Seminar with Rajat Roy: "Negotiating Identity - Echoes of Anti-caste Thought in the Formation of Hindu-Matua Identity during Late Colonial Bengal"

About the seminar

This SASNET seminar with Dr. Rajat Roy explores the social-religious thinking of the Matua community, originating in the early nineteenth century among the untouchable Chandal (now Namasudra caste) in colonial Bengal. The Matua community fiercely contested the entrenched caste hierarchy in Hinduism, critiquing both orthodox Vedantic Hinduism and Vaishnavism in Sahajia (liberal) and Gaudiya (orthodox) forms. Founded by Harichand Thakur (1812-1878), the Matua religious ideology evolved into a sampradāya (community), challenging societal norms and popular Vaishnava practices.

Focused on the foundational Matua hagiography, “Sri Sri Harileelāmṛita” (1916) (1940), and the song collection "Sri Sri Mahāsaṇgkirtan" (1900), this talk employs textual analysis to unravel the social thinking and religious universe among the untouchables. It sheds light on their intricate relationship with caste, Hinduism, and Vaishnavism in Bengal, while also exploring the Matua community's political engagement during the late colonial period. The key problem for the presentation is: how do the religions of the untouchables, who are the worst victim of caste hierarchy, interface with Hinduism and the purportedly liberating bhakti traditions?

About the lecturer

Dr. Rajat Roy is a Swiss Government Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow (2023–4) at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich. He is also a tenured assistant professor (currently on sabbatical) of Political Science at Presidency University, Kolkata. His research work is centered on the social and intellectual history of the Dalits in Bengal. He is presently working on anti-caste religions in India and Bangladesh.

Attendance

In-person
This SASNET event will be held at the Department of Political Science at Lund University (Room Ed366).

Online
You can also attend this event via Zoom. To attend, follow this link and register: https://lu-se.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Ykde2srjgrGd1Wsl1AjPzEoztK8ilSxDlv 

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