| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the impact of Western discourses of religion and community on Tamil Shaivism in the 1860s and 1870s. I focus on Ramalinga Adigal, one of the most important and innovative Tamil Shaiva leaders of the time. In 1865, Ramalinga founded a new society that incorporated features of Western associational culture, including an emphasis on individual ethical transformation, social activism, charitable outreach and voluntary association. Yet, at the same time, he drew on Shaiva devotional and Tantric traditions. I conclude that the impact of Western conceptions of religion was gradual and uneven, especially on the margins of colonial cosmopolitanism.
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