Jai Sri Ram

''Jai Shri Ram'' ( IAST: ) is an expression in Indic languages, translating as "Glory to Lord Rama" or "Victory to Lord Rama". The proclamation has been used by Hindus as an informal greeting, as a symbol of adhering to Hindu faith, or for projection of varied faith-centered emotions.

The expression was used by the Indian Hindu nationalist organisations Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies, which embraced the slogan in the late 20th century as a tool of increasing the visibility of Hinduism in public spaces and went on to use it as a battle cry. The slogan has since then been employed for perpetration of communal violence against people of other faiths.

Antecedents

Religious

Photojournalist Prashant Panjiar wrote about how in the city Ayodhya female pilgrims always chant "Sita-Ram-Sita-Ram", while the older male pilgrims prefer not to use Rama's name at all. The traditional usage of "Jai" in a slogan was with "''Siyavar Ramchandraji ki jai''" ("Victory to Sita's husband Rama"). A popular greeting invoking Ram is "Jai Ram ji ki" and "Ram-Ram".

"Rama" greetings have been traditionally used by people irrespective of religion.

Rama symbolism

The worship of Rama increased significantly in the 12th century, following the invasions of Muslim Turks. The Ramayana became widely popular in the 16th century. It is argued that the story of Rama offers a "very powerful imaginative formulation of the divine king as the only being capable of combating evil". The concept of Ramrajya, "the rule of Ram", was used by Gandhi to describe the ideal country free from the British.

The most widely known political use of Ram began with Baba Ram Chandra's peasant movement in Awadh in the 1920s. He encouraged the use of "Sita-Ram" as opposed to the then widely used "Salaam" as a greeting, since the latter implied social inferiority. "Sita-Ram" soon became a rallying cry.

Journalist Mrinal Pande states:

Coinage

In the late 1980's, the slogan "Jai Shri Ram" was popularised by Ramanand Sagar's television series '' Ramayan'', where it was used by Hanuman and the ''Vaanar Sena'' ( monkey army) as a war cry when they fought the demon army of Ravan in order to free Sita.

The nationalistic organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad and its Sangh Parivar allies, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, used it in their Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Volunteers at Ayodhya at the time would write the slogan on their skin, using their own blood as ink to signify their devotion. The organizations also distributed a cassette named as ''Jai Shri Ram'', containing songs like "Ram ji ki sena chali" () and "Aya samay jawano jago" (). All the songs in the cassette were set to the tunes of popular Bollywood songs. Kar sevaks, led by the Sangh Parivar allies, chanted the slogan when laying a foundation east of the Babri Masjid in August 1992.

A 1995 essay published in '' Manushi'', a journal edited by academic Madhu Kishwar, described how the Sangh Parivar's usage of "Jai Shri Ram", as opposed to "Sita-Ram", lies in the fact that their violent ideas had "no use for a non-macho Ram." This also mobilised more people politically, since it was patriarchal. Further, the movement was exclusively associated with Ram's birth, which had occurred many years before his marriage to Sita.

The Hindu nationalist portrayal of Ram is warrior-like, as opposed to the traditional "tender, almost effeminate" Ram that has been in popular perception. Sociologist Jan Breman writes:

Usage

Violent incidents

In 1992, during riots and the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the same slogan was raised. Former BBC
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