Book: Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India
Author: Akshaya Mukul
Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India is a well-researched account of the publishing house that shaped modern Hindu political awareness. Founded over a century ago, Gita Press supported militant Hindu nationalism and transactional piety, endorsed by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi. Its publications helped create a Hindu public sphere and offer crucial insights into the rise of the Hindu Right.
‘Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India’
When the book was first released in 2015, its reception mirrored the complexity of its subject. On release, it was widely acclaimed by scholars, journalists, and literary critics for opening an unexplored chapter of Indian cultural history. It won the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize and was shortlisted for several others.
Yet, as Mukul notes in the new prologue, it also attracted criticism from right-wing circles, including a now-defunct blog that dismissed it as part of a “left-liberal conspiracy.” The very debates it ignited, however, confirmed the book’s influence.
In the tenth-anniversary edition, Mukul revisits the past decade, during which Gita Press moved from near-closure to receiving the Gandhi Peace Prize. His lens remains unflinching yet fair, showing that the story of Gita Press is not merely about religion or ideology, but about how faith, print, and politics continue to entwine in the making of modern India.
Mukul’s work is not just the history of a publishing house; it is the biography of a belief system in print.
Mukul adeptly places Gita Press in the context of the social and political upheavals of twentieth-century India: the nationalist movement, Partition, and the redefinition of Hindu identity. Although seemingly apolitical, the Press’s publications voiced a desire for cultural preservation amid rapid change. They advocated devotion and discipline but also upheld conservative views on women, family, and social order.
Today, Gita Press remains the world’s largest publisher of Hindu religious texts, with millions of copies of the Gita, Ramcharitmanas, and other scriptures circulating across homes and borders. In the steady hum of its century-old presses, India continues to read itself one sacred verse at a time.
