Religion and identity in India

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2145897
AutoresSudipta Kaviraj (0000-0001-7255-6698, SOAS University of London, autor correspondente)
Ano1997
Volume20
Fascículo2
Páginas325-344
Data de publicação1997-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.1997.9993964
OpenAlexW2113882496
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas32
Referências citadas8

In colonial India the British administration sought to fashion a Western-style state structure at the same time as it assumed that primordial groupings based on caste and, especially, religion were the appropriate bases of the political community. Hence, colonial counting processes endowed religious identities with greater substance and clearer outlines than they had had in the past. The combination of homogenizing state practices and reinforcement of traditional identity, to which Indian nationalism had no coherent answer, ultimately legitimized India's partition. For two decades after independence, political conflict in India was primarily on modernist lines. However, in contrast to the urban elite who mostly operated in political life according to the norms of modern Western politics, other groups saw politics in terms of caste, religious and linguistic allegiances. The rise of communal elements in Indian politics thus followed the mobilization of non-urban elites and poorer sections of the population

Aesthetics · Caste · Colonialism · Elite · Identity (music · Independence (probability theory · Nationalism · Partition (number theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Religious identity · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · South Asian Studies and Conflicts