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Introduction
Caste is an age-old practice in India which has the determining power to regulate one’s socio-religious and cultural spheres. Caste is interlinked with culture, society, and religion. The Christian stand on caste underwent several changes in dialogue with the existing practice of caste. The scope of this paper is to understand how Christianity responded to caste throughout the centuries, what changes came to exist in its response to caste, and whether Christians have caste. To this, the paper first would investigate the different responses of Christians to caste in the history of Christianity in India; secondly, the issues raised by caste in the church; and finally, an analysis of the issue of caste within the church.
1. A Historical Survey of Indian Church Response to Caste
1.1 Saint Thomas Christians and Caste
A social distinction developed among the Syrian Christians on the basis of those immigrants who came from Syria and Persia and intermarried with Indians and those who did not. The former are called Northists and the latter are called Southists.[1] Moreover, the social distinction developed further when the local rulers—especially King Sthanu Ravi Gupta and a king named Vira Raghava Chakravarti—granted certain social privileges to Christians. The charter of these kings granted jurisdiction over all the merchants and five menial classes and seventy-two social privileges.[2] C. P. Mathew and M. M. Thomas have the following view with respect to these privileges of Christians: “While such rights and privileges brought their own advantages to the Christian community, there was also a very unfortunate aspect of them, namely that the community, being thus recognized as a high caste, came to look down on the lower caste, and imbibed more or less the same attitude towards them as that of the high caste Hindus.”[3] In their opinion, these social privileges contributed to developing Christians as a high caste group in society and also led Christians to develop a self-consciousness as high caste. This seems to be more or less the absorption of caste concepts into Christianity or Christians into the caste hierarchy. Moreover, it seems that Christians enjoyed the support of the local rulers, who treated them on the same level as high caste Hindus, which also added gravity to organizing Christians as a community with high social status. As a caste group, Christians practiced the law of pollution, endogamy, and hierarchical caste structure.[4] This caste stigma prevented Syrian Christians from evangelizing their neighbours for years, especially the Dalits. This high caste status of Saint Thomas Christians became the reason for the development of caste issues in the Kerala churches later.
1.2 Missionary Approaches to Caste
1.2.1 Early Roman Catholic Approaches
The Paravar community in Tamil Nadu in large numbers was baptized and embraced Christianity during 1535 and 1537. Later, Francis Xavier arrived in 1542 and baptized many Paravars in Tamil Nadu and people from the Mukkuva community in Kerala.[5] His work in Kerala laid the foundation of the Latin Catholic Christians in Kerala.[6] Forrester opines that this caste-based conversion method influenced the Roman Catholic mission later.[7]
Fr. Robert de Nobili, another Jesuit missionary, came to India in 1605.[8] To overcome the negative image of Christianity as a religion of the Portuguese and outcaste in Tamil Nadu, Nobili indianized himself as a sanyasi by accepting Indian customs including caste, untouchability, and lifestyle. He wrote, “By becoming a Christian one does not renounce his caste, nobility or usage.”[9] Moreover, he allowed distinction between the caste groups in the church by dividing ministers as Brahmin sanyasis for high caste Christians and pandaraswamis for low caste Christians. Considering caste as a social institution,[10] Jesuits accepted caste within the church. Though Nobili’s method created controversy within the Catholic Church and the church declared the practice of untouchability as non-Christian and enabled Christianity to be acceptable to high caste people, the accommodation of caste and division of the church on the basis of caste became part of the church tradition.
1.2.2 Protestant Approaches
Ziegenbalg and other Lutheran missionaries viewed caste as a social or national institution which could have no relevance to religious affairs to an extent. Thus, caste within Christianity is not religious but a national institution.[11] This tolerant perspective paved the way to allow caste practice within the church, which is evident in New Jerusalem Church—constructed by the initiatives of Ziegenbalg—where seating arrangements had been kept on the basis of caste.[12] Devanandan views that this caste toleration became the cause for schisms in the course of time.[13]
The anti-caste movement within Christianity might have taken a clear shape in the non-Lutheran missions. William Carey and other Bengal missionaries could have pioneered a strong renouncement of caste within Christianity. Further, Protestant missionaries generally had a stand against caste. Unlike Roman Catholic and Lutheran missionaries, Protestant missionaries considered caste as a religious institution with serious social taboos. Forrester points out that “by 1850 almost all Protestant missionaries were agreed that caste within the church was an unmitigated evil.”[14] The Madras Missionary Conference in 1849 and in 1850 passed resolutions against caste within Christianity, and the resolution of the latter one was accepted by the Missionary Conferences of Calcutta and Mumbai. As a result, most of the Protestant missions started to take strong measures to eradicate caste from the church, though most of the missions and missionaries faced strong opposition and crises from their converts on account of their stand against caste within the church. Thus, Protestant missionaries might have envisioned an egalitarian society and taken a stand against caste.
1.3 The Mass Movements and Caste
The phenomenon of large-scale conversion of the lower strata of society as a group into Christianity in the late nineteenth century to the early part of the twentieth century is widely known as mass movements. Considering the scope of the study, this paper may look only to the caste factor in the mass movement.
Caste played a substantial role in mass movements and the further formation of the Christian church in India. Though there might have been various reasons for the mass movement, one of the reasons was the desire of the outcastes for upward mobility of their social status[15] in the caste hierarchy and to overcome their caste disabilities and oppression from others. To attain this, they took group decisions in favor of Christianity, which was one of the features of the mass movements.[16] Consequently, caste groups became Christians who continuously kept their caste identity and elements of social structures, and in effect there was a lack of integration of them with other Christians. Moreover, the caste identity of converts intensified through the caste solidarity among them, which is evident from the very beginning of the movements, that is, their group decision in favor of Christianity. Further, Pickett clearly explains the continuity of social stigmas and taboos—for example, the converts effectively restrained inter-caste Christian marriages, which might be very clear in Nadar Christians’ stand against marriage from Sambava Christians—and caste traditions of the converts even after their joining into Christianity.[17] Furthermore, the caste identity within Christianity further developed through the congregation in a particular place, which might have consisted of a particular caste group as a result of this kind of group conversion; consequently, different caste sects within the missionary organization came to exist, as Forrester noticed.[18] This caste feeling was the cause for the tendency of denominational division corresponding to the caste group.[19] Thus, the caste identity of the converts of mass movements entered into Christianity.
On the other hand, the incapability of the missionaries to successfully prevent such problems and the high-class Christians’ attitude towards the converts of mass movement further added gravity to the development of caste within Christianity. Missionaries contributed a lot to the empowerment of the Dalits and the numerical increase of the Indian church; however, they could not successfully solve the issue of caste that involved in the mass conversion. The Third Decennial Missionary Conference that met in Mumbai in 1892 discussed the problem of caste that the mass movement brought into Christianity.[20] This means, though missionaries tried to handle the issue, they could not fully succeed, as M. J. Joseph noticed that “missionaries had no theology of social changes to base their opportunities. And this unpreparedness to meet the caste problem made the church an easy prey to the overpowering caste structure of the Hindu society.”[21] Complexities involved in the process of solving the caste issue increased before the missionaries when several highly educated Indian Christians became very critical towards mass conversion.[22] Moreover, many missionaries and Christians were reluctant to accept the mass movement because of the partial identification of Christianity with outcaste as a result of the mass movements.[23] The attitude of the high-caste Christians towards converts was very much prejudiced and controlled with the caste elements in society. For example, Ninan Koshy found out the attitude of Syrian Christians towards backward caste converts, which included denial of inter-marriage, inter-dining, opposition to accepting backward caste converts into church offices, promoting separate worship places, and so on.[24] Thus, as Webster concluded, a gap developed in the church between high caste and low caste Christians.[25] In addition to this, the non-Christian high-class Hindus also were reluctant to accept the upward social mobility of Christian converts from low caste because of the lack of social change in their lives and their continuing dependence on their landlords even after the conversion. Therefore, the complexities that came out from missionaries, high caste and low caste Christians, and non-Christians in response to the issue of caste in the mass conversion became a cause to develop caste within the church.
2. Caste within Church: Issues and Developments
2.1 Caste and Ecclesiastical Issues
2.1.1 Segregations in the Church
The churches are divided on the basis of caste. Caste is a determining factor for many converts when they join a denomination.[26] For example, Dalit converts exclusively join the Salvation Army in Kerala. Further, the segregation between Syrian and Latin Catholic Christians is noticeable at this point. There are segregations for worship places, cemeteries, seating arrangements, and so on. Thus, the church seems to be segregated on the basis of caste.
2.1.2 Church politics and Dalit movement within the church
Caste is an issue in the functioning of the church as an organization and its administration. Informal political alliances based on caste, from the local congregation to the higher levels of administration, are a fact which often manifests in the context of election, promotion, recruitment, and transfer of people for various posts in the church and church-aided institutions and the implementation of different church programs. Democratization of the church often creates opportunities for caste alliances to play in the church. Following are two examples of caste politics: The Latin Catholic and Syrian Catholic churches have separate worship places, bishops, clergy, and institutions. Further, Tharamangalam notes that caste was a factor in the bifurcation of the Madras diocese of CSI and the creation of the new diocese of North Arcot where Dalits are prominent in membership.[27] Moreover, Dalits are denied the opportunity to serve in positions in the church and church-running institutions. Their representation in the different bodies of the church is either denied or inadequate. Therefore, it is clear that caste plays its role in church politics.
The frustration, inequalities, and discriminations towards Dalits created severe responses from Dalits which manifested in the following ways: Firstly, many Dalit Christians went back to Hinduism. Secondly, secessionist movements for exclusive Dalit churches came to exist such as Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (P.R.D.S.), Cheramar Daiva Sabha, and C.M.S. According to K.C. Alexander, P.R.D.S. was established in the 1930s by Poykayil Johannan, a Paraya convert, when the local Syrian Christians created severe problems in the context of a marriage proposal of a Syrian girl for a Pulaya Christian youth in his congregation.[28] He established the P.R.D.S. in order to save and empower the untouchables. Further, Cheramar Daiva Sabha was founded by Soloman Markose in the 1950s in response to the treatment of Pulaya Christians by Syrian Christians which was characterized by discrimination based on the concept of caste hierarchy.[29] Moreover, a considerable number of Dalit Christians were separated under the leadership of Rev. V. J. Stephen from the C.S.I. Central Diocese in Kerala in 1964 and formed a separate church (C.M.S.) because of the discrimination that the low caste Christians had to suffer at the hands of the Syrian Christians.[30] Furthermore, it is noticeable the Separate Administration Movement and People's Movement of Faith for Liberation (commonly known as Faith Movement) in the Church of South India in Kerala as a response of Dalits towards the discrimination and inequalities in the church. The Separate Administration Movement aimed at a separate administration for Dalits within the diocese.[31] The Faith Movement is a movement against the discrimination and domination of the poor Dalits by dominant rich Syrian Christians in the church.[32]
2.4.3 Ministerial issues and caste
Caste discrimination is evident in the spiritual aspect of the church. Dalit priests are permitted to minister only in Dalit parishes. And Dalit people have been seriously lacking pastoral care[33] and lay ministry opportunities. In Tamil Nadu, Dalits are not allowed to serve at Mass, to sing in the church choir, or to read scriptures in services in several Catholic churches.[34] Thus, Dalits have an inferior role in the church services, festivals, and other opportunities. It is infamous, the segregation and discrimination with respect to the Holy Communion. Many reformed churches use small separate cups for each individual and other means to avoid drinking from the same cup, which is objectionable to many high caste Christians when Dalits also partake in such ministry. They are publicly humiliated and discriminated against by others in the church services. For example, caste appellations are still frequently used by the high caste clergy and people in the churches of Kerala.
2.1.4 Church response to Caste
The general unanimous stand on caste of the top Christian bodies in India, consisting of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) today, is that caste within the church is anti-Christian, Dalits should be empowered, and the status and rights of the Dalits in the church should be affirmed without any kind of discrimination and oppression. The general body meeting of the CBCI in 1982, 1992, and 1998 clearly acknowledged their concern to eradicate caste from the church and uplift Christians of Scheduled Caste origin. It is noticeable here the statement of their Trichy meeting in 1982: “We state categorically that caste with its consequent effects of discrimination and ‘caste mentality’ has no place in Christianity. It is, in fact, a denial of Christianity because it is inhuman…. It is intolerable that caste should be a determining factor in membership of the pastoral or parish council and other associations….”[35] Moreover, another example of official response to the Dalit problems is the resolution supporting Church solidarity with Dalits in general and in particular with Christian Dalits, passed by the Synod of the Church of North India in 1992.[36]
Further, the Christian church continuously involves itself in the process of empowerment of the Dalit in society. NCCI and CBCI have been requesting the Indian Government to remove the disabilities of Christian Dalits to get the government privileges for the Scheduled Castes from 1950 onwards.[37] The Church conducted strikes, prayer meetings, and the closing down of Christian educational institutions in order to get Government involvement in removing the disabilities of Dalits. Various Christian efforts were taken across the country at national, state, and local levels in response to Dalit issues.
The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS) is one of the pioneers in the field of study of Dalit issues.[38] It contributes a lot to the developing process of doing theology from the Dalit perspective. CISRS has conducted many programs to empower Dalits. James Massey says it was a main organization that perceived Dalit issues as its major concern and made a platform for Dalit intellectuals and activists for action and reflection, and the same among the Christians.[39]
Dalit theology was developed in response to Dalit issues in the 1980s. M.E. Prabhakar says Dalit theology relates the expressions of the Dalit people in their struggles for social justice and their search for a meaningful life in community.[40] It is a counter-theology produced by Dalits to express their own sufferings and experiences, and Dalit theology makes a discontinuity with traditional Indian Christian theologies which are brahmanical. Massey notices that Dalit theology can be an instrument of change.[41] It is noticeable that Dalit theology brought out serious awareness about caste issues in the church and the empowerment of Dalits.
2.2 The Social Issues
2.2.1 The Caste Groups in the Church
J. Tharamangalam argues that the Syrian Christians, Kananya Christians, Latin Catholics, and the Neo-Christians in Kerala can be considered as caste groups, and Christians in Tamil Nadu maintain caste distinctions such as Nadar, Udaya, and Vellala.[42] The hierarchical division and the taboo associated with these caste groups might have originated because of the caste identity, notion of origin, and status in society that they carry with them. For example, the converts from lower castes generally carry their pre-Christian caste identities such as Nadar Christians, Pulaya Christians, and Syrian Christians, even addressing Dalit Christians with caste suffixes such as ‘Thoma-Pulayan,’ ‘Mathai Muppan,’[43] and so on. In short, one may find caste groups in the church.
2.2.2 Social Interactions
Caste Christians are reluctant to enter into the houses of Dalit Christians and drink from their houses. There are high-caste priests who carry water with them to avoid drinking water from the house of a Dalit Christian in Karnataka and Andhra.[44] In Kerala, Syrian Christians do not enter into Neo-Christians’ (Dalit Christians’) houses, and Dalits should address Syrian Christians as "Lord." Intermarriage and inter-dining are prohibited[45] and so on. But in recent years these have been changing, and the interaction between these two groups has increased, and even in such cases, the economic and social status of the Dalit does matter. The customs of purity and pollution, which are connected to caste, were practiced by many high-caste Christians in India.[46] But this may be almost eradicated from the church. For example, Koilparampil found out that the concept of pollution almost disappeared among the Kerala Christians.[47]
Caste endogamy is strictly practiced by most Christians, and intermarriages are not encouraged. It is notable that the social mobility of the low caste who have a very high standard of life in society enables them to marry high-caste people. For example, several Syrians consented to marry Latin Christians who have a very high standard of life.[48] Thus, those who are considered as inferior to Syrians may get upward social mobility. Moreover, it is pathetic that many converts from Hinduism struggle to get married because of the prevailing culture of caste endogamy. But in recent years, the cases of intermarriage between high-caste Christians and low-caste Christians have increased, especially in Kerala.
2.2.3 Social Integration
The lack of social integration between the high caste and low caste is a main cause for caste within Christianity. One of the reasons, according to K. C. Alexander, is that the backward caste Christians could not reach a change in their life where their caste identity was totally erased, even after their conversion.[49] This is proved in the studies of Pickett and K. C. Alexander, which show that Dalit Christians practice a lot of old ways of life which have caste colour, such as old religious practices, occupation (one of the determining factors of caste), customs, and way of living.[50] However, the educated and well-to-do Dalits in Kerala who have attained a high standard of life are accepted by Syrian Christians in their homes, intermarriages, and wedding feasts. Thus, Alexander concludes that the integration of these two depends on the Dalit’s attainments in the secular sphere.[51] On the other hand, the high-caste group has a strong caste notion towards Dalits, which prevents social integration. This can be supported by the fact that the high-caste converts to Christianity are easily integrated into the high-caste Christians in the church, but this is not the case with Dalit converts. Thus, possibilities for social integration of high- and low-caste Christians might have increased, though still the church seriously lacks social integration among its members.
2.2.4 Discrimination from Government
Christian Dalits are alienated by the Hindu high caste, fellow high-caste Christians, and the Indian Government. Christian Dalits are denied the benefits of the Government for Scheduled Castes under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955; the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1977; and the Act for Protection from Atrocities, 1989, because they are converted to Christianity. At this juncture, it is noticeable that Satish Deshpande and Geetika Bapna state recently that “there is no compelling evidence to justify Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.”[52] And the church has raised its voice against this legal discrimination at national and state levels.
3. Analysis of Caste within Non-Hindus with Special Reference to Christianity
After having a brief look at caste in non-Hindus other than Christians in India, the paper would analyze here caste within Christianity on the basis of the above discussion and the following general features of caste, which might be drawn out by Satish Deshpande and Geetika Bapna from the socio-anthropological theories of caste: i) Hereditary membership, ii) Endogamy, iii) Social segregation, that is, the exclusion of lower by higher all along the hierarchy (authorized by Hindu scripture), iv) Occupation and Economic differentiation, v) Specific practices of untouchability and other forms of exclusion against Dalits, and vi) Ritual purity and pollution.[53]
Satish Deshpande and Geetika point out the list of different castes existing among Muslims.[54] These Muslim caste groups practice endogamy, social segregation, hereditary occupation, caste name, and social hierarchy. The study of Zeyauddin Ahmad and Mattison Mines on caste among the Muslims in Bihar and Tamil Nadu respectively reveals the lack of caste practices in Tamil Nadu and the presence of caste among Bihar Muslims, and thus Singh suggests there might be regional variations in the practice of caste among Muslims in India.[55] Further, the analysis of the Sikh community by Harijinder Singh and Indera Paul Singh shows that the Sikhs also have different castes with practices such as endogamy, hierarchy, and so on. I.P. Singh remarks that the ritual dimension of caste among Sikhs is considerably less.[56] Moreover, Buddhism is an anti-caste religion, but it has social stratification, and converts to Buddhism still face caste disabilities. Moreover, the studies of David G. Mandelbaum about Jews in India show that Jews in India have three caste-like groups who preserve strict restrictions on intermarriage, social interaction, change in lifestyle, and social stratification.[57] The common thing in these four religions is that they all have caste-like structures influenced by the Hindu caste system, though the ideology of these religions is in sharp contrast with the caste system.
Caste within Christianity may be analyzed as follows with the help of an example of Kerala Christianity:
i) Hereditary membership: Christians in India belonging to different communities follow the hereditary membership of their community. For example, no one can be a Syrian Christian except through birth in that community.
ii) Endogamy: Christians strictly practice endogamy, though the number of intermarriages has increased recently (section 2.2.2).
iii) Social segregation: There are caste groups in Christianity like Syrian, Nadar, Neo-Christians, and so on, who keep the social hierarchy and stratifications (section 2.2.1). Caste segregation became stronger in the church after the converts of the mass movement joined the church because converts carried their caste identity along with them into Christianity, and most of the high-caste Christians treated the converts with a caste mentality. Consequently, there was a lack of social integration within Christianity between different caste groups (sections 1.3 & 2.2.3). Moreover, churches are divided on the basis of caste, and caste prefixes are attached to church names like the Syrian Catholic Church (section 2.1.1). There is clear segregation between Latin Catholics and Syrian Catholics. Hierarchical discriminations are evident in church administration where high castes are prominent (section 2.1.2). Thus, Christianity has caste-like social segregation, though it is not exactly like Hindu caste segregation because Christianity, unlike Hinduism, does not have any theology, ideology, or obvious stratification of hierarchy based on any of their scriptures.
iv) Occupation and Economic differentiation: In the Hindu caste system, occupation is one of the determining factors of one’s caste. Though Christianity has no such concept, many converts to Christianity, especially mass movement converts, follow their hereditary occupation. Many high-caste Christians like Syrians have prestigious jobs unlike low-caste people. Many Syrian Christians would like to have a low-caste Christian as their neighbour for doing their menial jobs. Most of the elite jobs in the church and church-running institutions are dominated by high castes. However, many low-caste Christians could give up their caste-based hereditary occupations and get into prestigious occupations and consequently they might receive upward social mobility. The high caste usually is an economically well-doing group unlike the low caste group. But now the low caste groups are experiencing upward mobility in the economic structure. The low castes who have good economic and occupational status have better chances for upward social mobility in the hierarchy in Christianity. Thus, economic and occupational status is a determining factor in Christianity to detect one’s social position in the hierarchy (section 2.2.3).
v) Specific practices of untouchability and other forms of exclusion against Dalits: High-caste Christians practice exclusion towards Dalits in the church in the areas of spiritual ministry, administration, and social transactions (sections 2.4.3, 2.2.2 & 2.1.2). No one may find untouchability in Christianity as such it is in Hinduism, but social exclusion is obvious with elements of untouchability such as prohibition of inter-dining and entering houses on the basis of caste mentality.
vi) Ritual purity and pollution: Indian Christians have practiced the concept of pollution. Forrester notices that Syrians removed their pollution by taking baths, changing dress, and through prayers. However, they practiced many polluting aspects such as beef eating and polluting occupations. Thus, in a broader setting, pollution may not be a factor to determine one’s social position in the hierarchy, though many Christians practice ritual purity and pollution.
In conclusion, it seems that Christianity, like other non-Hindu religions, has caste, which is not exactly like the Hindu caste system but is obviously overpowered with elements of the Hindu caste system. The caste practices among Christians vary from place to place. It might be better to say Christianity has caste instead of a caste-like structure because caste is always changing, and in this changing process, it may produce new forms and patterns. Consequently, caste within Christianity has evolved in its dialogue with Hinduism.
Conclusion and Evaluation
(a) The principle of accommodation of caste is evident from the very beginning of Christianity in India. St. Thomas Christians Sanskritized themselves with the help of local rulers and evolved as a high caste.
(b) Catholic and Lutheran missionaries understood caste as a social institution and thus promoted caste-based conversion and accommodation of caste within the church. But the non-Lutheran Protestant mission by 1850 came to the conclusion that caste is an evil and should not be tolerated in the church. They made vast awareness about it, and thus the anti-caste movement emerged from the church.
(c) Mass movement widened the gap between Christians in the church on the basis of caste because social integration did not emerge in the context of mass movement. This happened because the low castes had kept their caste identity along with them, missionaries’ inability to solve the caste problem successfully, and the anti-low-caste feeling of the high-caste Christians. This gap became a cause to develop denominations based on caste and inequalities and discrimination towards Dalits from high-caste Christians.
(d) It seems that Christianity has a caste system which is not exactly like the Hindu caste system but is obviously overpowered with elements of the Hindu caste system.
(e) Caste within Christianity is one of the causes for schism, and caste issues clearly manifest in administration, ministry, and social intercourse of Christians. It creates atrocities against Dalits in the church.
(f) It is noticeable that the second half of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of the Dalit movement within the church to liberate Dalits from the discriminations and inequalities within the church and outside. Moreover, Indian churches unanimously stand against caste, particularly caste within the church. Though caste is not eradicated from the church and society, it is clear that caste is weakening in the church and Dalits are in the process of empowering. Now Dalit liberation is one of the main concerns of the church.
(g) It may be suggested that the church is always in dialogue with its context, but it is necessary to critically discern and accommodate the context in order to avoid the development of unjust structures and tendencies in the church, which may lead the church into a compromising position, sacrificing its liberating praxis.
- C. B. Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Madras: CLS, 1961), 29.
- C. P. Mathew and M. M. Thomas, The Indian Churches of Saint Thomas (Delhi: ISPCK, 1967), 21.
- Ibid., 22.
- Duncan B. Forrester, Caste and Christianity (London: Curzon Press, 1979), 99–101.
- Forrester, op. cit., 14.
- George Koilparampil, Caste in the Catholic Community in Kerala (Cochin: Department of Sociology, 1982), 78.
- Forrester, op. cit., 14.
- Firth, op. cit., 108.
- J. S. Chandler, The History of the Jesuit Mission in Madura, South India, in the 17th and 18th Centuries (Madras, 1909), 14, cited by Firth, op. cit., 112.
- P. D. Devanandan, “Caste, the Christian, and the Nation in India Today,” The Ecumenical Review 11/3 (April 1959): 270.
- Forrester, op. cit., 18–19.
- Firth, op. cit., 134.
- Devanandan, op. cit., 271.
- Forrester, op. cit., 42.
- Johan C. B. Webster, The Christian Community and Change in Nineteenth Century North India (Delhi: Macmillan Company of India Limited, 1976), 61–64.
- J. Waskom Pickett, Christian Mass Movement in India (New York: The Abingdon Press, 1933), 22.
- Ibid., 177–195.
- Forrester, op. cit., 84.
- Ibid., 91.
- John C. B. Webster, The Dalit Christians: A History (Delhi: ISPCK, 1992), 39.
- M. J. Joseph, “Church and Social Changes with Particular Reference to Caste in the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India” (M.Th. thesis, Senate of Serampore College, 1971).
- Pickett, op. cit., 315.
- Ibid., 316.
- Ninan Koshy, Caste in the Kerala Churches (Bangalore: CISRS, 1968), 28–53.
- Webster, The Dalit…, 68–69.
- M. N. Srinivas, ed., Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar (Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1996), 275.
- Ibid., 280.
- J. Michael Mahar, ed., The Untouchables in Contemporary India (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1972), 156.
- Ibid., 157.
- Harjinder Singh, ed., Caste among Non-Hindus in India (New Delhi: National Publishing House, 1977), 58.
- P. Christopher George, “The Dalit Christians’ Struggle since 1965 against Caste Discrimination in the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India” (M.Th. dissertation, Senate of Serampore, 1971).
- Ibid., 68.
- Sebasti L. Raj and G. F. Xavier Raj, eds., Caste Culture in Indian Church (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1993), 32.
- Srinivas, op. cit., 276.
- Catholic India No. 1, January 1982, 2–3, cited by Jebamali Raja, “The Problem of Caste within the Church,” Journal of Dharma 24/1 (January–March 1999): 36.
- James Massey, Dalits in India (New Delhi: Manohar, 1995), 160.
- K. Rajaratnam, “The Indian Christian Church and the Dalit of India,” National Council of Churches Review 22/3 (April 2002): 293.
- Massey, Dalits…, 160.
- James Massey, “An Analysis of the Dalit Situation with Special Reference to Dalit Christians and Dalit Theology,” Religion and Society 52/3–4 (September–December 2007): 59.
- M. E. Prabhakar, ed., Towards a Dalit Theology (Delhi: ISPCK, 1988), 1.
- Massey, An Analysis…, 85.
- Srinivas, op. cit., 271–272.
- Koshy, op. cit., 39.
- Jose Kananikal, Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1983), 21; Srinivas, op. cit., 274.
- Koshy, op. cit., 34–42.
- Lionel Caplan, Class and Culture in Urban India (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), 150–151.
- Koilparampil, op. cit., 168.
- Ibid., 152.
- Singh, op. cit., 59.
- Ibid., 59–63; Pickett, op. cit., 177–197.
- Mahar, op. cit., 161.
- Government of India, National Commission for Minorities, Dalits in the Muslim and Christian Communities: A Status Report on Current Social Scientific Knowledge (Satish Deshpande and Geetika Bapna, 2008).
- Ibid., 9.
- Ibid., A-36 to A-44.
- Singh, op. cit., 1–36.
- Ibid., 66–90.
- Ibid., ix.