ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Vedas, the Archive, and the Footnote: Hindu Nationalism’s Imprint on Modern Histories of Mathematics

• In Event: Histories of Mathematics

English Abstract

The historiography of nationalism is varied, but lesser studied are nationalistic influences on the histories of science. This paper investigates the influence of Hindu nationalism on contemporary histories of mathematics by examining a plagiarism dispute within the field. Drawing on existing analyses of Hindu nationalism in the history of science, the paper demonstrates how nationalist frameworks influence historical interpretation. What first appears to be a conflict over unacknowledged research use reveals deeper ideological forces connected to Hindu nationalistic projects of positioning India as the original source of global scientific and mathematical knowledge. Evidenced through reconstructing the timeline of the conflict, an analysis of published work, public lectures, and personal exchanges, the study identifies characteristic features of Hindu nationalist historiography: mistrust of Western academic authority, reliance on Vedic and Vedantic texts as epistemic foundations, the deployment of anti-Christian and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and the elevation of speculative or fabricated historical claims to the status of recovered truths. Ultimately, the study shows how Hindu nationalism intensifies scholarly disputes and complicates broader postcolonial critiques, risking the replacement of critical historiography with ideologically driven narratives.

Author

• Qurat ul Ain Nayyar Khan, Princeton University