In India, as in many regions, religious and ethnic zealotry has emerged as a significant force in contemporary society. Father, Son and Holy War explores this phenomenon in two parts, positing that the psychology of violence against “the other” may be a symptom of male insecurity. Part 1 investigates controversies surrounding fire that have consumed India in recent years: feminist protests at the death of a young bride who was thrown on her husband’s funeral pyre in the traditional rite of “sati”; communal fires that ravaged Bombay after the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya; purification fire rituals practiced by the upper castes. Part 2 examines concepts of masculinity in the context of religious strife. Raised on centuries-old stories of Muslim atrocities and calls for their continued revenge, some Hindu men reject nonviolence as a form of impotence and seek, as do some of their Muslim counterparts, to confirm their manhood through extreme acts of violence.