This is an exploratory work making forays into aspects of caste, religion and the history of christian missions in India. These three elements were historically enmeshed in the discourse of the leading exponents of Indian reform and nationalism as they were in the proselytizing literature of the missionaries. They were implicated in the very logic of the thematic that prevailed as a result of the encounter between them and the `civilizational’ arguments that ensued.
In the exercise of reconstructing Indian society the missionaries were in the forefront and the existence of castes was the focus of their intervention. The result was conflict and confrontation between many Indians and the missionaries. The tensions between converts and non-converts, and the change or lack of it in the lives of untouchable and low castes tell a story of the dialectics of culture and power, ideology and consciousness that shape such historical processes.
This book does not seek to trace any linearity from the colonial to the contemporary scene in the complicated issues of religion and caste and the history of relations between Hindus and Christian missionaries. It is instead, an exploration into and discussion of the academic and political positions of various scholars.
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