Casteing Race: Enlightenment Encounters with the Brahmin.

Taking Voltaire's engagement with India as a case study, this article argues that the hermeneutic of caste has a crucial role to play in the development of Enlightenment thought. Voltaire relies on the authority of the Brahmin figure, along with a deference to (forged) scriptures like the Ezourvedam...

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Publicado en:Eighteenth Century Fiction Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 278 - 302
Autor principal: Jain, Shruti
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: University of Toronto Press Apr2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Casteing Race: Enlightenment Encounters with the Brahmin.
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        au: Jain, Shruti
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        Hermeneutics
        Enlightenment
        Voltaire, 1694-1778
        Brahmans
        Teleology
        Eighteenth century
        Hinduism
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          Hermeneutics
          Enlightenment
          Voltaire, 1694-1778
          Brahmans
          Teleology
          Eighteenth century
          Hinduism
      ab: Taking Voltaire's engagement with India as a case study, this article argues that the hermeneutic of caste has a crucial role to play in the development of Enlightenment thought. Voltaire relies on the authority of the Brahmin figure, along with a deference to (forged) scriptures like the Ezourvedam, to construct a notion of caste antiquity that he then employs to articulate a systematic attack on biblical teleology. This a perfect example of complex pre-Orientalism produced by liberal Enlightenment thinkers in the eighteenth century. Indian caste power hierarchies work in collaboration with colonial hierarchies to maintain and generate the structures that serve the upper caste and classes across Europe and Asia. Furthermore, the ideas about caste produced in the eighteenth century played a role in codifying and homogenizing Hinduism.
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    language: English
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