2024/07/02 by Sambhavi Ganesh · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Indian History and Philosophy #South Asian Studies and Diaspora
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/14755610.2025.2489370
openalex publication_date 2024/07/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This paper reveals how a matam and its affiliated devotee collectives draw on moral-religious values pertaining to women (strīdharma) to define caste-ideological womanhood among contemporary Tamil Brahmin women. It does so by analysing the gender discourse of their recent written and spoken outputs. The collectives frame the ‘Hindu’ concept of strīdharma as the means of women’s spiritual liberation rather than as a part of arbitrary gender roles to legitimise it among younger generations. Such framing, it is argued, is designed as a response to women’s increased access to the public sphere and its attendant lifestyles and belief systems. The collectives’ paradoxical strategy of co-opting a seemingly feminist women’s liberation rhetoric to reinforce caste and gender norms indicates an emerging mode of Brahmin-ness that hinges upon women’s conduct. A close study of such norms and their exceptions reveals the position of the collectives as the arbiters of ‘tradition’ in accordance with the Hindu nationalist political milieu.