000			01869nam a22001937a 4500
005			20260528103355.0
008			260528b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780199451814
082			_a200 VAI
100			_aVaithees, V. Ravi.
245			_aReligion And Nation In South India _b: Maraimalai Adigal, The Neo-saivite Movement, and Tamil Nationalism 1876-1950 _c/ V. Ravi Vaithees
250			_aFirst edition.
260			_aNew Delhi _b: Oxford University Press India _c, 2015.
300			_axix, 347 p. _c; 24 cm.
520			_aThe extraordinary power and solidity of regional ethno-nationalist identities such as the Tamil in South Asia continue to defy easy explanations. In this work, Ravi Vaithees, departing sharply from conventional 'secular' accounts, examines the deeper religious roots of Tamil/Dravidian identity formation and its relationship to broader processes of nationality formation in South Asia. Through a close and innovative reading of the life and career of Maraimalai Adigal (1876-1950), who played a central role in consolidating the intellectual and cultural foundation for non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism and the Dravidian movement, the author presents interesting insights into the history of the neo-Saivite revival. The neo-Saivite articulation of non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism endowed it with a critical spirit that not only eschewed the philosophical idealism found in Brahmanism and neo-Vedantic thought but also celebrated the more firmly grounded, earthy and sensuous Tamil tradition reflected in ancient Tamil and Bhakti poetry and Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. This has been brought forth by drawing from a range of influences including colonial and Christian missionary critiques of Brahminism and neo-Vedantic currents.
650			_aHindu religious movements
655			_aReligion and politics -- India
942			_cVC OFFICE
999			_c68239 _d68239