ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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The Fragile Discourse of Caste in West Bengal

The objective of this article is to put forward a modest hypothesis to test, namely “to politicise caste in Bengal, it needs to be taken out from the fold of Hindu religion.” The category needs to be mobilised and radicalised through the active participation of lower-caste groups across the state. To do this, the proliferation of sociocultural organisations is necessary whose prime concern would be to stretch the logic of caste in the political domain, whereas caste has hitherto taken only a comfortable refuge in the Hinduised domain of the Bengal social.

Underscoring the Perils of Majoritarianism

Our Hindu Rashtra: What It Is. How We Got Here by Aakar Patel, Westland Books, 2020; pp 368, 799.

 

Military History Meets Labour History

The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict 1914­–1921 by Radhika Singha, New Delhi: Harper Collins, 2020; pp 396, 699.

 

Anthropological Archives

This paper revisits earlier ethnographic writing and assumption as an “archive” in order to reconsider Dalit “religions.” It explores the nature of power in the caste order when viewed from Dalit positions and perspectives, the historical constitution of caste under the British empire by drawing on recent scholarship, the terms, at once, of the Dalit’s critical exclusion from and unequal inclusion in caste domains, Dalit responses to hierarchy and authority in everyday terrains, and, finally, the intimate intermeshing of religion and politics, both broadly understood.

Exploring the Temple Town of Tiruvarur: The Abode of Carnatic Music and Shaivism

Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu is a repository of the cultural, historical, and spiritual heritage of India. It attracts scores of pilgrims, art enthusiasts, and music connoisseurs from across the globe.

Lakshmi against Untouchability: Puranic Texts and Caste in Odisha

The Lakshmi Purana as a literary text primarily raises issues relating to the religious rights of Dalit women in Odisha.

Adivasi Claims Over Sabarimala Highlight the Importance of Counter-narratives of Tradition

In the context of the Supreme Court’s verdict on the entry of women in Sabarimala, the article examines the claim raised by the Mala Araya Adivasi community in Kerala over the Sabarimala temple and its rituals. The verdict provided momentum to the tribal community's articulation of their rights in the public sphere, especially about their tarnished history, stolen gods and the socio-economic alienation inflicted upon them by the state and its agencies in collusion with caste forces.

Religious Identity at the Crossroads

The religious identity of the Hindu fisherfolk of Kerala—the Dheevaras—has been a site of multiple and contradictory interpretations by agents and institutions with varied interests. While their caste association—the Akhila Kerala Dheevara Sabha—is urging them towards Sanskritisation and allegiance to Hindutva, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is engaging them in their communal propaganda. At stake is a host of religious practices and philosophies evolved by the Dheevaras through their occupation of fishing, and the contribution of early Dheevara reformers in critiquing the Brahminic domination of Hinduism and the caste system.

When ‘Anybody Can Be Brahmin’

The appointment of Dalit priests to temples in Kerala has been engendered by the growing departure of Brahmin youth from priestly jobs, coupled with existing aspirations of the lower castes to become priests in Brahminical temples. This move is aimed at the formation of a cohesive “Hindu community” through the reconfiguration of caste practices, not the eradication of caste.

Is an Atheistic Defence of God Possible?

This article argues that both the arguments--that "God exists" and that "God does not exist"--fall within the realm of belief, and hence, religion; for the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved. It stresses that atheism is not a belief in the non-existence of God but an inability to believe in the existence of God. Finally, the essay sets out to examine if there can be an atheistic defence of the concept (not existence, which cannot be proved) of God, and concludes by arguing that it is the only kind of defence of God that is rationally possible.

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