Transposing tirtha: Understanding religious reforms and locative piety in early modern Hinduism
Authors
Thakkar, ChirayuAffiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2017-06-17
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The paper deals with a historical and hitherto obscure case of de-commercialisation of sacred geography of India. Sahajanand Swami, an eighteenth century religious leader from Gujarat who became popular as Bhagwan Swaminarayan took an initiative to eliminate corruption in Dwarka, one of the most sacred destination in Hindu imagination. He also attempted to transpose the piety of Dwarka and recreate a parallel religious experience at Vadtal, an important site in Swaminarayan Hinduism. This process of making sacred sites more egalitarian is classified here as a 'religious reform'. The paper assesses this bivalent pursuit as an institutional reform within religion as well as a religious process in the context of piety, authority and orthodoxy. Through the example of Sahajanand Swami, it is argued to calibrate the colonial paradigm of reform that was largely contextual to social issues and western thought and failed to appreciate the religious reforms of that era. By constructing a nuanced typology of 'religious reform' distinct from 'social reforms', the paper eventually calls for a reassessment of religious figures who have significantly contributed in reforming the Hindu tradition in the medieval and modern era.Citation
Thakkar, C. (2017). Transposing tirtha: Understanding religious reforms and locative piety in early modern Hinduism. International Journal of Dharma Studies, 5(1), 14. DOI: 10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0Publisher
SpringerAdditional Links
https://internationaljournaldharmastudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0Type
ArticleLanguage
enEISSN
2196-8802ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0
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