75. The Wind From Far Away -- Amit Varma (on Monster among other things).
76. Shoplifters -- Hirokazu Kore-eda.
77. Nobody Knows --   Hirokazu Kore-eda.
78. Broker --   Hirokazu Kore-eda.
79. A Death in the Family -- Book 1 of Karl Ove Knausgaard's A Struggle.
80. In Search Of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust.
81. My Saga -- Karl Ove Knausgaard's essay for NYT.

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Episode art: ‘The Historian’ by Simahina.