1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785505103321

Autore

Mosse David

Titolo

The saint in the banyan tree [[electronic resource] ] : Christianity and caste society in India / / David Mosse

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2012

ISBN

1-283-61328-X

0-520-95397-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (408 p.)

Collana

The anthropology of Christianity ; ; 14

Disciplina

275.4/0808694

Soggetti

Christianity - India, South

Tamil (Indic people) - Religion

Christianity and other religions

Social classes - India, South - Religious aspects

Caste - Religious aspects - Christianity

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Transliteration -- Introduction -- 1. A Jesuit Mission in History -- 2. A Culture of Popular Catholicism -- 3. Christians in Village. Society Caste, Place, and the Ritualization of Power -- 4. Public Worship and Disputed Caste. The Santiyakappar Festival over 150 Years -- 6. Hindu Religious Nationalism and Dalit Christian Activism -- 7. A Return Visit to Alapuram. Religion and Caste in the 2000's -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Saint in the Banyan Tree is a nuanced and historically persuasive exploration of Christianity's remarkable trajectory as a social and cultural force in southern India. Starting in the seventeenth century, when the religion was integrated into Tamil institutions of caste and popular religiosity, this study moves into the twentieth century, when Christianity became an unexpected source of radical transformation for the country's 'untouchables' (dalits). Mosse shows how caste was central to the way in which categories of 'religion' and 'culture' were formed and negotiated in missionary encounters, and how the social



and semiotic possibilities of Christianity lead to a new politic of equal rights in South India. Skillfully combining archival research with anthropological fieldwork, this book examines the full cultural impact of Christianity on Indian religious, social and political life. Connecting historical ethnography to the preoccupations of priests and Jesuit social activists, Mosse throws new light on the contemporary nature of caste, conversion, religious synthesis, secularization, dalit politics, the inherent tensions of religious pluralism, and the struggle for recognition among subordinated people.