The rise of subaltern gurus in western India: Caste, identity and religion

Abstract

Portuguese colonialism and the ramifications of state-sponsored Catholicism occupy centre stage in much of the scholarly writing on Goa. This preoccupation has meant that important parallel developments in Hindu society have tended to go relatively unnoticed. One such development is the meteoric rise in the first half of the twentieth century of subaltern gurus whose popularity is mistakenly seen as a sign of intensified religiosity. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, this article offers an alternate perspective. It examines the processes underlying the rise of the Padmanabha sampradaya in Bombay and its phenomenal spread to Goa and studies the growth of this guru-centred movement as part of the larger regional histories of conflict and of Bhandari caste identity articulations. The article also explores the ways in which the sampradaya has acquired new political leverage in Goa and its adaptability to the varying circumstances of state-level political competition. It argues that the emergence of gurus was a complex process that involved political elements evident in contemporary electoral politics in Goa and which cannot be decoupled from the social dynamics of the formation.