Religion, renaissance and protest: Sanskritization and Protestantization in Kerala, 1888--1936

This study focuses on two caste movements, the Il&dotbelow;ava and the Nayar, that wrestled against the Brahmanic domination. These movements asserted their jati identity through questioning the hegemonic dimensions of the existing social hierarchy. They both did this through different, but related, processes such as Hinduization, Sanskritization and Protestantization. Through these processes, these communities attempted to reconfigure their sacred space, to reconstruct history and to assert their identities by selective negation, appropriation, and internalization of rituals, myths and symbols from the dominant models. Hinduization is the process which brought a reconfiguration of sacred and ritual space to the indigenous thought-world. Through Sanskritization, Il&dotbelow;avas and Nayars engaged in a radical reconstruction of their religious worldview in a society where inter-caste mobility had been strictly regulated. They exerted their authority, not by rejecting the socio-religious order altogether, but by asserting their positions as valid sectors within that order and by contesting the hegemonic, non-egalitarian dimensions of this tradition.;Protestantization augmented this process of social transformation and provided an ideological locus and hermeneutical paradigm for the self-definition of the identity of these communities. Through an analysis of these processes, this dissertation examines these dynamics of power and the concomitant creation of the social will that countered the hegemonic social, political and religious order that had prevailed in Kerala society.;Narayana Guru (1856--1928) asserted human dignity and freedom, and constructed a sacred, intellectual and social space centered on the dictum, "One caste, one religion, one God for humanity." He thus provided a hermeneutical framework for the struggle for self-determination and reconfigured the Il&dotbelow;ava thought-world by subverting Brahmanic ritualism. Cattampi Swamikal (1854--1924) was assertive in his attitude towards Christian mission, and engaged in open conflict with Brahmanic hegemony, provided a philosophical basis for the resurgence among the Nayars. These two leaders, who are living embodiments of social transformation, provided a critique of Christian mission and the Brahmanic systematization of social relations both directly and covertly. At the same time, these movements reflect the latent function of the Protestant paradigm in triggering liberal ideals such as self-respect and self-determination.