"Subhedar's Son is a fascinating portrayal of religious conversion to Christianity by a second-generation Indian Christian leader, and Deepra Dandekar's meditations on this historical novel greatly increase our knowledge and understanding of Indian Protestants during the British imperial era." -- Arun W. Jones, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies "The Subhedar's Son is, indeed, an unusual but also an unusually refreshing book. So many fascinating themes emerge from Dandekar's investigation of Shankar Nana's life. While Dandekar explicitly and clearly highlights many of these themes, others she merely hints at, or leaves whispering from the margins, inviting the reader to continue contemplating long after completing the book." -- Chad Bauman, Butler University, The Journal of Religion "In this book, the author draws her observations about Brahmin conversion from a larger literary corpus whose contours she mediates to the reader. In the process, we gain access to valuable perspectives on a community of converts that is often overlooked in the study of Indian Christianity. The book's provocative questions make an important intervention in studies of religious conversion in India.
" -- Chandra Mallampalli, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Journal of Ecclesiastical History "This rare account of Christian conversion uses family history as the basis for wide-ranging exploration of the social hazards and the emancipatory possibilities of vernacular Christianity, and the place of the upper-caste convert in it. Dandekar has provided readers with a multi-layered, multi-voiced text which addresses social histories of reform and modernizing self-realization, the ethicality of 'faith,' and the politics of translation between Hindu bhakti and nonconformist Christianity that enabled acts of conversion to preserve the tissue of caste and community. This is an important and enduring contribution to religious studies, autobiography, and social history, and a literary tour de force!" --Anupama Rao, author of The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India "The Subhedar's Son is the life story of a Brahmin convert to Christianity. Written in Marathi some hundred years ago, it nevertheless resonates in this moment as a powerful record of the fragmentation of identity around caste, gender, and religion. In Deepra Dandekar's hands this English translation speaks to the present complexities of Indian social life. Dandekar surrounds Sawarkar's text with essays conveying deep and often personal insights about context, narrative structure, cultural history, and the contemporary politics of religion. Enfolding literary studies, ethnography, history, religious studies, and memoir, Dandekar's work is a shining example of how translation ought to be done." --Christian Lee Novetzke, author of The Quotidian Revolution "This new translation offers a window into the fascinating world of a 19th-century Maharashtrian convert, as he tries to integrate regional political history with his own social and spiritual struggles in the form of a Marathi novel.
Even more powerful is Dandekar's keen analysis and boldly intimate reflections on the complex interplay of alienation and relative privilege in the lives of Brahmin converts to Christianity and their descendants." --Jon Keune, Assistant Professor of South Asian Religions, Michigan State University.