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Title: | Modern Sannyasins, Parallel Society and Hindu Replications: A Study of the Protestant Contribution to Tamil Culture in Nineteenth Century Sri Lanka against a Historical Background |
Authors: | Hoole, Charles R. |
Advisor: | Younger, P. |
Department: | Religious Studies |
Keywords: | religious studies;hindu;society. protestant;tamil;nineteeth century;Sri Lanka;Religion;Religion |
Publication Date: | 1993 |
Abstract: | <p>This thesis is a study of the patterns of change within Sri Lankan Tamil tradition, with a particular focus on the nineteenth century. It endeavours to accomplish two things. First, by the examination of colonial Sri Lanka against a detailed consideration of the pre-existing society and culture, the thesis shows that the colonial period, far from being one of great change and disjunction with the past, in fact experienced a very gradual course of social change which was facilitated by the widespread incorporation of traditional structures that gave colonial society a much needed stability and a peaceful environment where trade and commerce could prosper. ~econdly, by taking this approach, the thesis demonstrates that the nineteenth century Anglo-Saxon Protestant missionaries eventually fell into the traditional role of sannyasins, a role, as this work shows, that had been adopted by the Jain mendicants and the Buddhist bhikkhus who had preceded them. The thesis first demonstrates that the sannyasin, although in a fundamental sense an enemy of caste, having turned his or her back on caste society, has nevertheless deeply influenced Hindu society, partfcularly when organized as a community of renouncers. The thesis then goes on to argue that the Protestant sannyasins likewise, in the establishment of male and female boarding schools, advocated a form of communal renunciation, which contributed .to the formation of a parallel society alongside the caste society, and which became instrumental in initiating many changes within Tamil culture in Sri Lanka.</p> |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/13675 |
Identifier: | opendissertations/8510 9587 4826133 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
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fulltext.pdf | 14.13 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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