Modernity and Caste in Khatri and High-Caste Men's Auto/Biographies

Bibliographic Data

ID3228643
AuthorsAnju Malhotra (0000-0003-0155-3531, University of California, Santa Barbara, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume15
Issue9
Pages1125
Publication date2024-09-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15091125
OpenAlexW4402615047
LanguageEN
References cited13

This paper studies the auto/biographies of high-caste middle-class Punjabi Khatri men, and those of cognate castes like Arora and Baniya, written in the first half of the twentieth century: men who were born in the second half of the nineteenth century or early twentieth century. While the discourse on caste under the colonial regime exploded, there was also an embarrassment about caste, or re-thinking its place in society among the upper-caste groups who invested in ideas of progress, improvement and scientism. It is argued that caste was referenced in the memoirs, life stories and self-reflexive writing when these men spoke of their familial backgrounds and admired the deep religiosity and devotionalism of their fathers even though some paternal practices were incongruent with the reformism of the sons. Caste is also in play when one traces the advantages of literacy, education, professional accomplishments, mobility, and reformist activities of men who came to have an important presence in public life. A number of these men had similar life trajectories, indicative of how some aspects of colonial educational and administrative structures could be utilized by them

Aesthetics · Caste · Colonialism · Genealogy · Modernity · Political science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Diaspora

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