Community, not Humanity: Caste Associations and Hindu Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Mumbai

Abstract

This paper explores the nature of urbanism that caste associations seek to construct in the metropolis of Mumbai. To this end it asks: what role do caste associations play in the cosmopolitanism(s) of Mumbai? How do they help individuals negotiate cosmopolitan urbanism? What is the nature of the civility and public-ness they aspire to and work towards? What are the challenges they face? I suggest that caste associations of the ‘pure’ and ‘privileged’ work towards achieving an ideal of Hindu cosmopolitanism. Such associations may seem to be ‘bad’ cases of cosmopolitanism because they achieve a certain kind of limited openness and tolerance while continuing caste closure. However, they attempt to provide cultural roots to consumerist individuals in the urban environment. The challenges facing caste associations point both to the limits of urban Hindu cosmopolitanism as an ideal and social practice and to the lack of alterity as a necessary moral value for Hindu cosmopolitanism.