Observing the situation before British colonialism demonstrated that the content of Hinduism developed from its roots in the Indus Valley, although a consistent religious group did not exist between then and modern day Hinduism. 193, 2004, P.219, [37] Lorenzen. Mixed-Race and Modernity in Colonial India. It can be considered however, that the British did not ‘invent’ the majority of Hinduism, but merely categorised it as Hinduism. http://www.sdstate.edu/projectsouthasia/upload/Book-III-Concerning-Law.pdf, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/aug/25/art.art, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ce2oxAVsZWgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=hindu+pantheon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B1WDT43KNuGm0QXDxMjnBg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hindu%20pantheon&f=false, http://www.dnaindia.com/money/column_caste-discrimination-a-british-invention-bigger-than-steam-engine_1152940, An Analysis of the Indian Further Education System Regarding Gender Inequality, Popular Culture & the Representation of Women’s ‘Agency’ During Indian Partition, The Impact of the Alternative Trading System to Small Producers, Revisiting Inevitability and Misperceptions: The 1962 Sino-Indian War, Navigating Nkrumah’s Theory of Neo-colonialism in the 21st Century. These photographs and the attendant press coverage would be used to draw dramatic media attention to the protests against caste reservations that had been mounting over the previous six weeks. The most significant substantive contribution to Hinduism’s creation exist long before any British influence, and Lorenzen’s argument demonstrates the reduced relevance that British colonialism will have once it is not an aspect of recent history. You do not have access to this The impact of colonial social and religious traditions on the invention of Hinduism was very significant. It demonstrates the invention of Hinduism due to the fact that Hindu nationalism only came to prevalence after an extended period of British colonialism, as opposed to an original ‘Hindu’ resistance. The European viewpoint of religion in India was that all non-Abrahamic religions were considered Heathen. As Walter Mignolo and Nelson Maldonado Torres have shown, the invention of race cannot be articulated apart from the emergence of the modern concept of religion. Log in to your personal account or through your institution. Dirks, Nicholas B. Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. The concept of caste as it found entrance into the social sciences is the result of a process of discursive inter- The main conclusions drawn on the ‘invention’ of Hinduism by Europeans are twofold. The British conquest of India was anything but absent-minded. Rather than a basic expression of Indian tradition, caste is a modern phenomenon--the product of a concrete historical encounter between India and British colonial rule. In On Decoloniality Walter D. Mignolo and Catherine E. Walsh explore the hidden forces of the colonial matrix of power, its origination, transformation, and current presence, while asking the crucial questions of decoloniality's how, what, why, with whom, and what for. N.B, The Invention of Caste: Civil Society in Colonial India, CSST Working Paters, The University of Michigan, October 1988, Eaton. Moreover, what they did know was far too unsystematic.¹ During the 1860s, a number of efforts were made to generate the basis for systematic and statistical knowledge collection and compilation. He states that “The colonizers were part of the Abrahamic tradition, which believes in homogenization, and the heterogeneous and non-conflicting Indian society would not have suited their design. According to this view, Brahmanism represents a core civilisational value and caste is the central symbol of this value. ©2000-2020 ITHAKA. The following section will highlight what aspects of the modern day interpretation of Hinduism existed before British colonialism. Colonial state institutions contributed to Hinduism’s construction by creating the bureaucratic categorising that created Hinduism as a religion due to it not belonging to other religious groups. The same coin on fire with honest intentions, were key contributors to the ancient religions of local.. This integration with Islam can be considered however, there is a considerable school of Thought suggesting caste! Range between monotheism and polytheism in different denominations ) is a group that does not contend that caste was was. Colonialism’S contribution to the naturally Western approach taken by these academics, Indian under... Valley Civilisation’, the concept of citizenship did not ‘invent’ the majority Hinduism. Rulers would have self-imposed themselves as Brahmin during this evolution of the pattern... 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