Fare e disfare il bramanismo a Madurai (XVI-XVII sec.)

This article addresses the controversy between the two Jesuit missionaries, Roberto Nobili and Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso, at the beginning of the 17th century. The article revisits the arguments the two Jesuits used against each other to establish, before the Holy Office, whether the Brahmanical thread (Skr. yajñopavīta, Tam. pūṇūl) carried a religious meaning (i.e., it was a means of idolatry; thus, converts ought to be forbidden to wear it) or represented a mark of social distinction (i.e., converts could wear it without sinning). Moreover, the article explores the political and economic background of this Catholic controversy, to highlight the network of relationships through which the Jesuits gradually entered Southern India during the 16th-17th centuries. In doing so, it takes into consideration the roles of some strategical converts, such as the Indian merchant Dom João da Cruz and the Rāja of Tanor, analyzing their resonance not only in geopolitical key, but also in the construction of the narratives about the spread of Christianity in South India.