article
Kerala Christians and the caste system
Man • 11 (1) • Published In 1976 • Pages: 53-70
By: Fuller, C. J..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Kerala communities have been long divided primarily along caste and religious lines. This article discusses the ways long-standing Hindu caste principles have functioned within two non-Hindu religions, Islam and Christianity, with a focus on caste principles in Syrian, Latin, and New Christian sects. It is argued that these sects relate to each other as caste groups. Unlike traditional Hindu castes considered acquired by birth, Christian castes have been regarded as achieved, which allows for individual social mobility. Also, because they have no concept of bodily pollution, Christian castes have been less concerned with rules governing day-to-day interactions among community members.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Castes
- Missions
- Religious denominations
- Inter-community relations
- Congregations
- Theological systems
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Status, role, and prestige
- Accumulation of wealth
- Real property
- Regulation of marriage
- Basis of marriage
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Kerala
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2017
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- South Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem ; 2016
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1971-1972
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1560-1972
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Central Travancore region, Kerala, India
- NotesAdditional notes
- C. J. Fuller
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- sf 80000548
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Kerala (India)