The politics of honour

• Published in: Princely India Re-Imagined pp. 35 - 52
• Main Author: Ikegame, Aya
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2013; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Asian history; Regional geography; Krishnaraja Wodeyar; Gold Smiths; non-Brahmin Castes; Mysore Maharaja; Tamil Nadu; Royal Honours; Local Matha; Exemplary Centre; Honour Disputes; Tumkur District; Deputy Commissioner; Brahmin Streets; Mysore Palace; Royal Insignias; Lingayat Community; non-Brahmin Movement; Young Men; Brahmin Gurus; Sringeri Matha; Palace Authority; Brahmin Residents
• ISBN: 9780415554497; 1138086592; 9781138086593; 0415554497
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203102251-3

This chapter re-evaluates the politics of honour as a vital politics of the early twentieth century in princely Mysore. It examines that the Mysore princely government tried to control the politics of honour by fixing the uniform order of honours. In the uniform order, only the guru of Sringeri matha, one of the prestigious seats of the Shankaracharyas of Shaiva Sumartha Brahmins, could enjoy the highest honours. The rest of gurus were classified according to their importance in the state. The uniform order of honours was constantly challenged not only by up-coming non-Brahmin castes, but also by Brahmins. It seems that the Mysore king and his subjects were not simply playing the meaningless shadow game of the old regime as Nicolas Dirks suggested. The strategies of systematising the symbols of honour were very much in tune with the spirit of colonial modernity in which things and people were enumerated and classified in order to serve the purposes of colonial policy.