The enslaved imagining salvation: religion and the anti-caste politics of Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha

Anti-caste discourse vis-à-vis religion identifies Brahmanical Hinduism as the source of caste and highlights Dalit movements that challenged it. While Dalit engagements vis-à-vis non-Brahmanical religions have also existed, they have received limited critical attention. Such scholarship has largely examined conversion movements in which Dalits embraced non-Brahmanical religions, often framing conversion as the acceptance or appropriation of existing religious traditions. This article contributes to debates on caste and non-Brahmanical religions, especially Christianity in India, by foregrounding the Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (Divine Church of Visible Salvation—PRDS), a Dalit movement that emerged in early twentieth-century Kerala. Drawing on a standpoint analysis of the cultural archive of PRDS constituted through archival research and fieldwork, the article argues that PRDS constitutes a critique of the conversion paradigm itself. Rather than seeking inclusion within Christianity, PRDS reimagined religion as a political resource to confront caste domination. The article examines how PRDS sought to create a distinct anti-caste religion grounded in a rejection of dominant Christian frameworks of salvation and liberation. The analysis also shows that PRDS occupies a position distinct from existing conceptualizations of Dalit theology. Recognizing its standpoint as an epistemic break from Christianity compels a reconceptualization of Dalit resistance in relation to non-Brahmanical religions.