MINNA SÄÄVÄLÄ Auspicious Hindu houses. The new middle classes in Hyderabad, India * This essay examines the relevance of the Hindu concept of auspiciousness in present- day India and the way new, urban middle-class Hindus deal with it in practice in the city of Hyderabad. Such practices include inaugural ceremonies for scooters, tele- vision sets and living and office quarters; design of houses according to rules that are presumed to be vedic; consideration of suitable days and times for particular activities; and puujas 1 (worship of divinity) that are ubiquitous in the everyday lives of most Hyderabadi Hindus who consider themselves middle class. All these activities are gov- erned by considerations of auspicious timing and principles of how to avoid inauspi- ciousness. Housing is one of the most important fields manifesting such concerns. The English word ‘auspiciousness’ is the most common translation of Sanskrit shubha and mangala, and their various versions in other Indic languages. These concepts refer to benediction, potentiality, and the presence of divine grace. In the following, I will dis- entangle the factors that make intelligible the growing importance of Hindu practices and considerations related to s ´ubham in new middle-class Hyderabadis’ lives. The socio-cultural practices of the Indian middle classes have to be considered in the context of recent global and regional processes, especially those related to the deregulation of the Indian economy since the early 1990s and the rise of the Hindu nationalist and fundamentalist movements. The official secularism of the Indian state has allegedly triggered, especially among the more educated and urban higher caste population, the nationalistic reaction that is reflected in their stress on Hindu pride. However, not all fervent Hindus are supporters of Hindu nationalist ideologies, par- ties, or organisations. By examining the ways the new middle classes create and recre- ate such a concept as auspiciousness in relation to housing, I wish to refer, at the most general level, to the discussion on cultural change in the global process of growing interconnectedness, and more specifically to contribute to our knowledge of the ways in which the strategies of social ascension could be researched comparatively. * This article is based on research financed by the Academy of Finland. An earlier version was pre- sented in the seminar ‘Gender, hierarchies and social dynamics in India’ at the University of Helsinki in November 2001. I would like to thank Lina Fruzzetti, Sirpa Tenhunen, Siru Maunuksela-Aura, Jukka Siikala, Karen Armstrong and other participants for their comments. The perceptive criticism and suggestions of two anonymous referees and the editor were most helpful for developing this essay, and much appreciated. 1 Unless the language of the italicised word is mentioned, it is a transliterated Telugu word. Transliteration follows Krishnamurti and Gwynn (1985). Social Anthropology (2003), 11, 2, 231–247. © 2003 European Association of Social Anthropologists 231 DOI: 10.1017/S0964028203000168 Printed in the United Kingdom