This book analyses the upward mobility of the Northern Nadars of Tamil Nadu within the caste hierarchy. Dennis Templeman studies two types of change - caste mobility and social evolution - thereby challenging the notion of the caste system being a rigid order. Conflicts within local associations and with other communities which form the crux of this study draw attention to the manipulation and use of power at the local rather than the national level.

The author provides detailed information relating to both cohesiveness and conflict within the Northern Nadar community. A key factor in the Nadar strategy of advancement has been their network of town- and village-level caste associations. Templeman examines the conditions under which the associations achieved their cohesiveness and effectiveness as well as the conditions which led to their present weakened state.

The Northern Nadars of Tamil Nadu will be of interest to scholars of caste politics in colonial and post-colonial India.