Suchergebnisse

Biography of N.R. Narayana Murthy, b. 1946; founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd., computer software company in India

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.

Velcheru Narayana Rao, Text and Tradition in South India, Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2016, 490 pp; and David Shulman, Tamil: A Biography, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016, 416 pp.