| Summary/Abstract |
The genealogies of völkisch ideas everywhere would suggest that they were relatively widespread in a world thinking about defining the nature of nationalism. The idea of the Volk has its origins, of course, in German romanticist imaginings of the German nation. The glorification of an ‘Aryan’ past in India, the identification of the ‘folk element’, or a connection with sacred soil and sacred space, shared the same building blocks of romantic nationalism that were evident across the world. This essay focuses on Indian völkisch nationalism through the work and career of Benoy Kumar Sarkar, his engagements with German and Indian ideas, his ability to translate them across their specific contexts and his institutional linkages.
|