The Subhedar’s Son: A Narrative of Brahmin-Christian Conversion from Nineteenth-Century Maharashtra,edited by Deepra Dandekar

Abstract

This son of a former local ruler, from the elite Brahman community that had presided over the fortunes of the Maratha Empire before its defeat by the British Raj, became a Christian convert and then served as a pastor of local churches in Western India for nearly forty years. His autobiography was later turned into a prize-winning novel. This rare pioneering vernacular account, reflecting the highly complex, multilayered cultural legacy of an emerging hybrid Christianity, represented a new genre of nativist devotion and piety. Subjected to a carefully contextualized and critical scholarship, we now have this work in English.