[en] The "Forest Paria" Facing the Brahmes: Genealogy of the Indian Good SavageIn The Indian Cottage (1791), Bernardin de Saint-Pierre contrasts the "grand Brahme" from the town of Puri with a paria hidden in the midst of the Orissa forests. In order to clarify the genesis of this couple with opposite characters, I am tracing here the references taken from the narratives in travel accounts, which influenced the author in the construction of his own story. Besides the high priest figure, reflecting the Enlightenment's criticisms against the clerical authorities, I'm arguing in this paper that the "forest paria" has two distinct sources : the "untouchable paria" strictly speaking, as well as the Indian "good savage". Before being transposed to the "West Indies", this key European imaginary figure had a long career indeed, starting from the representation of the "naked sage", in the Greco-Roman antiquity. I am trying to show here that this idealized image of the "good savage" moved through epochs and continents, in the steps of explorers and Christian missionaries. It was employed to label various forest populations in the "East Indies", considered more open to conversion than other Indian urban "idolaters". At the end of this discursive journey, we will see that the "forest paria" as portrayed by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, is in dialogue with the important Enlightenment question concerning the more "natural" religion against the artificial and coercive clerical authority. In The Indian Cottage, this opposition is presented in a true "Rousseauvian" perspective, by putting emphasis on the "state of nature" against the corruption of urban "civilization", stressing therefore on the genuine faith and common sense of the "poor people" against the blindness of the learned, but superstitious and arrogant "Brahmes".

[fr] Dans La Chaumière indienne (1791), Bernardin de Saint-Pierre oppose le grand Brahme de Puri à un paria réfugié au fond des forêts d'Orissa. Pour éclairer la genèse de ce couple d'opposés, nous remonterons le fil des récits de voyage qui ont pu influencer l'auteur dans la construction de ses personnages. Hormis la figure du Grand Prêtre, reflet des critiques des Lumières contre l'autorité cléricale, nous montrons que celle du " paria forestier " connaît deux sources distinctes : celle du paria intouchable strictement dit, et celle d'un " bon sauvage " indien. Avant d'être transposé aux " Indes occidentales ", ce personnage clé de l'imaginaire primitiviste européen a en effet connu une longue carrière à travers le portrait antique des " sages nus ". Nous montrerons que cette image idéalisée s'est déplacée, au fur et à mesure des explorations, notamment missionnaires, vers diverses populations forestières des " Indes orientales ", censément plus ouvertes à la conversion que les idolâtres citadins. Enfin au terme de ce voyage discursif, nous verrons que le " paria forestier " de Bernardin de Saint-Pierre s'inscrit dans une problématique générale des Lumières opposant la religion " naturelle " à l'autorité cléricale, mais – problématique rousseauiste en particulier –, valorisant l'état de nature face à la " civilisation " urbaine, et la " foi du charbonnier " indien face à la docte ignorance des brahmes.