There is the famous case in Maha-bharata and Bhagavata-purana where Arjuna disguises himself as sannyasi in order to woo Krsna’s sister Subhadra.

On Jan 21, 2018, at 3:59 AM, Nagaraj Paturi via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

In contemporary narrative literature including the narratives in Indian films, there is a formula: A person born into a caste considered as panchama (harijan /sc/ dalit in contemporary parlance) being brought up by a 'upper' caste (usually a Brahmin) social reformer to become a Vedic scholar or a brahmanical dancer/ musician (if the person brought up is a woman) and after getting acceptance of the society, in a twist of the narrative, the actual identity of the person getting exposed, the reformer getting ridiculed by his neighbourhood , the reformer arguing about the actual character being more significant than birth and the 'caste passing' person getting accepted by the neighbourhood. 

On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 5:03 PM, Manu Francis <manufrancis@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Nagaraj Paturi,

Yes, you are right.
Novels are also part of the query.

With very best wishes.

--

Emmanuel Francis
Chargé de recherche CNRS, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (UMR 8564, EHESS-CNRS, Paris)
http://ceias.ehess.fr/
http://ceias.ehess.fr/index.php?1725
http://rcsi.hypotheses.org/
Associate member, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture (SFB 950, Universität Hamburg)
http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html
https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis

2018-01-21 10:16 GMT+01:00 Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi@gmail.com>:
The query was for 

"I am searching for references in Indian literature and classical texts of instances of "caste impersonation", i.e. when an individual or a group "passes" as a caste which is not their original birth group. My search includes such instances in contemporary literature" (highlighting mine)

Since the first sentence has Indian literature and classical texts , I thought 'contemporary literature' in the second sentence means contemporary literary texts such as novels. Am I right?



On Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 2:56 AM, Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Addendum: one of his publications that bears directly on the subject is:

2014. “Lal Beg Underground: the Passing of an ‘Untouchable’ God.” In Knut A. Jacobsen, Mikael Aktor and Kristina Myrvold, eds., Objects of Worship in South Asian Religions: Forms, Practices, and Meanings, pp. 143-162. New York: Routledge.

On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 3:25 PM, Tyler Williams <tylerwwilliams@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Dr. Francis,

Joel Lee at Williams College in the US has written on the phenomenon of caste 'passing' in contemporary South Asia and is also interested in historical and literary precedents. I am sure that it would be fine if Dr. Headley contacted him directly, but I would also be happy to introduce them if she prefers.

Best,
Tyler Williams
University of Chicago


On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 10:56 AM, Manu Francis via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,

I forward below a query on behalf my Colleague Zoé Headley.

(on her current project "Studies in Tamil Studio Archives and Society (S.T.A.R.S.)"
see e.g:
http://www.ifpindia.org/content/studies-tamil-studio-archives-and-society-stars
and
http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/video/2018/01/19/une-autre-histoire-de-l-inde-ecrite-par-ses-photos_5244050_1650684.html)

Any help will be much appreciated.

Her query is:

"I am searching for references in Indian literature and classical texts of instances of "caste impersonation", i.e. when an individual or a group "passes" as a caste which is not their original birth group. My search includes such instances in contemporary literature"

With very best wishes.

--

Emmanuel Francis
Chargé de recherche CNRS, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (UMR 8564, EHESS-CNRS, Paris)
http://ceias.ehess.fr/
http://ceias.ehess.fr/index.php?1725
http://rcsi.hypotheses.org/
Associate member, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture (SFB 950, Universität Hamburg)
http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html
https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis

_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)



_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)



--
Nagaraj Paturi
 
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.


BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
 
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
 
(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
 
 
 




--
Nagaraj Paturi
 
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.


BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
 
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
 
(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
 
 
 
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)