An English translation of noted writer the late U.R. Ananthamurthy’s last work, Hindutva or Hind Swaraj — which was the Jnanpith Award winner’s manifesto comparing V.D. Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva with Gandhiji’s concept of Hind Swaraj — was launched on Wednesday.
The manifesto, originally written in Kannada and translated into English by Keerti Ramachandra and Vivek Shanbhag, deals with the ideas of nation States and nationalism as well as the meaning of the rise of new power structures in the country. Ananthamurthy penned this manifesto after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.
“I was struck by how much this book has to say on the massive environmental costs of consumerism,” said historian Ramachandra Guha at the launch of the book. Reading out the last sentences of the book which speak about “Modi’s enthusiasm for development and the damage on the environment”, Mr. Guha said that although he did not believe in personalising, he agreed with the views put forth by Ananthamurthy.
Speaking about the process of translating the manifesto, Ms. Keerti Ramachandra said, “We wanted to ensure that we retained the conversational tone without making it informal.”
The book has been published by Harper Perennial.
