Competition from Islam and Christianity drove Hindu defensive revival movements

Evidence

The rise of the Arya Samaj owed much to the demographic shifts that characterised the history of the Punjab due to its proximity to Central Asia and the predominance of Sikh and Muslim rulers. In the nineteenth century, British rule added to this list, and the conversions of the oppressed castes in large numbers to Islam and Christianity exacerbated the situation. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1093

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the thesis that missionary rivalry triggers indigenous religious reform movements, similar to dynamics in the caste annihilaton narrative. — connects to: Orientalist canon-building coincided with Hindu reformist-revivalist ambitions in India — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1143; Hindu nationalism recruits diverse Bhakti movements into one essentialized spirituality — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 1148