ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the role that the written word and language played in the religious conversion to Christianity of the Satnampanthis amongst the Chamars, a Dalit caste of Chhattisgarh, India. This essay examines the power that the written word was believed to possess and how its enigmatic influence functioned. A sacred text being a mark of religious authenticity to both Christians and Satnamis, the fact that Satnamis had no text they could call their own was a source of some communal insecurity. The association of Christianity with books, and in particular with the Bible, proved its superiority to the faith of Satnamis with the written word functioning as a sign of epistemological authority. The chapter argues that the religious texts, therefore, were not merely lifeless pieces of paper here but sacred and potent religious objects that empowered communities.
