---
layout: default
title: "Religion: A Way of Salvation or an Ideology of Oppression?"
permalink: /amaa/religion-way-salvation-ideology-oppression/
categories: ["A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel", "Writings not in Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation"]
description: "A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel's empirical study of Hindu village religion in Sarjapura Hobli, examining how land, caste, worship, festivals and rites of passage reproduce social power and exclusion."
created: 2026-10-27
---

***Religion: A Way of Salvation or an Ideology of Oppression? The Power Dimensions of Hindu Village Religion - An Empirical Study*** is an essay by [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel](/amaa/), published in [*Religion and Society*](/articles/religion-and-society/), Vol. XXXII, No. 1, March 1985. Drawing on fieldwork in Sarjapura Hobli in Anekal Taluk, Bangalore district, the study asks how village religion relates to the distribution of economic and social power. Its central concern is the position of Holeya and Madiga communities within a religious culture shaped by caste hierarchy.

The essay begins with the material conditions of village life, including land ownership, agricultural resources, loans, education and employment. It then examines settlement patterns, places of worship, village festivals, rites of passage and local conflicts. Ayrookuzhiel argues that religious practices cannot be understood apart from these conditions: although village worship contains older local traditions, those traditions have become intertwined with structures that favour dominant caste groups.

## Contents

1. [Overview](#overview)
2. [The study and its setting](#study-setting)
3. [Economic resources and village power](#economic-power)
4. [Segregated settlements and places of worship](#settlements-worship)
5. [Village festivals: participation and exclusion](#village-festivals)
6. [Rites of passage and caste practice](#rites-of-passage)
7. [Conflict, political change and festivals](#conflict-change)
8. [The essay's conclusion](#conclusion)
9. [Full text](#full-text)
10. [Publication](#publication)

## Overview {#overview}

The essay examines two connected dimensions of religion. Religion gives people ways to understand life, suffering, death and their place in the world. It can also reflect the political, economic and cultural relations in which religious beliefs and institutions develop. In the latter role, religious practices may help sustain the interests of particular groups rather than challenge inequality.

Ayrookuzhiel does not set out to resolve broad theoretical debates about religion and society. Instead, he studies the everyday religious life of villages and asks whether it reinforces the power relations already visible in material life, or whether it offers a challenge to them. The evidence comes from two related parts of fieldwork: an economic survey of five villages and observations of religious and cultural life across twenty villages in Sarjapura Hobli.

The essay's argument develops through concrete examples. Ownership of land and agricultural resources is concentrated among the Reddy, Vokkaliga and Nagaratha Shetty communities, while the Holeyas and Madigas experience residential and ritual exclusion. The division is reflected in the ownership and control of temples, access to shrines, the ordering of festival processions, the distribution of offerings and the roles assigned to different caste groups. Yet the essay also identifies practices and changes that do not fit a simple picture of unchanging domination.

## The study and its setting {#study-setting}

The research is located in Sarjapura Hobli, then part of Anekal Taluk in Bangalore district. The first part uses a survey of five villages selected on a random basis to examine differences in land, other agricultural wealth, credit, education and employment. The second part draws on observations from twenty villages to describe the religious and cultural setting.

The author treats the two sets of evidence as complementary. Economic information provides a picture of who holds material resources; the study of worship and ritual then asks how village religious life relates to that distribution of power. The essay is therefore not simply a description of beliefs or festivals. Its organising question is how social relations are expressed and maintained through religious institutions and practices.

## Economic resources and village power {#economic-power}

The economic survey finds that the Reddy, Vokkaliga and Nagaratha Shetty communities hold the largest share of agricultural land and possess much of the area's agricultural equipment and livestock. They also account for a substantial proportion of the loans recorded for agricultural development. Some families have additional assets and businesses. The author identifies this group as the principal holder of economic power in the villages studied.

The position of other groups differs. The Tigalas include small cultivators and people who combine cultivation with wage labour, as well as landless workers. Occupational communities such as Ganigas, Kumbaras, Acharis, Hajamas, Agasas and Togatas possess relatively little land, and many depend on their traditional skills or other people's agricultural activity. Among the Holeyas and Madigas, some families cultivate their own plots, but many combine farming with wage labour or depend on wage labour altogether.

The education and employment figures broadly reflect this unequal material base. The essay argues that educational qualifications and access to non-agricultural work further strengthen the position of the better-resourced groups, including the Reddys, Vokkaligas, Nagaratha Shettys and Brahmins. This account of economic differences establishes the context for the discussion that follows: religious status and participation are examined against an already unequal social landscape.

## Segregated settlements and places of worship {#settlements-worship}

The author describes residential separation as a visible feature of village life. In most of the villages studied, Holeya residents live in a separate area; Madiga residents, where present, also live apart from both caste Hindus and Holeyas. Housing schemes had begun to alter this pattern in some places, but the changes were uneven. A developing village, Dodda Dommasandra, is noted as an exception where houses were more mixed.

The division between communities is also reflected in places of worship. The larger Devasthanams described in the study belong to the religious life of caste Hindus. Holeyas and Madigas may make offerings at these temples, but the author reports that they must do so from outside. Many of the temples with property or other income have Brahmin or Lingayat priests, even though Brahmin families are few in the villages surveyed.

By contrast, Holeya and Madiga worship often centres on smaller *gudis*, which may consist of an anthill or a simple image, and on local mother-goddess traditions. These communities have priests of their own. Caste Hindu communities also have *gudis*, while village snake shrines, known as *rache*, have their own rules concerning installation and priestly authority. The contrast is not merely one of building size or form: in the author's analysis, the location, resources, access rules and control of worship places mirror the unequal standing of the communities that use them.

## Village festivals: participation and exclusion {#village-festivals}

Village festivals reveal a more complicated relationship between exclusion and participation. The essay distinguishes local agricultural and mother-goddess festivals from festivals associated more closely with Brahminical religious practice. In some local festivals, Holeyas and Madigas have prominent responsibilities, and rituals may include animal sacrifice or priestly roles performed by people who do not belong to the dominant priestly castes. The author interprets these practices as evidence of older local religious traditions that have not disappeared.

The account of Makara Sankranti describes the Thoti, a representative head of the Holeya community, preparing a temporary place of worship and taking a central role in the cattle festival. The festival involves offerings, the worship of Katam Raju, milk-boiling rites and a procession through the village. The Thoti's responsibilities are substantial, but the procession itself follows a social order: landowning castes lead, occupational groups follow, and Holeyas and Madigas come at the end. The ritual therefore gives the Thoti an important religious function while also displaying the hierarchy of village society.

The descriptions of Agate Male Ungalu, Gangamma and Sapplamma festivals provide further examples of local worship, seasonal rites, processions and animal sacrifice. The Karaga pilgrimage is presented as a contrasting practice in which people from different castes join in providing food, with the account noting that caste discrimination is not permitted in the feeding itself.

The essay also records exclusion from festivals associated with Brahminical practice. During Sri Ramanavami and Naga Panchami, Holeyas and Madigas are kept at a distance from worship at the *rache*. During Dasara and Deepavali, participation in certain rites and places of worship is restricted, even when members of these communities take part in other aspects of village life. Basava Jayanti provides an example of change: in some places the festival became an occasion for broader participation, although the details of that participation and control remained contested.

Across these accounts, festivals do not produce a single, uniform outcome. They can bring communities together for a limited purpose, preserve local traditions and assign important ritual duties to people otherwise marginalised. They can also reproduce caste distinctions through the sequence of processions, access to sacred places, distribution of food and offerings, and the authority to officiate. The author argues that local traditions have not simply remained outside Brahminical influence; they have been reshaped within the wider social order.

## Rites of passage and caste practice {#rites-of-passage}

The discussion of birth, naming, hair-cutting, marriage and death shows how families move between different ritual systems. The practice varies by caste and circumstance. Some families consult a Brahmin astrologer or priest; Lingayats have their own religious authorities; and Holeya and Madiga families may follow local practices, including seeking the help of a traditional ritual specialist. The account also notes that some families have increasingly adopted practices associated with Brahminical rites.

Marriage practices illustrate the way ritual authority and social boundaries intersect. Astrologers may determine an auspicious time, while the main ceremony is conducted by a priest or community elder according to the group's practice. Rules governing who cooks, serves or shares the wedding meal can determine who participates and under what conditions. The essay notes that Holeyas and Madigas may be fed separately and may be excluded from particular gestures within the ceremony, even when invited to the event.

The account of death includes burial practices, the roles of Holeyas and Madigas in funeral processions, and rites performed after death by Brahmin priests or other ritual specialists. It also describes the Dasaiah, who performs a local ritual role and serves people across caste lines. Such examples show that village ritual life combines several traditions, but access and authority within those traditions remain unequal.

Ayrookuzhiel's point is not that every caste follows one fixed set of rules. The evidence instead shows variation alongside recurring boundaries: ritual specialists, food practices, ceremonial roles and access to sacred spaces can all mark differences in status.

## Conflict, political change and festivals {#conflict-change}

The final empirical section turns to socio-political conflict and changes in festival practice. A dispute over access to a public borewell in Kathirguppe becomes a direct confrontation between Holeya residents and Reddy landowners. The account describes how an attempt by Holeyas to draw water was opposed, how the conflict escalated, and how local political intervention and police action followed. The well was subsequently rendered unusable, and separate water sources were developed.

The author also describes changes in the celebration of festivals. In some villages, Holeyas and Madigas began organising or participating in celebrations on their own terms, with support from political actors and community organisations. These developments could challenge customary arrangements, although they did not automatically remove the divisions visible in ritual life.

Such incidents matter to the larger argument because they show that the religious and cultural order is not static. Changes in political organisation, education and community confidence can affect how festivals are conducted and who is allowed to take part. The essay treats independent participation as a potentially significant development, while stopping short of claiming that the conflicts described had already brought about equality.

## The essay's conclusion {#conclusion}

Ayrookuzhiel concludes that the economic evidence and the observations of religious life point in the same direction: the dominant landowning groups hold substantial power, and village religious practices often help sustain that position. The status of Brahmin priests is important, but the author distinguishes ritual standing from direct economic power. In his account, priestly authority helps preserve traditions while the wider system of ritual duties, offerings and exclusions reflects the interests of dominant groups.

The essay also recognises the persistence of older local religious traditions, including mother-goddess worship, agricultural festivals and ritual roles performed by Holeyas and the Thoti. These traditions, however, have become closely interwoven with the hierarchical structures of village religion. The author cautions that it is difficult to separate a local or 'little' tradition neatly from the broader Brahminical or 'great' tradition in everyday practice.

The final discussion considers evidence of change, including the process described as Sanskritisation and instances in which Holeyas challenge established authority by celebrating festivals on their own terms. For Ayrookuzhiel, these developments suggest that religious culture can change as political and economic relations change. They also leave open the possibility that local religious traditions may become resources for collective dignity and liberation rather than continuing to reinforce inherited hierarchy.

## Full text {#full-text}

{% include main-article.html link="/amaa/religion-way-salvation-ideology-oppression-full-text/" title="Full Text: Religion: A Way of Salvation or an Ideology of Oppression?" %}

## Publication {#publication}

This essay was published as "Religion: A Way of Salvation or an Ideology of Oppression? The Power Dimensions of Hindu Village Religion - An Empirical Study" in [*Religion and Society*](/articles/religion-and-society/), Vol. XXXII, No. 1, March 1985.

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