The notion of “militant Hinduism” might seem to the casual observer a bizarre contradiction. After all, Hinduism – as Western observers have portrayed it – has a reputation for tolerance. It is often associated in popular writings with a religious perspective that endorses pacifism. For example, in the year 2000 a group of the most influential American scholars of Hinduism signed an impassioned public petition decrying the fact that India had test-detonated three atomic explosives at Pokhran in northwest India. They deplored the fact that the government used Hindu religious terms and imagery to portray the nuclear tests. But the imagery was not exclusively Hindu: the tests were deliberately scheduled to coincide with the Buddha's birthday. The scholars' petition read, in part: