The area of missionary activity and conversion, the exchange of one religious identity for another has, the author argues, been much neglected in the scholarly debate in spite of being one of the areas where religion as a dynamic factor in Indian society is most apparent. This work provides an analysis of religion as a dynamic factor in Indian society. Not only is the ritual, economic and power status of the missionaries examined but the effects of conversion to the individual, most notably a change insocial status and mobility.

The general tendency among theorists of nationalism and national identity has been to assume that the modernization process in Asia and Africa is a kind of distorted reflection of a Western precedent; Asian forms of the nation have rarely been seen as independent, alternative models. The aim of this collection is to build on and enforce the theory that Asia is a serious contender in economic discussion. It seeks to demonstrate that in Asia, as well as in Europe, each nation forms a unique amalgam which can be fruitfully compared with others. The relationship between geographical space and...