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In South India, the categories `Brahmin` and `non-Brahmin` are frequently treated as self-evident, both within contemporary Tamil politics and in mainstream academic discourses. Departing from this political and academic`common sense`. the present book historicizes the complex processes by which these categories came into being and acquired political power over the past century. In the process of unravelling and historicizing the so-called `naturalness` of ``Brahmin` and `non-Brahmin`, this book also offers a new perspective on colonialism in South india. It shows the ways in which colonialism was, for various strata of Tamil society, both a moment of crisis as well as one of pollibilities. It is argues that it was this dual and ambiguous quality of colonial rule that facilitated new ways of looking at the making of non-Brahmin identity. The author presents the Non-Brahmin writings and discursive strategies of E.V. Ramasamy `Periyar`, Maraimalai Adigal and lyothee Thoss, alongside those of a wide array of Brahminic thinkers and propagandists(both within Congress and outside), with a degree of sophistication and analytic skill not available in other works of political, social and intellectual history of South India. This book will interest historians, sociologists and political analysts of India, and all those who wish to understand anti-Brahmin and anti-upper-caste social movements. ISBN : 9788178241623
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Pages : 286
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