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The Disinherited
The Politics of Christian Conversion in Colonial India
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Mou Banerjee
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
The British Crown’s 1813 legalization of Christian evangelism among its Indian subjects set off a storm of criticism in Bengal. Mou Banerjee shows that Hindu and Muslim detractors energetically marginalized converts, in the process developing ideals that cemented the connection between political and communal identity on the subcontinent.
Reviews
A brilliant, socially textured, rich, and empirically grounded account of Christian conversions in colonial Bengal. Beautifully written and convincingly argued, this book addresses one of the most emotive and politically charged issues in contemporary India.
-- Seema Alavi, author of Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire
-- Seema Alavi, author of Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire
Bridging the gulf in the history of ideas between elite and subaltern, Hindu and Muslim, town and country, west and east Bengal, The Disinherited offers new insights into contestations over personal faith and their impact on converts to Christianity. It is a brilliant and elegantly written contribution to the study of religious conversion in colonial India.
-- Sugata Bose, author of Asia after Europe
-- Sugata Bose, author of Asia after Europe
In this theoretically astute and richly documented book, Mou Banerjee sheds new light on the legal, familial, and political displacement of Indian Christian converts. Her account reveals nationalism’s deep history of disinheriting its Christian other, caught in the crossfire of missionary polemics and Hindu and Muslim counter-movements.
-- Chandra Mallampalli, author of South Asia’s Christians: Between Hindu and Muslim
-- Chandra Mallampalli, author of South Asia’s Christians: Between Hindu and Muslim
A poignant and powerful book, capturing the profound loneliness of Bengali converts to Christianity in colonial India. By showing how conversion panics hardened Hindu and Muslim identities during the late colonial period, Mou Banerjee gives us an important prequel to interreligious conflict in India today.
-- Mitra Sharafi, author of Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia
-- Mitra Sharafi, author of Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia
In this innovative and original account, Mou Banerjee shows how the authenticity of Indian Christian conversions became a contested subject for Hindus, Muslims, British officials, and Christians themselves. Deftly tracing an intellectual history of religious thought, she reveals how these debates informed the emergence of a putatively secular liberalism in India. In the guise of religious freedom, the right to practice religion freely was disrupted in deeply intrusive ways.
-- Durba Ghosh, author of Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947
-- Durba Ghosh, author of Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 10, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9780674298101
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
368
eBook ISBN:
9780674298101
Keywords for this book
colonial india; religious history; christian missions; conversion studies; colonial religion; colonial bengal; religious politics; missionary history; indian christianity; colonial christianity; religious conversion; missionary studies; missionaries; indian religion; colonial studies; religious culture; missionary work; hindu majoritarianism; conversion; christianity; high-caste conversions; munshi meherullah; brahmabandhab upadhyay; brahmins; calcutta high court; companion of the most exalted order of the star of india; east india company; lex loci act; rammohan roy; serampore baptists; swadeshi movement; gyanendramohan tagore; prosonnocoomar tagore; zamindars; guari viswanathan outside the fold; kenneth jones religious controversy in british india; robert frykenberg christianity in india; geoffrey oddie hindu and christian in south east india; susan bayly saints goddesses and kings; barbara metcalf islamic revivial in british india; evangelism; ostracism; british empire; religious minorities; social history; colonialism; religious identity; imperialism
