The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal (1823–1874) and Modern Dravidian Sainthood

The book explores the religious ideology of Ramalinga Swamigal, a 19th-century Tamil reformer and saint, and his posthumous reception in the Tamil country. It examines how Ramalinga Swamigal's works and understanding transformed Tamil religion, shifting him from a poet-saint to a Dravidian nationalist social reformer. The book highlights the influence of his teachings on politics, particularly within Dravidian cultural and political nationalism. It also demonstrates that Ramalinga Swamigal's ideology of compassion, cīvakāruṇyam, had a long genealogy in pre-modern Tamil Śaivism and functioned as a potentially emancipatory ethics of salvation and caste critique. The book is a valuable contribution to the field of religion, South Asian history, and literature, and Subaltern studies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 346 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the religious ideology of a remarkable Tamil reformer and saint, Ramalinga Swamigal, who lived in the 19th century. It explores his posthumous reception in the Tamil country and sheds light on the profound transformation of Tamil religion that both his works and the understanding of him brought about.

The book begins by tracing the hagiographical and biographical process through which Ramalinga Swamigal is shifted from being revered as an exemplary poet-saint of the Tamil Śaivite bhakti tradition to a Dravidian nationalist social reformer. It examines his own writings as a starting point, presenting him as occupying a unique border zone between early modernity and modernity, between Hinduism and Christianity, and between colonialism and regional nationalism. Through this analysis, the book highlights the profound influence of Ramalinga Swamigal's teachings on politics, particularly within Dravidian cultural and political nationalism.

At the same time, the book considers the implications of such a hagiographical process for the transformation of Tamil religion in the period between the 19th and mid-20th centuries. The author demonstrates that Ramalinga Swamigal's ideology of compassion, cīvakāruṇyam, had a long genealogy in pre-modern Tamil Śaivism and functioned as a potentially emancipatory ethics of salvation and caste critique not just for him but also for other Tamil and Dalit intellectuals of the 19th century.

This book is a groundbreaking study that also explores the common grounds between the religious visions of two other prominent subaltern figures of Tamil modernity: Iyothee Thass and Ramalingar. It argues that these transformations are one meaningful way for a religious tradition to cope with and come to terms with the implications of historicization and the demands of colonial modernity. Therefore, this book makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of religious change and transformation in South Asia.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032210346