Ram.exe Has Entered the Chat: Synthetic Gods and the Rise of AI-Deity Agitprop in India

Abstract

This article examines ‘theogonetic agitprop’: the use of divine avatars in India generated by artificial intelligence ( AI ) to fuse devotional affect with Hindutva political communication. Focusing on deepfake Ram and Ram Lalla videos, Krishna-style chatbots, violent goddess memes, and related social media reactions, it shows that generative tools make sacred figures programmable, iterable, and persuasive across WhatsApp, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram. The analysis combines multimodal discourse analysis, purposive case selection, and limited affective coding of public comments. It argues that AI -deity media works through a double authority: algorithmic credibility and religious reverence. This produces ‘theogonetic authority’, enabling political claims to appear to be moral guidance, divine approval, or epic truth. The article concludes that programmable sanctity is an emerging risk for democratic deliberation, minority safety, and digital religion in South and Southeast Asia.