| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the processes involved in the creation of a caste community called the Dheevaras in the South Indian state of Kerala in the early twentieth century. Although deemed an untouchable caste, the Dheevaras contested their untouchable status through various myths and histories, and this contestation was reflected in the Dheevara reform movement’s continuities with and departures from mainstream Hinduism and the caste system. While Dheevara reformers advocated a mainstream Hindu identity and claimed an honoured past for the community, they challenged Sanskritic Hinduism in defending the occupation of fishing. The reformers, however, strictly followed upper-caste Hindu patriarchal norms when imagining Dheevara womanhood, making women the bearers of caste honour.
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