Keertanam and Bhajanam: The Faith (Literacy) Practices of the Telugu Community in Plural Mauritius

Abstract

Abstract The Telugu community, an ethno-religious minority community in Mauritius, uses and teaches Keertanam and Bhajanam (devotional songs in Telugu, an imagined ancestral language) as part of its faith practices. The present exploratory study, focusing on Keertanam and Bhajanam classes in one village temple, investigates the connection between faith practices, faith literacy practices, ancestral languages, and identities in that setting. Data were collected through participant observation, informal conversations with members of the community, and artifacts. The data indicate that the members of the observed Telugu community are endeavoring to revivify and reinvigorate an (imagined) ancestral language (in its oral and written forms) by using a faith practice that has been passed down generations and by drawing on the scriptal resources at their disposal. We argue that members of the observed Telugu community use these strategies to maintain, articulate, and publicly display their ethno-religio-linguistic identity and distinctiveness within the larger Hindu community in Mauritius.