ABSTRACT
Among the factors contributing to Hindu revivalism in south India in the second half of the nineteenth century was a determination to defend Hinduism against the encroachments of Christian missionaries. Alongside a desire to close ranks and keep the enemy at bay was also an attempt to rediscover the roots, the original teachings of Hinduism, and to ‘revive’ and strengthen adherence to what were considered to be the fundamentals of the faith. Both these elements, of defence and rediscovery (the latter usually involving some kind of reformation or desire to return to a golden age), were reflected in the developments in the Kaveri delta prior to the arrival of Theosophy in the early 1880s.
