Religious Hegemony and the Role of Neo-rich and Priests in Contemporary South India

References

[1] see H. Whitehead, Village Gods of South India, Oxford University Press, Calcutta, 1921; N.N. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Mother Goddess, Manohar Publishers, New Delhi, 1977; J.J. Preston, Cult of the Goddess: Social and Religious Change in a Hindu Temple, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1980; W.T. Elmore, Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism, Asian Educational Service, New Delhi, 1984; M. Williams, Religious Life in Ancient India, Sanjay Prakasan, Delhi, 1990; G. Chakrapani, Pambalas: The Vanishing Dalit Priests, Aneka Publications, Hyderabad.

[2] R. Ramachandran, Urbanization and Urban Systems in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1989.

[3] see A). Appadurai, Worship, and Conflict under Colonial Rule: A South Indian Case, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981.

[4] see R. Champakalakshmi, Religion, Tradition, and Ideology: precolonial South India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011; F.A. Pressler, Religion Under Bureaucracy: Policy and Administration for Hindu Temples in South India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1978; and Appadurai, 1981.

[5] J.H. Hutton, Caste in India: its Nature, Function, and Origins, Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1946, p. 50.

[6] S. Sinha, ‘Caste in India: its Essential Pattern of Socio-Cultural Integration’ in Caste and Race: Comparative Approaches, Anthony de Reuck and Julie Knight (eds), J & A Churchill Ltd, London, 1967, p. 95.

[7] G.S. Ghurye, Caste, and Class in India, Popular Book Depot, Bombay, 1957, p. 34.

[8] I. Karve, Kinship Organization in India, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1953, p. 7.

[9] ibid., p. 99.

[10] Hancock, M. Hancock, ‘Hindu Culture for an Indian Nation: Gender, Politics, and Elite Identity in Urban South India.'American Ethnologist, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1995, p. 910.

[11] DL Sallach, 'Class Domination and Ideological Hegemony.'Sociological Quarterly, vol. 15, No. 1, 1974, p. 41.

[12] TJJ Lears, 'The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities. The American Historical Review, Vol. 90, No.3, 1985, p. 568.

[13] N Sudhakar Rao, and M Ravikumar 'The Ritual of Power and Power of the Ritual: An Interface between Religion and Politics in Religion and Modernity in India, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay and Aloka Parasher Sen (eds), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2017, pp.238-264.

[14] G. Kruijtzer, ‘Madonna, Akkanna and the Brahmin Revolution: A Study of Mentality, Group Behaviour, and Personality in Seventeenth-Century India.'Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2002, p. 262 say, "the revenue farming 'system' in Golkonda had given rise to a class of Brahmin 'men of the pen' in Golkonda about half a century before what has been called 'the Brahmin Raj' became evident in other parts of South Asia. Madonna needed the support of this Brahmin network. He continually strengthened his power base by inserting Brahmins in many positions in the revenue system and the central bureaucracy. Also, he took upon himself the dharmic duty of the King to feed and clothe Brahmins all over the realm."

[15] D. Georges, 'The Diffusion of Cultural Patterns in Feudal Society. Past and Present, No.39, 1968, p.4.

[16] Champakalakshmi, op.cit., p. 236.

[17] (Champakalakshmi, 2011and; Anila, 2004.

[18] R. Thapar, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, Orient Longman, Hyderabad, 1978. Thapar (p.140) says, 'before the use of script, Brahmanical education was an oral tradition. The context of this tradition was religious or magical formulae and rituals appropriate to various occasions. The secret knowledge of the recitation of the Vedas gave magical powers to those Brahmans who had acquired this knowledge, even in an area of literate civilization'.

[19] ibid., p. 132.

[20] see N.N. Bhattacharya, Ancient Indian Rituals and their Social Contexts, Manohar Publishers, New Delhi, 2005.

[21] Appadurai, op. cit., p. 51.

[22] ibid, p. 51.

[23] R. Thapar, ‘Imagined Religious Communities? Ancient History and the Modern Search for a Hindu Identity’. Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No.2, 1989, p. 213.

[24] DD. Kosambi, 'Caste and Class in India .'Science & Society, Vol. 8, No.3, 1944, p. 244.

[25] Thapar, op. cit., 1989, p. 219.

[26] Ibid., p. 212.

[27] see C.J. Fuller, Servants of the Goddess: the Priests of South Indian Temple, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984; Thapar, 1989.

[28] Appadurai, op. cit., p. 51.

[29] Chakrapani, op. cit., p. 2.

[30] Ibid., p. 6.

@article{1703729,
      author = {Chakrapani Ghanta, Dr. Ravi Kumar Mala },
      title = {Religious Hegemony and the Role of Neo-rich and Priests in Contemporary South India },
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2022},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {10-23},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1703729.pdf},
      abstract = {The caste, religion, and economic and political domains have a vital space in Indian society. There are extensive studies on these; however, given less significance to read about the religious hegemony of the neo-rich through changing religious sentiments and raising the ritual status of the deity and themselves. The neo-rich and other religious forces cumulatively act to produce a religious identity and elevate the status. They understand the dynamics of these aspects presented through two religious traditions, local and mainstream. The first is dominant ritually within closed geographical boundaries; the latter is a dominant mainstream religion representing large population membership of practice in India. Religion with a dynamic character is contested in multiple ways in which the representatives of its spread are political leaders, priests, and neo-rich. Such instances in city space have given scope for the identity crisis. The local deity traditions have given a new opportunity for the neo-rich and priests to change the sacred structure and rituals of practice that aimed at creating self-identities in the reflexive religious modernity. The neo-rich and Brahmin priests have become manipulative and monopolizing forces of society's religious and social structures. These expose the power relationships in the society and constitute religious hegemony. This kind of differentiated worship can structure and restructure social relations without hindering other social aspects intertwined with religion, particularly in South India.},
      month = {August},
  }