Village studies have dominated anthropological writing on India for a Iong time, though more recently, much has been written on the big cities. This study is original in focusing on a small-town bourgeoisie.
Udupi, in South Kanara (north of Mangalore), was just a famous pilgrimage centre, then an administrative unit, until the Gauda Saraswat Brahmins arrived there in the 1890s. They were instrumental in creating a flourishing market and town, and their businesses still form the core of the local economy.
Written like a piece of local history, this book tells the story of the town from the perspective of these ‘Business Brahmins’, but it also presents an analysis of kinship, religion and community in a Brahmin caste which, in some ways, does not correspond to the received ideas of Brahmin orthodoxy.
As Konkani speakers from Goa, they constitute an ethnic minority as well as the main part of the local bourgeoisie. This blend of caste, class and ethnicity nevertheless merges into a strong and integrated identity, while its various aspects lead the author to take a critical attitude to those who would reduce the complexity of social stratification in India to a single model of the ‘caste system’.
Udupi is a small town and easily identified, so no attempt has been made to mask the main actors, by using fictitious names. The author feels that any criticism that may emerge of them is amply compensated for by documenting their important role in building and developing the lively urban community that Udupi is today.