> Publications Religious Revivalism as Nationalist Discourse: and New in Nineteenth-Century Bengal

Balanced assessments of the socio-political impact of Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) are following argument: if I injure others, - Shamita Basu, Religious Revivalism as Review > quite rare, as the tendency either to excessively glorify or unfairly condemn: Vivekananda, I am in a deep metaphysical sense Nationalist Discourse: Swami Vivekananda South Asia Hinduism, Vedanta, and , usually dominates any debate on the issue. injuring myself, because the one Uni- and New Hinduism in Nineteenth Century Shamita Basu’s latest book, Religious Revivalism as Nationalist Discourse: Swami Vivekananda versal, infinite Soul inheres in all. This Bengal. New Delhi: Oxford University and New Hinduism in Nineteenth Century Bengal, is, therefore, a welcome break with this realization ‘provided the spiritual Press (2002) 213 pp., ISBN 019565371-8. tradition. ground for ethical action, and it was argued that the universal philosophy of Victor A. van Bijlert (BPCL Chair), By Victor A. van Bijlert to Basu, Vivekananda ‘wanted to advo- Advaita provided for the salvation of MCHV IIM Calcutta cate a form of Hinduism that was a far mankind as a whole’ (p 182). The con- hamita Basu’s approach to cry from the parochial version of the cept of the universal Soul thus provid- SVivekananda’s role in Indian religion which the orthodox Hindu ed a solid foundation to the idea of nationalism is inspired by post-Marx- leaders wanted to popularize’. The nationalism and Indian national iden- ism, Subaltern Studies, and Cultural Swami tried to propagate a form of tity. Basu argues that ‘Vivekananda Studies, but her allegiance to the Sub- Hinduism that would offer a ‘common claimed that the social significance of Bengal altern approach is evident from her ref- ground of spiritual unity among all the religion must be perceived in its abili- erences to Antonio Gramsci’s views on religions and sects’. To achieve this goal ty to offer a comprehensive philosophy Studies the role of as opinion- in ‘, in which every community of ethical action’ (p 182). Vivekananda’s leaders of the masses. Of crucial impor- would have its own cultural space, [this philosophy of nation-building along Contributions to this Bengal Stud- tance in this study is Ms Basu’s empha- Hinduism] would require a conception these Vedantic lines was a great source ies page as well as letters with sug- sis on social and political mobilization of religion whose spiritual openness of inspiration for the radical Indian gestions can be sent on paper, flop- through internalized religion. Rather would provide the cultural framework nationalists of the early twentieth cen- py or through e-mail (ASCII format) than shy away from the troubled issue to accommodate diversities and enable tury. with the name and the address of of religion, she tries to present its lib- a democratic nation to hold itself Drawing on contemporary social and the contributor to: erating potential, especially through together’ (p 129). Vivekananda’s recon- cultural theory, as well as many Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda’s attempt to mould struction of what was then standard nineteenth-century Bengali documents, Prof. V.A.van Bijlert, Management ca. 1935. it into an ideology of modernity, nation- Vedantic Hinduism ‘would be capable printed and in manuscript form, Centre for Human Values, Indian Insti- al unity, and equality. of claiming legitimacy for itself not as Shamita Basu presents a novel and tute of Management Calcutta, P.B. What was the great achievement of a religion but as a universal moral phi- imaginative interpretation of 16757 Alipore, Kolkata 700-027, India Vivekananda in comparison with so losophy’ (p 129). Vivekananda’s position in Indian social E-mail: [email protected] many other Hindu religious reformers According to Vivekananda, the meta- and political history and his influence [email protected] in the nineteenth century? According physical principle of ethics lay in the on Indian philosophy. < Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict ‘ is what caste does. When the insistence on touch taboos, and eating taboos, and on endogamy becomes is fixed and resistance not at all possible. More generally, Review > less rigid, as it is now, the fundamentals of caste become correspondingly shaky, and then it is only a question what disturbed me as I read the book was that social life India of time for the superstructure to totter’. studied through the lens of social mobility often conjures up images of lives lived like a game of snakes and ladders By Janaki Abraham nity, and identity through detailed case studies and the explo- in which the sole intention of people is seen to be mobility ration of areas such as migration to the Gulf, women, men - whether through marriage, devotion, or consumption. The ith these words, A. Aiyappan ended his Iravas and and work, the search for marriage alliances, marriage cere- possibilities of alternate meanings or motivations seem to WCulture Change (1942), in which he reflected on rapid monies and styles of consumption, associations between the get ironed out. social change in the early part of the twentieth century and traditional Izhava occupation of toddy tapping and caste iden- The above in fact bears on the Osellas’ understanding of its effects on the Izhava community in . The book was tity, ‘passing’, religion, and politics to name just a few. Sri Narayana whose philosophy and reform they under- based on his thesis submitted to the Department of Anthro- The recurring theme through these discussions is caste; stand as a move towards prestige and status rather than as a pology at the London School of Economics. Aiyappan, him- has the superstructure tottered and fallen away? What hap- critique of caste. For example, the motivation towards san- self an Izhava, was a prominent social anthropologist. Fillipo pens to the category ‘Izhava’? What are the ways in which it skritisation through the adoption of upper caste rituals and and Caroline Osella tell us that their book is an attempt to reconstitutes itself? Contrary then to Aiyappan’s expectations, customs could be seen as a means of challenging upper caste look at Aiyappan’s predictions and expectations for the future the Osellas show that caste runs deep and is embodied and hegemony over certain ritual practices and not merely as a of his community. Focusing on lives lived in the twentieth reproduced in a variety of ways. Further, in sharp contrast to means of upward mobility within the caste hierarchy. This is century, the book argues that the Izhavas, a numerically large Aiyappan’s argument that ‘caste is what caste does’, the Osel- most forcefully illustrated in the well-known story related by ‘low’ caste concentrated in Kerala, have an ‘ethos of mobili- las argue that caste is cognitively grounded so that while the the Osellas of how Sri Narayana Guru, when installing a in a temple (a stone he took out of the river), was asked what right he had as an Izhava to consecrate a Shiva idol in ‘the lens of social mobility often conjures up images a temple. Sri Narayana Guru is believed to have replied, ‘It is an Izhava Shiva!’ not only denying the exclusive right to install a Shiva to lie with , but also making fun of of lives lived like a game of snakes and ladders’ the perceived Brahmanical ‘ownership’ of Shiva. Once again, in overemphasizing mobility, the Osellas underplay the strength of Sri Narayana Guru’s critique of caste. ty’, and attempts to explore this modern search for upward nature and content of the caste, as a category of people, may These criticisms in no way take from the rich ethnography social mobility - the processes which it involves, the ideolo- alter it does not effect the principle of hierarchy (p.254). of the book, which is written in a style that will be accessible gies which support or thwart it and what happens to the The book ends with brief discussions of both of their own to a wide audience, both academic and non-academic. It is people involved in it. family histories, which is an attempt to counter the long an important contribution to the anthropology of social The book is based on three years of fieldwork done during anthropological tradition of ‘othering’. What is disturbing mobility, as well as to the understanding of processes of social three visits between 1989 and 1996 in a multi-community though, is the final point they make, pulling together the change among Backward Classes in India generally and to village in Southern Kerala. The Osellas tell us that people argument of the book. Kerala Studies in particular. < articulate the drive for mobility in terms of progressenu vendi ‘The big difference, the thing that makes the experience of (for the sake of progress); the word progress is now lexicalised our particular – white - families and the Izhava families we - Osella, Fillipo and Caroline Osella, Social Mobility in Kerala: into . According to the Osellas, it is in fact the know ultimately almost incommensurable is that member- Modernity and Identity in Conflict, London: Pluto Press (2000), structural middle position that the Izhavas occupy that ship of a negatively evaluated community remains for Izhavas pp. 336, ISBN 074531693X (pb). enables them to this ‘drive for mobility’. Theirs is a middle and others like them […] for the moment apparently position that carries with it flexibility, willingness to nego- inescapable’ (p.262). Janaki Abraham, MA teaches in a college in Delhi University and is tiate, and allows for people to make the most of opportuni- We then seem to be trapped within an all too familiar working on a PhD at the Sociology Department, Delhi University. ties. The book then focuses on this ‘drive for mobility’, moder- picture of an unchanging caste hierarchy in which meaning E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

28 IIAS Newsletter | #28 | August 2002