Bhakti, Caste and Subalternity in India's Northeast: Rethinking Hinduism in Assamese Vaishnavism

This book challenges Eurocentric foundations of the sociological category of “sect,” demonstrating why it is inadequate to understand Hindu sectarian formations.It argues that caste is central-not peripheral-to how sectarian orders within Hinduism emerge, persist, and transform.By foregrounding Assamese Vaishnavism-a Bhakti tradition that emerged in the 15th century and has now become emblematic of the region-the book places Assam, often marginalised in accounts of Indian religious traditions, at the centre of analysis.It offers a critical account of Bhakti by tracing its entanglements with local caste hierarchies and broader historical processes, thereby reframing Vaishnavism through the social and political specificities of postcolonial Assam.Moving beyond dominant framings of India’s Northeast that primarily emphasise tribes, ethnic conflict, migration, folk culture, and heritage, the book advances a sociological enquiry into institutionalised religion, the enduring vitality of cast