Trampling on Our Religion
In 1901, within a year of his ordination and appearance on the public stage, the Irish Buddhist monk U Dhammaloka initiated conflict around an issue that would become central to Burmese nationalism in subsequent years. Europeans wearing shoes on Buddhist pagodas was both a sign of disrespect from a Burmese point of view, and fundamental to preserving racial hierarchies from a colonial point of view. Dhammaloka’s successful thematizing of the issue gave rise to a very public conflict with the authorities, and helped to make him a celebrity monk. The chapter examines how the conflict developed, explores the colonial and racial politics of footwear, and notes its wider impact.