ONE OF THE MOST WELL-RESEARCHED BOOKS ON THE RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH In 1925, Dr Hedgewar laid the foundation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the dream of making India a Hindu nation. The political ideology of ‘Hindutva’, encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and Hindu hegemony in India, was formulated by Damodar Savarkar in 1922, and Dr Hedgewar made it the Sangh’s (a cultural organisation) guiding principle. It is not the leader but the ideology that is important. Understanding the Sangh only through its many wings is just like exploring the elephant of Panchatantra from one side. The Sangh is said to be the largest voluntary organisation in the world. Today, the Sangh runs about 1,75,000 projects and more than 60,000 branches. It has chapters in more than 40 countries outside the country. The RSS is like the immortal bird from Greek mythology, the Phoenix. Even after being banned three times by the government in power, its wide influence could not be diminished. On the contrary, with every clampdown, it grew. Now there is hardly any aspect of Indian life which the Sangh does not touch. With the changing times, the Sangh not only changed its uniform but also broadened its outlook and kept reinventing itself.