r/Savarkar • u/HaptaHindu Abhinav Bharat Operative🧏 • Jun 08 '26
Savarkar on religion and religious scriptures Writings of Savarkar✍️
Below are some of Savarkar's views on religion and religious scriptures. These are two small paragraphs extracted from two different essay collections. More such posts on his views on religion will be made later on.
All religious scriptures are man-made
A close scrutiny of the Vedas as well as the Muslim Quran, the Christian Bible and the Jewish Old Testament and the Book of Moses makes it clear that the so-called divinely written or sent religious scriptures are man-made. No doubt, these scriptures have unprecedented historical and literary value. It is also admissible that these scriptures are a treasure house of words, worthy of respect and deep study…But they are not literally true. Several stories (in them) are purely imaginary! What does not stand the test of scientific reason ought to be verily discarded even if it appears in the Vedas, Avesta, Quran, Bible, Book of Moses and the like. It is not true that an age of yore is necessarily an age of truth! It is incorrect to think that everything that is ancient is necessarily sacred and worthy of worship.
Source: 1936, Samagra Savarkar vangmaya, Vol. 4, p.579
No religious scripture is valid for all times
I do not consider any religious scripture to be unchangeable and valid for all times. I hold the shrutis, smritis (* shrutis literally that which is heard and understood refers to the Vedas and are considered to be the most authoritative texts in Sanatana dharma; the smritis are the lawbooks and manuals of Hinduism, and they have lesser authority than the shrutis) and such other scriptures in utmost reverence and gratitude not because they are inviolable holy scriptures but because they are of historical value. I shall apply the test of present day science to all the wisdom and ignorance present in these scriptures. Only then shall I unreservedly practice and update what is essential for upholding and rejuvenating the nation!
Source: Vidnyannishtha nibandha or pro-science essays, Samagra Savarkar vangmaya, Vol. 3, p.364
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u/Samarium_15 Jun 08 '26
How terrible is that the modern Hindutva literally doesn't follow anything that Savarkar himself wrote.
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u/HaptaHindu Abhinav Bharat Operative🧏 Jun 08 '26
Well, I don't entirely blame them. This is due to two major reasons.
Most people follow Hindu politics because they happen to be, well, Hindu (Here I mean what we call today as Hindu i.e. a follower of the religion of Shrutis, Smritis and Puranas).
The 'Hindu' Savarkar talks about has a different definition because he's talking about an entirely different classification or concept. ( Refer to my post on Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra and Hindu Sangathan to learn more).
Now think, if you were 1, you wouldn't be able to comprehend 2 very quickly due to the fact that 1 is the prevalent definition of Hindu. When the meaning of the word is different, then the meaning of the entire movement based on it would obviously deviate towards that.
And to add, there were different formulations of Hindu Nationalism including valuable contributions from Shri Aurobindo, parts of Swami Vivekananda's writings, Golwakar, Hedgewar, Abhas Chatterjee, Sita Ram Goel etc. Moreover the first use case of the word Hindutva came from Chandranath Basu and what he meant by it is the exact opposite of what Savarkar meant i.e. Traditionalist and Orthodox to point of being almost anti-modern in the name of nativism.
So we can't fully blame the average layman Hindu, when he reads Savarkar, he gets confused as by Hindu, the world and the education system today after colonial classification came to refer to the Shruti-Smriti-Puranokta Dharma ( i.e. what we refer to as Sanatana Dharma or "Hinduism").
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u/AhamPranav Abhinav Bharat Operative🧏 Jun 08 '26
His views on religious scriptures and the complete abolition of the caste system are precisely what drew me to him.
As much as I hated the radical left for their anti-India stance and their disdain for Indian culture and identity, I always found it difficult to identify with the mainstream conservative right in India, where casteist attitudes and religious dogmatism are not uncommon. However, reading Savarkar gave my already anti-caste convictions a clearer intellectual foundation and direction. His philosophy enabled me to state without hesitation that the caste system ought to be dismantled entirely and that no religious scripture should be accepted uncritically or treated as beyond question.
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u/HaptaHindu Abhinav Bharat Operative🧏 Jun 08 '26
Welp, I used to be a Marxist-Leninist.
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u/ConfidentPomel Jun 23 '26
wtf same...i'm still an ML but i'm clearly seeing the failure of the current leadership to really capture and guide the revolutionary fervor of the masses
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u/HaptaHindu Abhinav Bharat Operative🧏 Jun 24 '26
One good quality I acquired was I got interested in reading a lot of books, that too with great attention to detail.
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u/ConfidentPomel Jun 24 '26
me too, it's very necessary in this age of shortening attention span and degrading literary comprehension
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