Religious conversion in India : modes, motivations, and meanings

438 Pages·2003·10.568 MB·English

by  Rowena Robinson, Sathianathan Clarke

Religious Conversion
in India
Modes, Motivations, and Meanings

Religious Conversion
in India
Modes, Motivations, and Meanings
Edited by
Rowena Robinson
Sathianathan Clarke
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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To the efforts of those
who engage religious plurality with
responsibility and courage

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Contributors x iii
Introduction 1
S e c t i o n O ne
Rowena Robinson
Modes of Conversion to Islam 23
Dominique-Sila Khan
Diverting the Ganges: 29
The Nizari Ismaili Model of Conversion in South Asia
Stephen F. Dale
Trade, Conversion, and the Growth of 54
the Islamic Community in Kerala
Richard Eaton
Who are the Bengal Muslims? 75
Conversion and lslamization in Bengal
Yoginder Sikand
Arya Shuddhi and Muslim Tabligh:
98
Muslim Reactions to Arya Samaj Proselytization (1923-30)
viii Contents
S e c t i o n T w o
Rowena Robinson
Conversions to Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism: 119
Past and Present
Paul Dundas
Conversion to Jainism: 125
Historical Perspectives
Louis E. Fenech
Conversion and Sikh Tradition 149
Torkel Brekke
Conversion in Buddhism? 181
Gary Tartakov
B. R. Ambedkar and the Navayana Diksha 192
S e c t i o n T h r e e
Sathianathan Clarke
Transformations of Caste and Tribe 217
Saurabb Dube and Isbita Banerjee Dube
Spectres of Conversion: 222
Transformations of Caste and Sect in India
David Hardiman
Assertion, Conversion, and Indian Nationalism: 255
Govind’s Movement among the Bbils
S e c t i o n F o u r
Sathianathan Clarke
Conversion to Christianity 285
Contents ix
Rowena Robinson
Sixteenth Century Conversions 291
to Christianity in Goa
Sathianathan Clarke
Conversion to Christianity in Tamil Nadu: 323
Conscious and Constitutive Community Mobilization
Towards a Different Symbolic World Vision
fohn C. B. Webster
Christian Conversion in the Punjab: 351
What has Changed?
Frederick S. Downs
Christian Conversion Movements 381
in North East India
Index 401