The advent and spread of Christianity in the Punjab would have been a limited affair but for the“dalits”,the depressed classes of the Punjab.The present Christian community is the result of the mass movement and eff...The advent and spread of Christianity in the Punjab would have been a limited affair but for the“dalits”,the depressed classes of the Punjab.The present Christian community is the result of the mass movement and efforts of the missionaries in the Punjab.The paper also examines the eyewitness accounts of the missionaries which are helpful in demystifying the myth of“equality among the Sikhs”.These accounts also reinforce our understanding of the status of Mazhabi Sikhs as a lower caste among the Sikhs.Using the terms,“foreign enclaves”and“ritually neutral area”from Milton Singer’s classic study,When a Great Tradition Modernizes,the author has tried to demonstrate the processes of isolation,slow acceptance,and incorporation of the converts.展开更多
文摘The advent and spread of Christianity in the Punjab would have been a limited affair but for the“dalits”,the depressed classes of the Punjab.The present Christian community is the result of the mass movement and efforts of the missionaries in the Punjab.The paper also examines the eyewitness accounts of the missionaries which are helpful in demystifying the myth of“equality among the Sikhs”.These accounts also reinforce our understanding of the status of Mazhabi Sikhs as a lower caste among the Sikhs.Using the terms,“foreign enclaves”and“ritually neutral area”from Milton Singer’s classic study,When a Great Tradition Modernizes,the author has tried to demonstrate the processes of isolation,slow acceptance,and incorporation of the converts.