Table Of Content

Religious Authority in South Asia This book focuses on genealogies of religious authority in South Asia, examining the figure of the guru in narrative texts, polemical tracts, hagiographies, histories, in contemporary devotional communities, New Age spiritual movements and global guru organizations. Experts in the field present reflections on historically specific contexts in which a guru comes into being, becomes part of a community, is venerated, challenged or repudiated, generates a new canon, remains unique with no clear succession or establishes a succession in which charisma is routinized. The guru emerges and is sustained and routinized from the nexus of guruship, narratives, performances and community. The contributors to the book examine this nexus at specific historical moments with all their elements of change and contingency. The book will be of interest to scholars in the field of South Asian studies, the study of religions and cultural studies. István Keul is Professor in the Study of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway. His areas of research include various aspects of the history and sociology of South Asian religions. He is the author of a monograph on the Hindu deity Hanumān and has edited volumes on tantra, Yoginīs, Banaras and consecration rituals, and recently Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia (2021, Routledge). Srilata Raman is Professor of Hinduism in the Department for the Study of Reli gion, University of Toronto, Canada. Her monographs include Self-Surrender (Prapatti) to God in S´ r īvais.n.avism (2007, Routledge) and The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood (2022, Routledge). In addition, she has co-authored two edited volumes and published numerous articles on Tamil religion with a special focus on S´r īvais.n.avism and the Tamil Sá ivasiddhānta. Routledge South Asian Religion Series Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia Edited by István Keul Religion and the City in India Edited by Supriya Chaudhuri Religiosity in Contemporary Sri Lanka Multi-religious Innovation, Paradoxical Interaction, and Shared Religious Spaces Edited by Mark P. Whitaker, Darini Rajasingham-Senanyake and Sanmugeswaran Pathmanesan Non-Shia Practices of Muhạ rram in South Asia and the Diaspora Beyond Mourning Edited by Pushkar Sohoni and Torsten Tschacher The Transformation of Tamil Religion Ramalinga Swamigal (1823–1874) and Modern Dravidian Sainthood By Srilata Raman Popular Hinduism, Stories and Mobile Performances The Voice of Morari Bapu in Multiple Media By Mrinal Pande Devas, Demons and Buddhist Cosmology in Sri Lanka Apotheosis and the Spiritual Progression of Hūniyam By Achala Gunasekara-Rockwell Religious Authority in South Asia Generating the Guru Edited by István Keul and Srilata Raman For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/asianstudies/series/RSARS Religious Authority in South Asia Generating the Guru Edited by István Keul and Srilata Raman Firstpublished2022 byRoutledge 4ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2022selectionandeditorialmatter,IstvánKeulandSrilataRaman;individual chapters,thecontributors TherightofIstvánKeulandSrilataRamantobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthe editorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeen assertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,Designsand PatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe publishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent toinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook ISBN:978-1-032-25930-7(hbk) ISBN:978-1-032-25931-4(pbk) ISBN:978-1-003-28570-0(ebk) DOI:10.4324/b23095 TypesetinTimesNewRoman byTaylor&FrancisBooks To Vasudha Dalmia: teacher, mentor, friend Contents List of illustrations ix List of contributors x 1 Gurus and Their Contexts in South Asia: An Introduction 1 ISTVÁN KEUL AND SRILATA RAMAN 2 How the Guru Lost His Power: Public Anxieties of Tantric Knowledge in the Sanskrit Vetāla Tales 8 ADHEESH SATHAYE 3 The Guru Function in the Emergence of Marathi Literature in Thirteenth-Century India 38 CHRISTIAN LEE NOVETZKE 4 Guru Dādu- in the Perception of His Direct Disciples 51 MONIKA HORSTMANN 5 Canonization of Bhakti Gurus: A Missing Link between Jai Singh II and Harisćandra 72 HEIDI PAUWELS 6 The Emergence of the Social in the Service of the Guru 84 ANNE MURPHY 7 Between Sagacity and Scandal: Celibacy, Sexuality and a Guru in Nineteenth-Century Punjab 107 ANSHU MALHOTRA 8 The Occluded Guru or the Guru as Gardener: C. Jinarajadasa’s Theosophical Universe 126 SMRITI SRINIVAS 9 Inversions of Kim: The Victorian Childhood of J. Krishnamurti 141 SRILATA RAMAN viii Contents 10 The Vaidika’s Limits: Candrasékharendra Sarasvatī Svāmī (1894– 1994) and Tamil Brahmin Guruship 148 ERIC STEINSCHNEIDER 11 The Fiction of Ecumenical Universalism: Where Gurus Do Not Matter 168 MARTIN FUCHS 12 Between the Letter and the Spirit: Gandhi’s Orbit 182 KUMKUM SANGARI 13 Guru Sex: Charisma, Proxemic Desire, and the Haptic Logics of the Guru-Disciple Relationship 209 AMANDA LUCIA 14 Manufacturing Charisma in the Metropolis 239 ISTVÁN KEUL 15 Narrating the Spiritualized Life 254 NIKHIL GOVIND 16 The Gurus of a Post-Colonial Education: An Autobiographical Note 268 VASUDHA DALMIA Selected Publications by Vasudha Dalmia 274 Index 276 Illustrations Figures 2.1 Oldest dated manuscript of S´ ivadāsa’s Vetāla-pañcaviṃsáti: KOBA 5502 (folio 1v), dated May 23, 1384. Image courtesy of the Acharya Shri Kailas Sagar Suri Gyanmandir, Koba, Gujarat. 15 8.1 Photograph of C. Jinarajadasa hanging in Theosophical Society headquarters, Madras/Chennai, 2012 (Photograph credit: Smriti Srinivas) 129 8.2 Sikh temple, Theosophical Society gardens, Adyar, Madras/Chennai, 2012 (Photograph credit: Smriti Srinivas) 131 8.3 Bodhi tree, Theosophical Society gardens, Adyar, Madras/Chennai, 2012 (Photograph credit: Smriti Srinivas) 133 8.4 Founders Avenue planted with mahogany trees in soil brought from countries where Theosophical Sections existed, Theosophical Society gardens, Adyar, Madras/Chennai, 2012 (Photograph credit: Smriti Srinivas) 134 8.5 Jinarajadasa’s plaque on Founders Avenue, Theosophical Society gardens, Adyar, Madras/Chennai, 2012 (Photograph credit: Smriti Srinivas) 134 Tables 2.1 The Principal Sanskrit Versions of the Vetāla-pañcaviṃsáti 13 2.2 Distribution of narrative elements in the Vetāla tale of the failed tantric guru and disciple 16