Notes on the Platformization of Mainstream Hinduism

Abstract

This chapter explores the platformization of religion in India and, in particular, the predominant religion in India, Hinduism. To begin with, I would also like to add that my thoughts on this subject are to some extent provisional, given that religion and religiosity online are constantly being reshaped by technological change as well as by economic and political imperatives. In this chapter, I attempt to deal primarily with issues related to platforms that are dedicated to the provision of various services to everyday religion, and only secondarily with mega-platforms, such as Facebook, which are home to literally thousands of religious socialities. Nonetheless, in both cases, the mining and repurposing of these socialities by political parties and quasi-political (and sometimes extreme right) Hindu organizations towards partisan ends has become a point of contention in India, as it has with other faiths in other parts of the world. From an academic point of view, the relationship between online communication and religious nationalism has been the basis for a number of writings, including by Sahana Udupa and others (Bhushan 2015; Chaturvedi 2016; Kallen 1998; Udupa 2015). This chapter takes its topical focus from the role played by platforms in creating opportunities for various commodifications of Hinduism. At the same time, this chapter also makes the argument that equivalences between commodifications in and of Hinduism and other religions such as Christianity need to be eschewed in favour of a broader understanding of the specificities of mediated religious experiences and the ‘apprehending’ of the divine, which varies from one religion to another.