Who Is a Brahmin?: The Politics of Identity in India

Brahmin identity emerges from diverse contexts, shifting with historical, political, and cultural forces.

Brahmins, originally in charge of the sacred sphere, followed different paths, creating therefore, within the community, many subcultures and ways of apprehending the world. From textual definitions to socio-economic adjustments, political influences and historical evolution, they went through multiple processes of identity building. Brahmin identity is indeed not an absolute notion. The...