Kalpana Jain

Kalpana Jain is a US-based religion journalist who worked for many years at India’s leading national daily, The Times of India. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 2009.

Women lie on a green cloth and practice aiming their guns while wearing red sashes.

Good wives, good soldiers: Durga Vahini women take up arms to protect Hindu identity

November 12, 2019Global Politics

The majority of Durga Vahini members come from traditional backgrounds as Hindu wives and mothers. After joining the group — often through a close relative or friend — some say they find voice, solidarity and empowerment as protectors of Hinduism.