Neo-Brahmanism in Modern India: Reformers and Orthodoxy in the 19th Century

Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship Lecture programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

A significant socio-cultural movement emerged in late colonial India to strengthen orthodox caste rituals and customs in the daily lives of Hindu people. It powerfully criticised and opposed Indian reformers who tried to change a few aspects of Hindu religious belief and social practices, especially in caste and gender relations. It sought to justify and reassert high-caste privileges and Brahmanical control over women and 'lower castes', while rejecting presumed Western cultural influences, especially the discourse of liberal rights, which had started to influence some Indian intellectuals. Though politically passive, the movement was culturally nationalist, reflecting the deep and profound resentment of the colonised. This lecture will explore both reformist and orthodox texts to reveal the ideological upheavals of this period.

Speaker: Professor Tanika Sarkar, Ashoka University

Tanika Sarkar is a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University’s Department of History, having retired as a Professor in Modern History at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her recent publications include: Religion and Women in India, 1780s-1980s: Gender, Faith and Politics (2024), Religious Nationalism in India (2022, co-edited with Sekhar Bandyopadhyay), Caste in Bengal: Histories of Hierarchy, Exclusion and Resistance (2023, co-edited with Amrita Basu), Women, Gender, Religious Nationalism (2022).

Chair: Professor Neelam Srivastava, University of Newcastle

Free, booking required, tickets to be released in 2025

This event includes a reception for all attendees after the lecture.

This event will take place in person in partnership with Newcastle University. If you have any questions about this event, please email [email protected].