Conversion' to 'Hinduism' : missionaries, Hindu socio-religious reform movements in the 19th century and Hindu nationalism

DOI IR (HANDLE) Open Access

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 「ヒンドゥー教」への「改宗」 : 十九世紀インドにおけるキリスト教宣教師とヒンドゥー改革運動、そしてヒンドゥー至上主義へ
  • ヒンドゥーキョウ ヘノ カイシュウ 19セイキ インド ニオケル キリストキョウ センキョウシ ト ヒンドゥー カイカク ウンドウ ソシテ ヒンドゥー シジョウ シュギ ヘ

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Description

During the colonial period, missionaries went all over the world and attempted to spread Christianity. Christianity played an important role modernising numerous societies. In this article the interaction between Christianity and local people leading to the transformation of the society is illustrated by using the Indian case. The article deals with the issue of the construction of 'Christianity' and 'Hinduism' and in doing so, it examines the attitudes of missionaries to Hindus and the responses from the Hindu intelligentsia in the 19th century. For the former, two types of view points of Hinduism existed: one was the Orientalistic admiration for an ancient great civilisation; and the other was the position of considering the system of castes, which lies at the heart of Hinduism, as an abuse. For the latter some people such as Ram Mohan Roy, who established an organisation called the Brahma Samaj, attempted to reform Hinduism by partly identifying himself with Christian missionaries' ideas of Hinduism, especially the criticism of the caste system, while others such as Dayananda Sarasvati , who was the founder of the Arya Samaj, was opposed to Christianity. However, both shared an approach in reconstructing 'Hinduism' in relation to 'Christianity'. Roy adopted their imagery used by missionaries to objectify 'Hindus'. Sarasvati, on the other hand, took over the Christian ideas of 'conversion' and 'education' even though he was opposed to missionaries' criticism of 'Hindus' . It can be argued that in the process of being contrasted with 'Christianity' and 'Islam', 'Hinduism' became essentialised. Today the same ideas of essentialised 'Hinduism' can be found in Hindu nationalism movements led by organisations such as the RSS(Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)a nd the VHS(Vishva Hindu Parishad) which caused the demolition of a mosque in Ayodhya and its bloody aftermath.

Journal

  • 年報人間科学

    年報人間科学 20-1 211-228, 1999

    大阪大学人間科学部社会学・人間学・人類学研究室

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390572174758013184
  • NII Article ID
    120004838774
  • NII Book ID
    AN0020011X
  • DOI
    10.18910/4575
  • HANDLE
    11094/4575
  • ISSN
    02865149
  • Text Lang
    ja
  • Article Type
    departmental bulletin paper
  • Data Source
    • JaLC
    • IRDB
    • CiNii Articles

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