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In this article, I argue that the study of Sree Narayana Guru's praxis forces us to question the popular understanding of 'sanskritisation' as mere imitation or emulation of 'upper-caste' rituals and practices for the purpose of seeking caste mobility. Given that the practice of caste has fundamentally been about exclusivity and denial, sanskritisation needs to be seen as a process that involved appropriating what had been denied due to exclusive caste privileges and the working of caste power. Sree Narayana Guru's movement then, indicates that sanskritisation should be seen as a political act, which sought to challenge caste rules of the time.

Ester Gallo. 2017. The Fall of Gods: Memory, Kinship, and Middle Classes in South India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. xiii + 338 pp. Tables, figures, notes, bibliography, glossary, index. ₹1195 (hardback).

In this article I engage with Prof. Leela Dube's fascinating work on matriliny in Lakshadweep which addressed critical questions in anthropology/sociology and feminist studies. Her discussion about the disjuncture between codified Islamic law and practice in relation to marriage and property devolution, her elaboration on the way law was manipulated strategically, and the image of flexibility in kinship practices are all important for a contemporary understanding of matriliny and kinship in general. Similarly, her discussion of what matriliny meant for women and more broadly the intersections of gender and kinship remain important concerns in the study of kinship. Furthermore, I point to the shifts in her work as she engaged with feminist politics and scholarship.

In contrast to a preoccupation with Nayar matriliny, in this article I look at the transformations of matrilineal tharavad houses among the Thiyyas who ranked below the Nayars in the caste hierarchy and were not generally large landowners. Moving away from the more exotic practices of matrilocality and duolocality, I look at matriliny coupled with a strong norm of virilocality in which a woman moved to her husband's house after marriage. This enables an exploration of the implications of this residence norm for women, and particularly its implications for our understanding of the transformation of matrilineal kinship in Kerala. Paying special attention to the experience of women in tharavad houses and the creation of new houses, coupled with the continuities in the right that a woman retains to residence in her natal house and a right to a share of the property, forces us to question the common sense understanding that matriliny has transformed to patriliny.

This article explores the way gender and space are produced in everyday life in a town in Rajasthan, India. The article argues that an a priori categorisation of spaces as 'public' and 'private' has not only prevented an exploration of the ways in which these categories are socially and culturally defined but has also hindered an understanding of the production of space in everyday life especially in relation to social relationships, hierarchies and power. This argument emerges from a focus on two aspects of urban life—the organisation of spaces in the town, and practices of veiling by Hindu and Muslim women. The article argues that while veiling practices of Hindu and Muslim women differ across community, caste and class, they also vary across neighbourhoods, based on the culture of the neighbourhood. Further, the kinship relationship that a particular married woman has with those who occupy a space, especially whether it is an affinal or natal relationship, is crucial in understanding women's veiling and how spaces are subjectively experienced by women. Thus, a gendered geography of a town would also need to be conceptualised and mapped in terms of this subjective experience of women.

During British colonial rule some matrilineal Thiyya women in North Kerala, India, had liaisons with British men. While the response of the caste (here, a Backward caste) to these liaisons shifted over time, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many women who had liaisons and their families were excommunicated. A "white connection" became a stain and kinship with the white man was denied or shrouded. This article looks at the ways in which both the liaisons and the denial of the white man as father or relative were located within practices of matrilineal kinship. Furthermore, this article seeks to understand how these liaisons are remembered today and how the presence of the white man as a relative is layered over by processes of forgetting and remembering.

Critical Themes in Indian Sociology brings together the writings of a number of scholars--both well established and younger, in India and in different parts of the world--on various themes that express the richness and diversity that defines sociological scholarship on India. The book reflects changes in scholarship over time and charts out new subjects and methods for the study of social life in India. Commemorating the 50 plus years since Contributions to Indian Sociology was first published, this book is a tribute to a journal that has sustained an internationally acclaimed and rigorous sociological engagement with India. Comprising a wide range of themes such as village, city, class, caste, politics, gender, sexuality, media, food and education, this book presents a concise, yet in-depth sense of a sociological view of India today