introduction. 23
religious voices to have emerged from the “bottom” of Indian caste society. He is a
sixteenth-century bhakti poet-saint whose memory is alive across North India and
beyond. In the first of two essays devoted to caste, John Hawley describes the reli-
gious institutions that Ravidasis have established in their guru’s name during the
past several decades in Banaras, the city where he lived. These are well connected
to the international network in which the Ravidas Sabha in Queens participates, but
it is notable that the bow to Sikhism is far less deep in Banaras than abroad. The
Ravidas temples of Banaras serve in a much more direct way as a comment on
Hindu life there—and form an important part of it in the eyes of many. For cen-
turies certain bhaktihagiographies have tried to show how Ravidas belonged to the
Hindu domain, though others have rejected the notion. Obviously, the debate con-
tinues today.
The second essay on caste contrasts with the Ravidas essay in every way. It is
South Indian rather than North, Brahmin rather than Untouchable, fiction rather
than ethnography, female rather than male. People normally think of being Brah-
min as a privileged state, and doubtless it is in many respects. But in her short story
“Revenge Itself,” Lalitambika Antarjanam (1901–1987) fictionalizes a celebrated
nineteenth-century event that vividly dramatized the costs of being a Nambudiri
Brahmin woman. The Nambudiris of Kerala, at least in their own perception, oc-
cupy the very highest rungs of the ladder of caste. Until the early twentieth century,
when Antarjanam wrote, Nambudiris maintained their eminence in large part
through the control of women. Marriage was strictly confined to the Nambudiri
fold, and a Nambudiri woman’s sexuality was closely watched. “Revenge Itself ” is
doubtless a comment—caustic, tragic, ironic—on the contrast between the seclu-
sion of these Brahmin women and the much more open lives of the powerful
women who belonged to Kerala’s other major high-caste group, the matrilineal Na-
yars. But it also comments on the consequences of the very widely shared Hindu
idea that a woman’s religion is fundamentally different from a man’s. The nub of it
is this: in many communities a woman’s most important deity is her husband. This
has led some observers to urge that a story like “Revenge Itself ” actually concerns
two castes: Brahmins and women. Readers will want to think about the extent to
which religion figures in the construction of either—or is it just “sociology”?
In the last two sections of this volume, we look toward Hinduism’s future. As we
do so, two questions face us inescapably—questions that first emerged as we stood
in Bangalore and watched the New Year dawn. First, how will Hinduism change,
both in India and abroad, as it responds to its recent rapid spread around the globe?
Second, how do Hindus live with people representing other religious communities?