This article analyzes the Gandhian legacy in contemporary Indian art practices, including photography, architecture, and film, and investigates the possibilities and impasses of a specifically Gandhian modern aesthetic practice. Situating a specific set of artistic projects in relation to the rise of Hindu fundamentalist politics in contemporary India, the article then proposes the ways in which the possibility of a Gandhian modern aesthetic has been increasingly submerged in the broader politics of constructing a universalist, Hindu modern political aesthetic. Finally, turning to Hind Swaraj, the article proposes an alternative understanding of the emergence of this Hindu modern by examining Gandhi's particular articulation of the relation among ethics, aesthetics, and politics.

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Copyright 2011 by Duke University Press
2011
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