Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Hindu twitter's fascination with Tulsi Gabbard (Samoan-German descent) and indifference towards Kamala Harris (Brahmin descent) is noteworthy

Is the 21st cen Hindu less ethnocentric and more belief-oriented than the 20th cen Hindu?

I think yes

https://twitter.com/TarekFatah/status/1156723731118604288

Had twitter been around in say 1950, and you had two similar Presidential candidates with an Indian connection, my hunch - Most hindus would have gotten behind Kamala and ignored Tulsi

Not today

However this orientation towards belief and a shift away from ethnic affinity, has not materialized within India in a massive way in the marriage market yet..

E.g. An Iyengar would still rather marry an Iyer than a Swaminarayan non brahmin follower from Gujarat

Despite the fact that the Swaminarayan sect is philosophically closer to Sri-Vaishnavas of the South than the Smarthas are to Sri-Vaishnavas

So the relative ethnic proximity of Iyers still makes them more favored marital partners than say the Gujarati Vaishnavas

Similarly a Kannada Smartha is likelier to marry a Madhwa Smartha notwithstanding the HUGE religious difference, than a Smartha / Shaiva from the North of India

A GauDiya Vaishnava from Bengal likelier to marry a Shakta Bengali than a Madhwa from the South

So the strong orientation towards religious belief to the extent that it trumps ethnic distance - has not quite become a reality inmarriage market

Doesn't seem likely to happen in near future either

Yet the Tulsi >> Kamala preference on twitter might be a sign of things to come