Religious freedom and the subversive adaptation of Christian converts from Hinduism

Abstract

This paper explores how converts to Christianity tend to navigate a complex social landscape by occupying hybridized sites seeking to remain Hindu while following Christ. This strategy is especially visible in Krista Bhakta (Christ followers) movement, the upper caste groups who see a cultural continuity with the Hindu traditions. Using “hybridity”, a concept that Homi Bhabha popularized to capture the mixing of Eastern and Western cultures in postcolonial literature, this essay explores how it can be applied in the religious sphere that adopts this subversive tool within political and cultural spheres.