Looks to provide an analysis of religion as a dynamic factor in Indian society. Not only is the ritual, economic and power status of the missionaries examined but also such effects on their converts as social status and mobility.

The area of missionary activity and conversion, the exchange of one religious identity for another has, the author argues, been much neglected in the scholarly debate in spite of being one of the areas where religion as a dynamic factor in Indian society is most apparent. This work provides an analysis of religion as a dynamic factor in Indian society. Not only is the ritual, economic and power status of the missionaries examined but the effects of conversion to the individual, most notably a change insocial status and mobility.