Hindu reconversion movement failed because upper castes refused to mingle with converts

Evidence

Shuddhi or shuddhikaran—a movement for ‘reconversion’ to Hinduism—was initiated by Dayananda Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj. In 1877, two years after founding the Arya Samaj, Dayananda is said to have performed the first ever shuddhi of a Muslim man (Parel 2000, 122). Swami Shraddhananda (1856–1926) carried on this legacy more militantly in the early twentieth century in the Punjab and the United Provinces. For an account, see Jaffrelot (1995). However, as Ambedkar points out, shuddhi created many problems since the privileged castes were not willing to mingle with newly ‘purified’ lower caste members. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1096

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Hindu reconversion failed because higher castes refused to mingle with the purified (similarity 0.96)
• Shuddhi reconversion to Hinduism was undercut by caste unwillingness to mingle with converts (similarity 0.95)
• Hindu reform movements launched re-conversion programmes to halt Untouchable defections. (similarity 0.82)
• Hinduism’s pervasiveness makes renouncing caste seem impracticable to many (similarity 0.81)
• Caste is inconsistent with conversion because no caste admits outsiders. (similarity 0.80)
• Caste structure makes Hindu conversion structurally impossible for new members. (similarity 0.80)