0505199 - OÚ 2020 RIV PL eng J - Journal Article
Hons, Pavel
Are we Hindus? Religion in contemporary Tamil Dalit discourse.
Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal. Roč. 8, č. 2 (2018), s. 273-288. E-ISSN 2084-1043
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA16-02363S
Institutional support: RVO:68378009
Keywords : Dalits * Hinduism * Hindu identity * Indian culture * religion
OECD category: Religious studies
Method of publishing: Open access
Result website:
https://studiadecultura.up.krakow.pl/index.php/argument-journal/article/view/6713DOI: https://doi.org/10.24917/20841043.8.2.2

Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray
the attitude of Tamil Dalit intellectuals and political leaders towards the question of religion.
It seeks to discover the role of religion in their discourse and how they utilise religious matters
to mobilise their fellow caste members. It maps their efforts to distance themselves from
Hinduism and to propagate the particularity of Dalit deities and Dalit religion as a part of their
newly constructed identity. Their opinions on the possibility of conversion are also briefly
noted. These attitudes are examined from the viewpoint of the differing emancipation strategies
of the three major Tamil Dalit castes. The Paraiyar as well as the Arunthaiyar leaders try
to reject the Hindu identity, though the common folk consider themselves to be Hindus. The
Devendrars on the contrary associate themselves with the Hindu gods and Hindu temples, they
claim direct connection with some of them. Even they, however, tend to emphasise particularity
of their deities as a part of their identity building
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0301843