Daniela Bevilacqua | ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) (original) (raw)
Book by Daniela Bevilacqua
Equinox Publishing, 2024
From Tapas to Modern Yoga is extensively based on fieldwork material, and primarily analyses the ... more From Tapas to Modern Yoga is extensively based on fieldwork material, and primarily analyses the embodied practices of ascetics belonging to four religious orders historically associated with the practice of yoga and haṭha yoga. This focus on ascetics stems from the fact that yogic techniques probably developed in ascetic contexts, yet scholars have rarely focused their attention on non-international ascetic practitioners of yoga.
Creating a confrontation between textual sources and ethnographic data, this book demonstrates how ‘embodied practices’ (austerities, yoga and haṭha yoga) over the centuries accumulated layers of meanings and practices that co-exist in the literature as well as in the words of contemporary sādhus. Drawing from conversations with these interlocutors, it demonstrates the importance of ethnographic fieldwork in shedding light on past historical developments, transmissions, contemporary reinterpretation and innovation.
Journal of Hindu Studies Review/ Ramdas Lamb
Da elemento necessario al benessere e alla soddisfazione della divinità nel tempio come alla lon... more Da elemento necessario al benessere e alla soddisfazione della divinità nel tempio come alla longevità del sovrano, l’affascinante figura della devadasi – la serva del dio – è divenuta oggi quasi sinonimo di prostituta. La nityasumangali, la donna sempre propizia perché sposa del dio e pertanto non soggetta alla vedovanza, è al centro di una tradizione secolare tanto variegata quanto l’intero Subcontinente indiano. In questo primo contributo italiano integralmente dedicato all’argomento, si ripercorrono origini, storia e sviluppi delle devadasi, ricostruendone l’immagine originale fino alle successive degenerazioni.
This book provides an in-depth understanding of Modern Hindu Traditionalism through the case stud... more This book provides an in-depth understanding of Modern Hindu Traditionalism through the case study of the Rāmānandī order (sampradāya) and the portrait of the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya Rāmnareśācārya. This guru belongs to the ancient tradition of the Rāmānandī order, which is active at the present time and the biggest Vaiṣṇava religious order in Northern India. Analyzing the historical evolution of the Rāmānandī order, the author shows how different centers have undergone different changes over the centuries, and focuses on the independence struggle of a group of Rāmānandīs from the Rāmānūjīs, which led to the creation of the role of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya and the construction of the Śrī Maṭh. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book casts light on figures and processes central to the development of Hinduism in the twentieth and twenty-first century and consequently describes the role of religion in contemporary Indian society. The author examines the role religious institutions and their leaders have in the everyday life of individuals, how they interact with and in the society, and how they approach and interpret social and political issues. The Rāmānandīs’ use of new methods of communication, in particular social media, is an innovative part of the study.
A welcome innovation in the studies of South Asian religion, this book will be of interest to historians, anthropologists, and scholars of Hinduism and religion and politics.
Papers by Daniela Bevilacqua
The Monastic Dimension of Identity Politics Global Case Studies from the Premodern Period, 2024
The Hindu monastic world is a complex one in which different spiritual disciplines often coexist ... more The Hindu monastic world is a complex one in which different spiritual disciplines often coexist in the same religious order. Analysing it from hagiographic perspectives, it emerges that monastic groups created specific identities to meet the needs of the times and to provide authority for their group. In this paper, taking into consideration the hagiographic production of the Rāmānandī sampradāya, a Vaiṣṇava order probably established in the fifteenth century, I will outline the construction of some of these identities. Specifically, I will analyse the figure of Kṛṣṇadās Payahārī and then focus on two of his disciples, Agradās and Kīlhdev. Although bhakti (devotion) represented the core of the group’s theology, it is said that these Rāmānandīs followed two very different spiritual disciplines, one based on intense ascetic practices and the other focusing on ecstatic approaches. By associating them with two monastic places, Galtā and Revāsā, I will show how within the same religious order different monastic communities developed and differently constructed their identity to meet different needs
Asian Ethnology, 2022
This article introduces the Kinnar Akhara, a recently established transgender religious organizat... more This article introduces the Kinnar Akhara, a recently established transgender religious organization that stems from the hijṛā tradition, a religiously syncretic subculture of transgender individuals in India. The Kinnar Akhara was established in 2015 by Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender activist and at the time a hijṛā leader, together with other hijṛās. Their purpose was to legitimize the presence of hijṛās (now labeled kinnars) and that of transgender people among the Indian population. To obtain this, they evoked a past Hindu religious identity, challenging the male-dominated and change-resistant patriarchal world of the akhāṛās, while also questioning the Islamic legacy of the hijṛā traditions. The article analyzes the Kinnar Akhara as a form of Selective Sanskritization of the hijṛā tradition and as a form of Religious Feminism. It further highlights the complexity of this religious movement, which harnesses local and global dynamics and challenges cultural and social structures.
The Power of the Nāth Yogīs: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam University Press
The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha yoga since Garakhnath, the traditional ... more The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha yoga since Garakhnath, the traditional founder of the order, is considered as the “organizer” of this form of yoga. However, ethnographic works among Nāth Yogis (Bouillier 2008, Mallinson 2011, 2013) have stressed that probably today very few Yogis master the haṭha yoga practices.
Despite this general trend, in the last years some mahants are getting involved in the teaching of a more commercialized form of yoga to lay people and foreigners, while the publishing house of the Garakhnath temple in Gorakhpur edited several texts on the subject and organizes Yoga Śivir as well.
Using as starting point the case study of the Yoga Śivir held in Gorakhpur for the International Yoga Day 2018, this paper describes some of those individuals in the sampradāya that are trying to re-connect the order to the practice of yoga and especially haṭha yoga.
Analyzing the activities proposed and taught to the audience during the Śivir and using on-line and textual sources, this paper will show how the re-appropriation of haṭha yoga aims to build and consolidate the identity of the Nāth sampradāya in the wake of the international diffusion of yoga today, especially among Nāth householders from East India who had lost their link with the order. It will also show how the connection with haṭha yoga gives the opportunity to the order to spread abroad through some foreign Nāths.
Religions of South Asia, 2021
The Ramanandi sampraday is a Vaisnava religious order supposedly formed by Ramanand in Varanasi i... more The Ramanandi sampraday is a Vaisnava religious order supposedly formed by Ramanand in Varanasi in the fifteenth century. The sampraday, nevertheless, primarily developed and spread in the north-west of India, and Ramanandi centres (re)appeared in Varanasi around the nineteenth century. Although renowned for its Saiva temples and ascetics, Varanasi, indeed, also manifests a Vaisnava nature. Referring to an inquiry on the ascetic groups present in the city led by anthropologists Sinha and Saraswati in the 1960s, this article focuses its attention on Ramanandis centres in the twenty-first century. Following the list of places provided by the two scholars, using local traditions and ethnographic data, the article provides glimpses into the life of ‘subaltern’ Ramanandi temples and asrams, showing how today the survival of local religious centres depends on the support of lay people, who may be attracted by devotion to specific places, but mostly by the charisma and the activities of their leaders and the religious community they are able to create.
Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, 2020
In this paper I provide an overview of studies about yoga and meditation that have used ethnograp... more In this paper I provide an overview of studies about yoga and meditation that have used ethnographic methods to collect data, describing the major issues that have been outlined by scholars studying these two disciplines, especially in their modern manifestations. This literature is then confronted with my ethnographic work among ascetic practitioners of yoga in India.
I demonstrate that ethnography, critically used, provides interesting and unique methods that enable scholars to collect useful data through which to better understand yoga practices and the consequences of their diffusion and, in some cases, also their historical development.
Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. , 2020
This chapter analyses the increasing presence of foreign ascetics in Hindu traditional ascetic or... more This chapter analyses the increasing presence of foreign ascetics in Hindu traditional ascetic orders. While in the middle of the 20th century, initiation of a foreigner into one of these orders was quite exceptional, today more and more gurus accept such disciples. This increased interest on the part of foreigners –and on the part of Indian gurus– is here as resulting from the new possibilities of cultural and religious exchange offered by globalization as well as a revolution in travel and communication. Together, these have allowed individuals to overcome strict identities. The chapter provides ethnographic sketches of foreign ascetics in order to illuminate the changes occurring in traditional ascetic orders, here categorized as Modern Hindu Traditionalism. A comparison with Neo-Hinduism will be presented to stress similarities and differences and to trace a general but comprehensive outline of the ascetic side of contemporary Hinduism.
Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, v. 20, 2018
This paper aims to show how different typologies of narration can be involved in the place-making... more This paper aims to show how different typologies of narration can be involved in the place-making process of a religious centre in India based on the claim of a yogi to have discovered in a jungle an ancient holy place, Garh Dhām, through his powers. As recorded by a devotee-run website, it was claimed to be the same place where King Surath met the sage Medha – as narrated in the Devī Māhātmya, a famous section of the Markaṇḍeya Purāṇa – and where the first ever Durgā Pūjā (worship) was ‘historically’ celebrated. The ‘discoverer’ is a yogi, Brahmānand Girī, who living in jungle was able to find hidden temples thanks to his austerity (tapasyā) and yogic powers (siddhis). The narration of his life story and of his powers recalls those appearing in Indian hagiographies and texts that describe siddhis. The discovery of a holy place by a yogi does not represent an isolated case since similar discoveries dot the history of Hindu religious orders. As in these latter cases, the place-making process of Garh Dhām aims to give authority and legitimacy to the foundation of a new religious centre and so to further spread the Durgā cult in the area and to attract pilgrims.
At the beginning of the 20 th century a group of radical Rāmānandī ascetics led by Swami Bhagavad... more At the beginning of the 20 th century a group of radical Rāmānandī ascetics led by Swami Bhagavadācārya challenged the mainstream narration that wanted Rāmānanda (the supposed founder of the Rāmānandī order) to be part of Rāmānuja's paramparā. Their purpose was to get rid of the Rāmānujī legacy and declare the independence of the Rāmānandī sampradāya from the Rāmānujī sampradāya. Through several religious debates (śāstrārtha) the radical side was able to affirm its stand and have declared the independence of the Rāmānandī sampradāya. This event brought a further important development: the recognition of Rāmānanda as a Jagadguru and the bestowing of the title of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya to provide the sampradāya with a religious leader. Because the Rāmānandī sampradāya was characterized for centuries by different inner branches without a central power, the change in the paramparā and the bestowing of the new charge was not accepted unanimously, but several perspectives arose which led to further developments. This paper aims, then, to describe how the challenge of the mainstream narration has led to important and structural changes inside the sampradāya that continue developing till the present.
Based on extensive interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents understandings of y... more Based on extensive interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents understandings of yoga among sādhus in northern India. Despite the existence of several ethnographic studies on Indian ascetic communities, very few have described their practices of yoga, nor the self-understanding of these communities regarding yoga in the wider religious life. This article bridges the gap between modern, transnational forms of
yoga, philological research on textual yoga traditions, and the understanding of yoga within ascetic communities, by providing a cross-section of yoga practice across a range of ascetic orders. This paper presents initial findings of what will be a five year, full-time research project on ascetic practitioners of yoga, as part of the Haṭha Yoga Project,
SOAS, London.
The Rāmānandī sampradāya is a Vaiṣṇava ascetic order composed of sādhus that follow various sādha... more The Rāmānandī sampradāya is a Vaiṣṇava ascetic order composed of sādhus that follow various sādhanās (religious disciplines), devoting themselves to the bhakti (devotion) of Rām, avatār of the god Viṣṇu, in order to obtain mokṣa (freedom) or to remain in the state of bhakti itself. The order was supposedly established by Rāmānanda, possibly in the late 15th century, although it is also possible that Rāmānanda instead established a new branch of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava sampradāya....
Cross-cutting South Asian Studies: an Interdisciplinary Approach,, Jul 10, 2016
D Come Donne, D come Dio, Sep 2016
Questo articolo si prefissa di fornire al lettore una prospettiva storica dell’ascetismo femminil... more Questo articolo si prefissa di fornire al lettore una prospettiva storica dell’ascetismo femminile hindu che sia utile a comprendere il passato ed interpretare, attraverso di esso, la realtà del presente.
Contemporary South Asia, 2015
La vita la morte la divinità e la magia, Volume I, 2011
Il movimento Ramjanmabhumi, ovvero quando Ram si riscoprì un irato nazionalista indù Questo studi... more Il movimento Ramjanmabhumi, ovvero quando Ram si riscoprì un irato nazionalista indù Questo studio si propone di analizzare il modo in cui un'organizzazione di stampo religioso, il Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, Società Indù Universale) riprese il mito di Ram, figura epico-religiosa dalla lunga tradizione, avatara di Vishnu, , rivisitandolo affinché potesse sostenere la mobilitazione di massa per il movimento Ramjanmabhumi (terra di nascita di Ram). Lo scopo di quest'ultimo, infatti, era riappropriarsi del luogo di nascita di Ram, diventato per la destra indù una sorta di eroe nazionale. Secondo la storiografia inglese e quella nazionalista indù, il sito, collocato ad Ayodhya, città dell'Uttar Pradesh, era stato occupato dalla Babri Masjid, una moschea che Babur, imperatore Moghul avrebbe costruito nel XVI secolo dopo aver distrutto un magnifico tempio, memoria del sacro evento.
Edited Volume by Daniela Bevilacqua
Volume 4 (2023): Special Issue of the Journal of Yoga Studies.Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of South Asia: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation, 2023
This volume is the outcome of a workshop held at SOAS University of London in November 2019, unde... more This volume is the outcome of a workshop held at SOAS University of London in November 2019, under the auspices of the five-year, ERC-funded Haṭha Yoga Project (HYP). The workshop was organised because of several questions that had been on our minds for some time: considering the centuries-long presence of multiple embodied traditions in India, what was the relationship between the physical practices of yoga and other physical disciplines that bear certain similarities to yoga, at least in appearance? Had there been interchange or even influence across and between different physical disciplines and the practices of yoga? Could such a perspective on the history of yoga help to understand better any of its developments?
AUP, 2022
The volume collects a series of contributions that help reconstruct the recent history of the Nat... more The volume collects a series of contributions that help reconstruct the recent history of the Nath tradition, highlighting important moments of self-reinterpretation in the sampradaya’s interaction with different social milieus. The leitmotif tying together the selection of articles is the authors’ explorations of the overlap between religious authority and political power. For example, in which ways do the Naths’ hagiographical claim of possessing yogic charisma (often construed as supernatural powers, siddhis) translate into mundane expressions of socio.political power? And how does it morph into the authority to reinterpret and recreate particular traditions? The articles approach different aspects of the recent history of the Nath sampradaya, spanning from stories of yogis guiding kings in the petty principalities of the eighteenth century to gurus who sought prominence in the transnational environments of the twentieth century; examining some Nath lineages and institutions under the British Raj, in the history of Nepal, and in contemporary India.
Equinox Publishing, 2024
From Tapas to Modern Yoga is extensively based on fieldwork material, and primarily analyses the ... more From Tapas to Modern Yoga is extensively based on fieldwork material, and primarily analyses the embodied practices of ascetics belonging to four religious orders historically associated with the practice of yoga and haṭha yoga. This focus on ascetics stems from the fact that yogic techniques probably developed in ascetic contexts, yet scholars have rarely focused their attention on non-international ascetic practitioners of yoga.
Creating a confrontation between textual sources and ethnographic data, this book demonstrates how ‘embodied practices’ (austerities, yoga and haṭha yoga) over the centuries accumulated layers of meanings and practices that co-exist in the literature as well as in the words of contemporary sādhus. Drawing from conversations with these interlocutors, it demonstrates the importance of ethnographic fieldwork in shedding light on past historical developments, transmissions, contemporary reinterpretation and innovation.
Journal of Hindu Studies Review/ Ramdas Lamb
Da elemento necessario al benessere e alla soddisfazione della divinità nel tempio come alla lon... more Da elemento necessario al benessere e alla soddisfazione della divinità nel tempio come alla longevità del sovrano, l’affascinante figura della devadasi – la serva del dio – è divenuta oggi quasi sinonimo di prostituta. La nityasumangali, la donna sempre propizia perché sposa del dio e pertanto non soggetta alla vedovanza, è al centro di una tradizione secolare tanto variegata quanto l’intero Subcontinente indiano. In questo primo contributo italiano integralmente dedicato all’argomento, si ripercorrono origini, storia e sviluppi delle devadasi, ricostruendone l’immagine originale fino alle successive degenerazioni.
This book provides an in-depth understanding of Modern Hindu Traditionalism through the case stud... more This book provides an in-depth understanding of Modern Hindu Traditionalism through the case study of the Rāmānandī order (sampradāya) and the portrait of the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya Rāmnareśācārya. This guru belongs to the ancient tradition of the Rāmānandī order, which is active at the present time and the biggest Vaiṣṇava religious order in Northern India. Analyzing the historical evolution of the Rāmānandī order, the author shows how different centers have undergone different changes over the centuries, and focuses on the independence struggle of a group of Rāmānandīs from the Rāmānūjīs, which led to the creation of the role of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya and the construction of the Śrī Maṭh. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book casts light on figures and processes central to the development of Hinduism in the twentieth and twenty-first century and consequently describes the role of religion in contemporary Indian society. The author examines the role religious institutions and their leaders have in the everyday life of individuals, how they interact with and in the society, and how they approach and interpret social and political issues. The Rāmānandīs’ use of new methods of communication, in particular social media, is an innovative part of the study.
A welcome innovation in the studies of South Asian religion, this book will be of interest to historians, anthropologists, and scholars of Hinduism and religion and politics.
The Monastic Dimension of Identity Politics Global Case Studies from the Premodern Period, 2024
The Hindu monastic world is a complex one in which different spiritual disciplines often coexist ... more The Hindu monastic world is a complex one in which different spiritual disciplines often coexist in the same religious order. Analysing it from hagiographic perspectives, it emerges that monastic groups created specific identities to meet the needs of the times and to provide authority for their group. In this paper, taking into consideration the hagiographic production of the Rāmānandī sampradāya, a Vaiṣṇava order probably established in the fifteenth century, I will outline the construction of some of these identities. Specifically, I will analyse the figure of Kṛṣṇadās Payahārī and then focus on two of his disciples, Agradās and Kīlhdev. Although bhakti (devotion) represented the core of the group’s theology, it is said that these Rāmānandīs followed two very different spiritual disciplines, one based on intense ascetic practices and the other focusing on ecstatic approaches. By associating them with two monastic places, Galtā and Revāsā, I will show how within the same religious order different monastic communities developed and differently constructed their identity to meet different needs
Asian Ethnology, 2022
This article introduces the Kinnar Akhara, a recently established transgender religious organizat... more This article introduces the Kinnar Akhara, a recently established transgender religious organization that stems from the hijṛā tradition, a religiously syncretic subculture of transgender individuals in India. The Kinnar Akhara was established in 2015 by Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender activist and at the time a hijṛā leader, together with other hijṛās. Their purpose was to legitimize the presence of hijṛās (now labeled kinnars) and that of transgender people among the Indian population. To obtain this, they evoked a past Hindu religious identity, challenging the male-dominated and change-resistant patriarchal world of the akhāṛās, while also questioning the Islamic legacy of the hijṛā traditions. The article analyzes the Kinnar Akhara as a form of Selective Sanskritization of the hijṛā tradition and as a form of Religious Feminism. It further highlights the complexity of this religious movement, which harnesses local and global dynamics and challenges cultural and social structures.
The Power of the Nāth Yogīs: Yogic Charisma, Political Influence and Social Authority. Amsterdam University Press
The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha yoga since Garakhnath, the traditional ... more The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha yoga since Garakhnath, the traditional founder of the order, is considered as the “organizer” of this form of yoga. However, ethnographic works among Nāth Yogis (Bouillier 2008, Mallinson 2011, 2013) have stressed that probably today very few Yogis master the haṭha yoga practices.
Despite this general trend, in the last years some mahants are getting involved in the teaching of a more commercialized form of yoga to lay people and foreigners, while the publishing house of the Garakhnath temple in Gorakhpur edited several texts on the subject and organizes Yoga Śivir as well.
Using as starting point the case study of the Yoga Śivir held in Gorakhpur for the International Yoga Day 2018, this paper describes some of those individuals in the sampradāya that are trying to re-connect the order to the practice of yoga and especially haṭha yoga.
Analyzing the activities proposed and taught to the audience during the Śivir and using on-line and textual sources, this paper will show how the re-appropriation of haṭha yoga aims to build and consolidate the identity of the Nāth sampradāya in the wake of the international diffusion of yoga today, especially among Nāth householders from East India who had lost their link with the order. It will also show how the connection with haṭha yoga gives the opportunity to the order to spread abroad through some foreign Nāths.
Religions of South Asia, 2021
The Ramanandi sampraday is a Vaisnava religious order supposedly formed by Ramanand in Varanasi i... more The Ramanandi sampraday is a Vaisnava religious order supposedly formed by Ramanand in Varanasi in the fifteenth century. The sampraday, nevertheless, primarily developed and spread in the north-west of India, and Ramanandi centres (re)appeared in Varanasi around the nineteenth century. Although renowned for its Saiva temples and ascetics, Varanasi, indeed, also manifests a Vaisnava nature. Referring to an inquiry on the ascetic groups present in the city led by anthropologists Sinha and Saraswati in the 1960s, this article focuses its attention on Ramanandis centres in the twenty-first century. Following the list of places provided by the two scholars, using local traditions and ethnographic data, the article provides glimpses into the life of ‘subaltern’ Ramanandi temples and asrams, showing how today the survival of local religious centres depends on the support of lay people, who may be attracted by devotion to specific places, but mostly by the charisma and the activities of their leaders and the religious community they are able to create.
Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, 2020
In this paper I provide an overview of studies about yoga and meditation that have used ethnograp... more In this paper I provide an overview of studies about yoga and meditation that have used ethnographic methods to collect data, describing the major issues that have been outlined by scholars studying these two disciplines, especially in their modern manifestations. This literature is then confronted with my ethnographic work among ascetic practitioners of yoga in India.
I demonstrate that ethnography, critically used, provides interesting and unique methods that enable scholars to collect useful data through which to better understand yoga practices and the consequences of their diffusion and, in some cases, also their historical development.
Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. , 2020
This chapter analyses the increasing presence of foreign ascetics in Hindu traditional ascetic or... more This chapter analyses the increasing presence of foreign ascetics in Hindu traditional ascetic orders. While in the middle of the 20th century, initiation of a foreigner into one of these orders was quite exceptional, today more and more gurus accept such disciples. This increased interest on the part of foreigners –and on the part of Indian gurus– is here as resulting from the new possibilities of cultural and religious exchange offered by globalization as well as a revolution in travel and communication. Together, these have allowed individuals to overcome strict identities. The chapter provides ethnographic sketches of foreign ascetics in order to illuminate the changes occurring in traditional ascetic orders, here categorized as Modern Hindu Traditionalism. A comparison with Neo-Hinduism will be presented to stress similarities and differences and to trace a general but comprehensive outline of the ascetic side of contemporary Hinduism.
Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, v. 20, 2018
This paper aims to show how different typologies of narration can be involved in the place-making... more This paper aims to show how different typologies of narration can be involved in the place-making process of a religious centre in India based on the claim of a yogi to have discovered in a jungle an ancient holy place, Garh Dhām, through his powers. As recorded by a devotee-run website, it was claimed to be the same place where King Surath met the sage Medha – as narrated in the Devī Māhātmya, a famous section of the Markaṇḍeya Purāṇa – and where the first ever Durgā Pūjā (worship) was ‘historically’ celebrated. The ‘discoverer’ is a yogi, Brahmānand Girī, who living in jungle was able to find hidden temples thanks to his austerity (tapasyā) and yogic powers (siddhis). The narration of his life story and of his powers recalls those appearing in Indian hagiographies and texts that describe siddhis. The discovery of a holy place by a yogi does not represent an isolated case since similar discoveries dot the history of Hindu religious orders. As in these latter cases, the place-making process of Garh Dhām aims to give authority and legitimacy to the foundation of a new religious centre and so to further spread the Durgā cult in the area and to attract pilgrims.
At the beginning of the 20 th century a group of radical Rāmānandī ascetics led by Swami Bhagavad... more At the beginning of the 20 th century a group of radical Rāmānandī ascetics led by Swami Bhagavadācārya challenged the mainstream narration that wanted Rāmānanda (the supposed founder of the Rāmānandī order) to be part of Rāmānuja's paramparā. Their purpose was to get rid of the Rāmānujī legacy and declare the independence of the Rāmānandī sampradāya from the Rāmānujī sampradāya. Through several religious debates (śāstrārtha) the radical side was able to affirm its stand and have declared the independence of the Rāmānandī sampradāya. This event brought a further important development: the recognition of Rāmānanda as a Jagadguru and the bestowing of the title of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya to provide the sampradāya with a religious leader. Because the Rāmānandī sampradāya was characterized for centuries by different inner branches without a central power, the change in the paramparā and the bestowing of the new charge was not accepted unanimously, but several perspectives arose which led to further developments. This paper aims, then, to describe how the challenge of the mainstream narration has led to important and structural changes inside the sampradāya that continue developing till the present.
Based on extensive interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents understandings of y... more Based on extensive interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper presents understandings of yoga among sādhus in northern India. Despite the existence of several ethnographic studies on Indian ascetic communities, very few have described their practices of yoga, nor the self-understanding of these communities regarding yoga in the wider religious life. This article bridges the gap between modern, transnational forms of
yoga, philological research on textual yoga traditions, and the understanding of yoga within ascetic communities, by providing a cross-section of yoga practice across a range of ascetic orders. This paper presents initial findings of what will be a five year, full-time research project on ascetic practitioners of yoga, as part of the Haṭha Yoga Project,
SOAS, London.
The Rāmānandī sampradāya is a Vaiṣṇava ascetic order composed of sādhus that follow various sādha... more The Rāmānandī sampradāya is a Vaiṣṇava ascetic order composed of sādhus that follow various sādhanās (religious disciplines), devoting themselves to the bhakti (devotion) of Rām, avatār of the god Viṣṇu, in order to obtain mokṣa (freedom) or to remain in the state of bhakti itself. The order was supposedly established by Rāmānanda, possibly in the late 15th century, although it is also possible that Rāmānanda instead established a new branch of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava sampradāya....
Cross-cutting South Asian Studies: an Interdisciplinary Approach,, Jul 10, 2016
D Come Donne, D come Dio, Sep 2016
Questo articolo si prefissa di fornire al lettore una prospettiva storica dell’ascetismo femminil... more Questo articolo si prefissa di fornire al lettore una prospettiva storica dell’ascetismo femminile hindu che sia utile a comprendere il passato ed interpretare, attraverso di esso, la realtà del presente.
Contemporary South Asia, 2015
La vita la morte la divinità e la magia, Volume I, 2011
Il movimento Ramjanmabhumi, ovvero quando Ram si riscoprì un irato nazionalista indù Questo studi... more Il movimento Ramjanmabhumi, ovvero quando Ram si riscoprì un irato nazionalista indù Questo studio si propone di analizzare il modo in cui un'organizzazione di stampo religioso, il Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, Società Indù Universale) riprese il mito di Ram, figura epico-religiosa dalla lunga tradizione, avatara di Vishnu, , rivisitandolo affinché potesse sostenere la mobilitazione di massa per il movimento Ramjanmabhumi (terra di nascita di Ram). Lo scopo di quest'ultimo, infatti, era riappropriarsi del luogo di nascita di Ram, diventato per la destra indù una sorta di eroe nazionale. Secondo la storiografia inglese e quella nazionalista indù, il sito, collocato ad Ayodhya, città dell'Uttar Pradesh, era stato occupato dalla Babri Masjid, una moschea che Babur, imperatore Moghul avrebbe costruito nel XVI secolo dopo aver distrutto un magnifico tempio, memoria del sacro evento.
Volume 4 (2023): Special Issue of the Journal of Yoga Studies.Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of South Asia: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation, 2023
This volume is the outcome of a workshop held at SOAS University of London in November 2019, unde... more This volume is the outcome of a workshop held at SOAS University of London in November 2019, under the auspices of the five-year, ERC-funded Haṭha Yoga Project (HYP). The workshop was organised because of several questions that had been on our minds for some time: considering the centuries-long presence of multiple embodied traditions in India, what was the relationship between the physical practices of yoga and other physical disciplines that bear certain similarities to yoga, at least in appearance? Had there been interchange or even influence across and between different physical disciplines and the practices of yoga? Could such a perspective on the history of yoga help to understand better any of its developments?
AUP, 2022
The volume collects a series of contributions that help reconstruct the recent history of the Nat... more The volume collects a series of contributions that help reconstruct the recent history of the Nath tradition, highlighting important moments of self-reinterpretation in the sampradaya’s interaction with different social milieus. The leitmotif tying together the selection of articles is the authors’ explorations of the overlap between religious authority and political power. For example, in which ways do the Naths’ hagiographical claim of possessing yogic charisma (often construed as supernatural powers, siddhis) translate into mundane expressions of socio.political power? And how does it morph into the authority to reinterpret and recreate particular traditions? The articles approach different aspects of the recent history of the Nath sampradaya, spanning from stories of yogis guiding kings in the petty principalities of the eighteenth century to gurus who sought prominence in the transnational environments of the twentieth century; examining some Nath lineages and institutions under the British Raj, in the history of Nepal, and in contemporary India.
Columbia University Press. In Archives de sciences sociales des religions | Éditions de l'EHESS, 188| p. 289-291., 2019
A Genealogy of Devotion is the book that was missing from the shelves of our library. The book se... more A Genealogy of Devotion is the book that was missing from the shelves of our library. The book seeks to understand the rise of bhakti religiosity in North India focusing the attention on the period that ranges from circa the 1450 to the 1750. The questions at the base of the book are declared in the very first page: "What about this bhakti was new and why was it so successful at this particular time? How did early modern devotional communities define bhakti and themselves in relation to other religious approaches and communities?" Burchett, using the scholarship already existent and adding his own research to it, creates a coherent and well written fusion in which Bhakti is crucially analyzed in its historically and fluid relationships with Tantra, Yoga, Sufism and asceticism, and in which tantrikās, bhaktas and yogīs are historicized and reconceived.
In Himalaya. The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies. (forthcoming)
In Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), as well as in many villages across India, women's songs are thought... more In Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), as well as in many villages across India, women's songs are thought to bring good fortune to happy events: they are mangal, auspicious. However, women's songs refer to a wider world based of several layers of tradition. In Everyday Creativity. Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills Kirin Narayan tries to disclose this world, using her personal experience in Kangra that starts in 1975 when she also heard the first songs. Since the very beginning of her contact with Kangra women and songs, Narayan, an "admiring outsider", showed an interest that she transformed in a long term case study, whose vast amount of data was finally channelized in this book. Here, she focuses on the songs valued by the elderly upper-caste singers who were her mentors, stressing that probably the same songs she heard are going to be lost, given the fact that new generations' songs already display the presence of consistent changes. It is clear the gender dimension of Kangra songs: women sing, but for the well-being of men, and often they describe events in men's lives. However, the perspective is from a female point of view, since these songs describe the feelings of female relatives. Singing, indeed, allows women to express their individuality and to share stories from which other women can get support and comfort. In effect, the informants of Narayan clearly describe singing as a means to cultivate states of mind that make rise beyond the confinement of routines and disappointments. This reality is interpreted by Narayan as a form of "everyday creativity". With this expression the author stresses the creativity that every day can emerge in activities that might seem repetitive and even irrelevant, however they are the conjunction between tradition, community and the life of an individual, who assimilates them so that they become distinctively personal in everyday life. This is also to connect to the Kangra term sukinni, which defines "arenas of personal interest" cultivated by individuals that acquire "knowledge and skills, different from the social roles by which they are usually recognized" (p. xx).
Nils Bubandt and Martijn van Beek collect examples of Asiatic secularisms to answer the question ... more Nils Bubandt and Martijn van Beek collect examples of Asiatic secularisms to answer the question at the basis of this anthology: How do religion and spirituality affect conceptions and forms of secularism?
The camera of Heilika Pikkov makes the viewer entering inside a Russian monastery on the Mount of... more The camera of Heilika Pikkov makes the viewer entering inside a Russian monastery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Her purpose is to disclose the life story of an 82 years old Sister, Ksenya, a nun who, perhaps, will take the path of the Great Schema, the vow of silence. However, while focusing her attention on Ksenya, the director provides a portrait of the monastic life as well.
Journal of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (ACME)
Sex, Death and the Gods is a seventy five minutes documentary, directed by Beeban Kidron, on the ... more Sex, Death and the Gods is a seventy five minutes documentary, directed by Beeban Kidron, on the Devadasi tradition, the dedication of pre-pubertal girls to deities. Considered female servants of god, they were part of the temple attendants as arts performers and sacred prostitutes in pre-colonial time.
Nevertheless, in contemporary India their role has completely changed. The camera of Beeban Kidron captures it through portraits of some devadasis and while describing the history of the tradition she especially underlines the linkages between the current system, poverty, and discriminatory gender ideologies
A Past for the Present: The Role of the Śrī Maṭh and the Jagadgurū in the Evolution of the Rāmāna... more A Past for the Present: The Role of the Śrī Maṭh and the Jagadgurū in the Evolution of the Rāmānandī Sampradāya This work focuses on the Rāmānandī sampradāya -a religious order supposedly formed by the religious teacher Rāmānanda -that had a primary role in spreading Rām bhakti (devotion towards Rām) throughout northern India, possibly from the end of the 15 th century. The purpose here is to reconstruct how the representation of Rāmānanda and the organization of the sampradāya evolved over the centuries in order to interpret the two main changes that have occurred in the 20 th century: the establishment of the office of Jagadgurū Rāmānandācārya as the leader of the sampradāya, and the construction of the Śrī Maṭh, a monastery on the place where, according to the Rāmānandī tradition, Rāmānanda used to preach.
Department of Asian Studies, Haifa University, Haifa, 2019
Yoga Studies summer school, SOAS, 2019
Yoga and gender Study, SOAS University of London, 2019
Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, 2019
Indian Religions Seminar, Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University Cambridge, 2019
Sapienza University of Rome, Simbologia del Vestire Course, Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, 2018
Master in Yoga Studies, Ca’ Foscari University, 2018
Master in Yoga Studies, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 2016
A seminar focused on the ethnographic side of the Haṭha Yoga Project dealing with four main issue... more A seminar focused on the ethnographic side of the Haṭha Yoga Project dealing with four main issues:
1. The positionality of the ethnographer.
2. The organization of the fieldwork, concentrating especially on its methodology
3. The purpose of HYP ethnography.
4. The reaction of ascetics to HYP research.
SOAS, 2019
Body practices such as physically-demanding āsanas, mudrās and ṣatkarmas did not emerge out of no... more Body practices such as physically-demanding āsanas, mudrās and ṣatkarmas did not emerge out of nowhere. Many of them likely predate the later synthetic, and profoundly influential, texts of haṭhayoga from the fifteenth century onwards. For example, the Haṭhapradīpikā (c. 1450) describes fifteen āsanas of which eight are non-seated, and later haṭha texts describe many more. But new archaeological and art-historical evidence, such as the 13th century Mahudi Gate in Dabhoi, shows that non-seated, complex postures predate these later texts of haṭhayoga by at least two centuries.
Furthermore, postures represented on temple pillars in Hampi suggest that the artists were inspired by other body-practitioners alongside yogis/fakirs (e.g. acrobats, wrestlers and dancers). If, as such sculptures suggest, these various figures shared the temples’ spaces (perhaps especially during festival times), with yogis, it is possible that the yogis learned postural practices from other classes of practitioner, and introduced them into their own repertoires as yogāsanas or mudrās, either for pragmatic reasons (i.e. to catch the attention of pilgrims) or spiritual ones (i.e. to push their bodies further into extreme forms of tapas). Similarly, wandering sadhus are likely to have come into contact with other physical disciplines, such as martial arts and military training, especially around the time of the emergence of militarized yogi ākhāṛas.
Could it be that the yogic physical practice, in its development from the eleventh to the nineteenth century, drew widely on a variety of extra- or para-yogic body disciplines? Are the advanced āsanas, bodily mudrās, ṣatkarmas, and other innovative physical practices, the product of bodies of knowledge and practice that are not themselves strictly ‘yogic’? Conversely, are analogues to, or borrowings from practices apparent in other yogic and non-yogic traditions? For example, did the contortions of acrobats have soteriological or therapeutic purposes, beyond entertainment? Did martial arts like kalaripayattu and varmakkalai incorporate yogic physical practices into their training, combat or therapeutic aspects? And beyond coincidences of physical shape or questions of direct causal influence, can we point to a shared South Asian environment of ‘techniques of the body’ within which a range of disciplines, may have developed?
This workshop aims to bring together specialists on the various traditional physical practices of India. We are seeking papers that offer textual, historical or anthropological analysis of physical disciplines such as kushti; mallakhamb; silambam; kalarippayattu and other martial arts; military training (including Persian/Mughal); various Indian dances, acrobatics and contortionism; and any other traditional forms of Indian body disciplines.
Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS), El Colegio de México, 2019
The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha-yoga since Gorakhnath, the traditional ... more The Nāth sampradāya is connected to the practice of haṭha-yoga since Gorakhnath, the traditional founder of the order, is considered as the “organizer” of this form of yoga. However, ethnographic works among Nāth Yogis (Bouillier 2008, Mallinson 2011, 2013) have stressed that today probably very few Yogis master haṭha-yoga practices. Despite this general trend, in the last years some mahants have been involved in the teaching of a more commercialized form of yoga to lay people and foreigners, while the publishing house of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur has now edited several texts on the subject and has started to organize yoga training camps (yoga śivir). Using as a starting point the case study of the Yoga Śivir held in Gorakhpur for the International Yoga Day 2018, this paper describes some members of the sampradāya that are trying to reconnect the order to the practice of yoga, particularly haṭha-yoga. Analyzing the activities proposed and taught to the audience during the Śivir and using on-line and textual sources, this paper will show how the re-appropriation of haṭha-yoga aims to build and consolidate the identity of the Nāth sampradāya in the wake of today’s international popularity of yoga. It will also show how the contemporary re-appropriation of haṭha-yoga provides an opportunity for the order to spread abroad through the enrolment of some foreign Nāths.
BASAS Conference, Durham, 2019
“According to the Manu Smṛti men have 8 guṇas (qualities) more than women, so they can tolerate ... more “According to the Manu Smṛti men have 8 guṇas (qualities) more than women, so they can tolerate ascetic discipline better. For this reason, although there have always been sādhvīs and female ascetics in Indian history, for women it is better to complete their religious path through the marriage, which is the best way for them to get mokṣa” (Upendra Misra, Pundit).
“The possibility of development of the human being is the same […] Since the sādhanā professed is based on love and devotion towards god and on the idea of prapatti […] the sevā, the śaraṇ to god, it is open to anyone, and gender distinctions are meaningless. […] If you think about religious practice like that, then the meaning of male and female doesn’t exist” (Jagadguru Ramnaresacarya).
Starting from these comments, this paper will deal with the issue of mokṣa for women belonging to traditional ascetic orders, using textual sources but predominantly ethnographic data. The aim is to provide a composite sight on the issue considering supporters and opponents of women’s liberation.
III Seminario su Donne e Religioni nel Mondo Contemporaneo, Lanuvio, 2019
In questo intervento mostro come le costruzioni di genere abbiano plasmato ruoli specifici per la... more In questo intervento mostro come le costruzioni di genere abbiano plasmato ruoli specifici per la donna — figlia/moglie/madre —, spingendo verso un atteggiamento negativo e conflittuale nei confronti di coloro che, invece, vogliono discostarsi da tali ruoli per dedicarsi a una vita prettamente religiosa.
in questo intervento
Prospettiva storica e testuale dell’immagine della donna
ritratti “ascetici”
Cambiamenti religiosi avvenuti negli ultimi decenni
AAR, Denver, November , 2018
In 2015 the Haṭha Yoga Project started. The originality of this project was not only that three p... more In 2015 the Haṭha Yoga Project started. The originality of this project was not only that three prominent scholars were involved in the critical edition and translation of ten Sanskrit manuals on haṭha yoga but that it included an ethnographic component through which the current practice of traditional ascetic practitioners of yoga was to be analysed.
This paper presents and highlights the methodology and the results that ethnography among sādhus can bring to the study of this topic.
After stressing the important benefits of ethnographic research among ascetics through examples from fieldwork, this presentation will then inquire into the role and effects that traditional texts and modern yoga have on ascetic practitioners. In the last part the attitude of ascetics towards the HYP research will be described in order to further highlight their approach towards yoga.
While the globalisation of yoga has led several studies to look at its various manifestations and... more While the globalisation of yoga has led several studies to look at its various manifestations and developments, few have addressed their attention towards the practice of traditional ascetics in India. In this paper - on the base of ethnographic research among Hindu ascetic practitioners of yoga in India- I will deal with the body of the yogi and his/her physical practice of yoga. Initially, I will identify who is generally the yoga practitioner among ascetics and how yoga is taught among them. Then, I will describe the conditions in which yogāsana are practiced and why, to give also examples of further uses of the body describing some austerities (tapasyā). In this way, according to the practices performed, I will identify who is a yogi raj, a haṭha yogi and a yogi in the Hindu ascetic context. This will lead us to deal with the idea of Yoga and self, understood as the inner self or the ātman, a reality that goes behind the identification with phenomena, and has the same nature of God (the Parmātman).
These issues will be used to create a confrontation with modern yoga practitioners and practices with the aims to fill the gap between various modern studies and representations of yoga and the inner representation of yoga by Hindu ascetics.
Tapasvins are called those Indian ascetics who perform particularly strenuous austerities (tapasy... more Tapasvins are called those Indian ascetics who perform particularly strenuous austerities (tapasyā) that cross the limits of human physical resistance (like the ūrdhvabāhu tapasyā in which the ascetic keeps his arm permanently held up, or the khaṛeśvarī tapasyā in which he remains standing up for several years). From the ascetic’s point of view, the practice may have several purposes: to reach a superior control of the body, to obtain special powers, to burn personal karma and, therefore, to avoid rebirth. However, when these practices are publicly shown they acquire further ends: to increase the faith of lay people and their involvement in
religious practices, but also to provide ‘welfare for the society’ and support for the “existence” of the world.
Focusing on ethnographic data, in this paper I will analyse some of the austerities most commonly practised by Indian ascetics to show how through them multiple realms are crossed. From one side there is the crossing of the physical realm of the body to reach an overhuman-spiritual
realm, from the other, the practices cross the limit of the individual gain and
reach the realm of the earthly and social world.
Yogi Brahmānanda Giri is a Hindu ascetic who performed austerities in a jungly place in West Beng... more Yogi Brahmānanda Giri is a Hindu ascetic who performed austerities in a jungly place in West Bengal and by the powers obtained through his intense religious discipline he “discovered” ancient places and temples connected with the cult of the Goddess. Since then, not only the place has becoming a centre of pilgrimage and worship, but also Yogi Brahmānanda’s life story has spread around. Although not yet in a proper published text, his life story is described in a web page about the religious site. Checking this web-page is astonishing to see how the narration of his life is constructed following the typical features of traditional Indian hagiographies, with a stress on his childhood marked by miraculous events, his wanderings to accomplish his spiritual mission, till the intense spiritual practice which led him to the discovery.
Through a comparison between past sources and written and oral evidences collected from local people during ethnographic fieldwork, this paper aims to analyse the construction of Yogi Brahmānanda’s life narrative, to verify in what way traditional literary topos are used to give authority to the figure of the ascetic, and by consequence to his discovery.
It is not unusual in the history of India religious orders the discovery or better re-discovery o... more It is not unusual in the history of India religious orders the discovery or better re-discovery of mythical places by ascetics due to their spiritual merits. These discoveries were to support the foundation of new religious centres, because their narrations were presented as miraculous events, able to give authority and legitimacy to a place, so to attract pilgrims.
Few decades ago, Yogi Brahmānanda, a Hindu ascetic who spent about 20 years in a jungly area close to Santiniketan (West Bengal, India), claimed that through the power he got meditating in a huge tamarind tree, he realized that the area in which he was practicing was the ancient holy site of Gaṛh Dhām where Rājā Surath performed the first Durgā Navarātrī, a story narrated in the Durgā Saptaśastī. Following that story, the ascetic said to have spotted several holy historical sites, and slowly he built up small shrines and temples there. Once the rediscovery was spread, many pilgrims began to come and further helped the development of the area. Today the history of the place is described in detail on a website, as well as in boards present in the area.
By means of this contemporary example, this paper aims to show how through the rediscovery of holy places, stories and mythologies can be reintroduced and retold leading to the creation of new religious centres, giving new force to old believes.
Compared to the past, an increasing number of Jagadgurūs, Mahāmaṇḍaleshvaras, Mahānts etc. is fil... more Compared to the past, an increasing number of Jagadgurūs, Mahāmaṇḍaleshvaras, Mahānts etc. is filling the Indian contemporary religious space. Why this proliferation?
The answer given by ascetics is that today everybody can buy a religious title by paying the Akhāṛā Pariṣad, an organization that assembles the heads of thirteen nāgā akhāṛās from different Hindu orders.
Historically the role of these ascetics is to protect the ascetic society and organize religious gatherings like the Kumbh Melā. As in the past, the Akhāṛās deal with the political power, but the support that today they obtain (especially economic), gives them a new “religious” power: they not only bestow religious titles, but they sell them for thousands and thousands of rupees.
This paper aims to analyse the reasons behind this “trade”. It will demonstrate that the purchase of a title is becoming quite a common practice because a prestigious title can attract lay disciples, but also it can confer an “official” authority to those gurus who have already a large number of followers.
The demand for religious titles demonstrates that the request for religious leaders is still present, and this paper will describe how, crossing domains and extending their range of action, religious leaders are still able to fill the needs of lay people. Therefore, the fact that the number of religious leaders is increasing represents a data that should be taken into consideration while analyzing social changes in modern India as the influence that religious leaders have on their followers allows them to obtain social as well as political power.
During my fieldworks among ascetics in India, I have often come across to foreigners who had take... more During my fieldworks among ascetics in India, I have often come across to foreigners who had taken initiation in ascetic orders. Although today their number is increasing especially into the Jūnā Akhāṛā who was one of the first traditional orders to officially accept foreigner ascetics, they are present among Vaiṣṇava, Nāth and Tantrik orders as well. In addition, there are also some mān-mukhi ascetics, who are self-proclaimed sadhus without taking initiation in any order.
In this paper, I will present some exemplary stories of the foreigner presence among ascetics, focusing on westerners, as I had contact mostly with them. These are stories of individuals who wanted to break out with the social order of their countries, but also individuals who were looking for spiritual guidance, or for power. I will show that, although there are some who become full-time ascetics, many remain in the threshold not only of the Western-Indian confrontation —being foreigners they are not expected to follow all the rules, as well as they are not always taught the proper complete original teaching — but also householder-ascetic status. Therefore, I will take into consideration some of the causes of the increasing number of foreigners ascetics, such as the commercializing of religion, and the selling of religious titles. In the end, I will introduce the perspective of Indian ascetics about foreigner ascetics.
For my PhD research I worked on a Hindu religious ascetic order, focusing on its leader (Jagadgur... more For my PhD research I worked on a Hindu religious ascetic order, focusing on its leader (Jagadgurū Rāmānandācārya Rāmnareśācārya). It was a qualitative research that lasted on a period of more or less two years during which close relationships with the informants were built. The collection of data was based on formal and informal interviews, and participant observation. The purpose was to stress an emic point of view about the history of the order and its present reality.
Gurus have been claimed to be the real social leaders in India. In fact, looking at the religious... more Gurus have been claimed to be the real social leaders in India. In fact, looking at the religious Indian environment, the types and number of gurus is outstanding. Therefore, for a proper understanding of the contemporary Indian society, I retain that it is necessary to comprehend how gurus work and why their presence is still so important. My paper will present the example of the Jagadgurū Rāmnareśācārya. He is leader of the Rāmānandī order (an ascetic community probably established in the 15th century) but especially leader of a numerous lay community all over India.
Being a guru with a national appeal but with a very traditional/Brahmanic approach, Rāmnareśācārya communicates with his devotees using classic “guru-tools”: public audiences (darśan) twice a day, pravachan (public lessons), religious and cultural events, publishing activity. The concern of the Jagadgurū is to spread the devotion towards god Ram, following the teachings of Rāmānanda (the founder of the order), which is based on the possibility for all to undergo the path of devotion, although in the respect of Brahmanic injunctions. Hence, he tries to teach religious equality while keeping alive the more traditional Brahmanic rituals. According to him, only when the society will improve in respecting others and in following Brahmanic scriptures, the Hindu dharma will improve and by consequence the Indian nation too.
As the Jagadgurū continuously moves, some among his devotees opted for modern strategies of communication. They have opened Facebook pages, blogs, websites and especially Whatsapp groups under his name (and with his approval) to be constantly aware of what he is doing and where he is. For them the Jagadgurū is the representative of god Ram on Earth, a learned man to follow with devotion, the last referent for their life decisions.
Rāmānanda is a particular character of the Indian medieval religious landscape. According to popu... more Rāmānanda is a particular character of the Indian medieval religious landscape. According to popular tradition, he established the Rāmānandī sampradāya (order), which opened the path of bhakti (devotion) to anyone, without distinction of gender, caste or religion. Nevertheless, there is few evidence of his life: the first record of his life comes from the 17th century, when Nābhādās described him as a guru and linked him to the tradition of Rāmānūja (12th century), the founder of the Śrī sampradāya. Nothing is said in that account about Rāmānanda’s historical period, place and date of birth or his literary production. This vagueness in the historical record remains up until the 19th century. The influence of Christian missionaries and the critics of Hinduism promoted by the English government led several Hindu religious communities to give more attention to solidifying and recording their identity and origin, with a particular focus on the lives of their founders. In the Rāmānandī sampradāya, new hagiographies describe episodes from Rāmānanda’s life, as well as fix his place and date of birth: the 1299 CE in Allahabad.
A further codification in the narration happened in the 20th century, when a reformist group inside the sampradāya decided to get rid of any link between their group and the Śrī sampradāya. Rāmānanda’s paramparā (lineage) was changed in the historical record to eliminate the link with Rāmānūja, and several works were attributed to him to stress his identity as an ācārya (traditional teacher).
This development had two consequences: the creation of the office of Jagadgurū Rāmānandācārya and the establishment of the Śrī Maṭh (a temple-āśram), where, according to the tradition, Rāmānanda had his āśram. Here, I will focus on the activities of the Jagadgurū Rāmānandācārya Rāmnareśācārya, who lives in the Śrī Maṭh, because his main purpose is to spread Rāmānanda’s life story and teachings. These activities will be explained as “evolution of tradition.” Since a tradition is not a static entity but is affected by social and historical events, and since contemporary innovations were based on elements already known, the word “evolution” can be more appropriate to interpret these innovations as answers to a new historical context, wherein religious orders tend to be more institutionalized and the number of religious groups and gurus increases.
Are women entitled to become ascetics? An historical and ethnographic glimpse on female asceticis... more Are women entitled to become ascetics? An historical and ethnographic glimpse on female asceticism in Hindu religions This paper is the result of a lucky encounter I had during my fieldwork in Varanasi: while I was looking for religious centres belonging to the Rāmānandī order (sampradāya), 1 I bumped into a Rāmānandī temple/āśram managed by a woman, Rām Priya Dās, who belongs to the tyāgī branch of the sampradāya.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the religious leadership of the Jagadguru Ramanandach... more The purpose of this paper is to describe the religious leadership of the Jagadguru Ramanandacharya, leader of the Ramanandi sampradaya, an Indian Vaishnava group established around the 15th century. The authority of the Jagadguru is based on being a traditional orthodox teacher (acharya) a religious guide (guru) with universal skills (jagad), as well as a charismatic leader for the lay community.
Nevertheless this office was created only in 1977. In a sampradaya characterized by inner different branches, why was the institution of a central authority, directed especially towards lay people, necessary?
Furthermore, after the 90s other Jagadgurus were charged. What were the reasons behind their nominations and which are their activities?
Which are the possible steps that the studies on gurus should take for a better understanding of religious leadership in India?
Pensando all'India vengono in mente due cose: che è la patria per antonomasia della spiritualità ... more Pensando all'India vengono in mente due cose: che è la patria per antonomasia della spiritualità e la più grande democrazia del mondo. Considerando che la democrazia si basa su un'idea laica del governo, viene da chiedersi come questa possa coesistere con un ambiente in cui si respira religione ad ogni passo. In effetti, la situazione è abbastanza complicata e a volte politica e religione sconfinano l'una nel campo dell'altra. Gandhi è stato uno dei primi ad usare simboli e tematiche religiose per mobilitare le masse a scopi politici, ma tale uso è diventato poi prerogativa soprattutto di organizzazioni indù nazionaliste sorte nel corso del 900. La prima, il Rhastrya Swayamnsevak Sangh (RSS) è un'organizzazione culturale nata nel 1925, la seconda il Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) è un'organizzazione religiosa nata nel 1964. Entrambe sono frutto della stessa ideologia, l'Hindutva, che fa dell'essere indù (inteso in senso lato, senza considerare le migliaia di sette che fondano quello che è chiamato induismo) il suo credo e che ha come obiettivo quello di riportare alla gloria la nazione indiana e la sua virilità. Questa ideologia è diventata il sostrato dalla destra nazionalista che negli anni 80 si è organizzata nel Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). Il BJP ha spesso usato la religione per giustificare la propria politica supportando la teoria che l'India, essendo un paese essenzialmente indù, dovrebbe diventare un Hindu Rashtra (governo indù) per avere un vero laicismo dato che tolleranza, apertura e generosità sono capisaldi dell'induismo. La destra punta alla creazione di un nazionalismo basato sulle radici, eredità ed eroi della cultura indù. La ripresa del mito del dio Ram s'inserisce nella necessità di avere un eroe nazionale.
Brunei Gallery, 2020
The practice of Yoga has been and still is central to Indian religious practices and cultures. It... more The practice of Yoga has been and still is central to Indian religious practices and cultures. It probably originated among heterodox ascetics in the first millennium BCE and gradually became part of almost all of India’s religious traditions. Key to its importance in both the modern world and Indian religious traditions are its physical techniques. Some of these are as ancient as yoga itself but at the beginning of the second millennium CE new systems of yoga emerged, in which a healthy body was cultivated as an instrument for liberation. Over the centuries, this type of yoga has come to be called Haṭha Yoga.
Over the last two decades attempts have been made to study texts on Haṭha Yoga, but these have only served to highlight the inadequacy of our understanding of the field as a whole. Furthermore, an analysis drawn from ethnographic observation of its ascetic practitioners in India today, who are the direct heirs to the earliest yogis, has been largely absent from academic discourse on Haṭha Yoga.
Drawing on these two unexplored sources–Haṭha Yoga’s textual corpus and ascetic practitioners–the Hatha Yoga Project (HYP), a five-year (2015-2020) research project funded by the European Research Council, attempts to reconstruct the history of Haṭha Yoga by critically editing and translating ten Sanskrit works on this type of yoga and conducting extensive ethnographic study of ascetic practitioners of yoga in India today.
The exhibition Embodied Liberation aims to highlight the most recent research discoveries in the field of Yoga Studies as identified by the Hatha Yoga Project. The exhibition will lead the audience through different chronological periods of yoga’s history using a variety of visual and interactive mediums which derive from the diverse methodological approaches used by the research team.