Bhakti, a term ubiquitous in the religious life of South Asia, has meanings that shift dramatically according to context and sentiment. Sometimes translated as personal devotion, bhakti nonetheless implies and fosters public interaction. It is often associated with the marginalized voices of women and lower castes, yet it has also played a role in perpetuating injustice. Barriers have been torn down in the name of bhakti, while others have been built simultaneously.
Bhakti and Power provides an accessible entry into key debates around issues such as these, presenting voices and vignettes from the sixth century to the present and from many parts of Indias cultural landscape. Written by a wide range of engaged scholars, this volume showcases one of the most influential concepts in Indian historystill a major force in the present day.
Recenzijas
"[ G]ives the reader a kaleidoscopic vision of power as it has been inicted, resisted, managed, redirected, and experienced across South Asia."
(Journal of Asian Studies) "[ A] welcome intervention in the field of bhakti studies. The work capably challenges neat narratives."
(Reading Religion) "This edited volume is an excellent source for navigating the many distinct voices and traditions referred to as bhakti...a much-needed resource for scholars and teachers."
(Religious Studies Review) "The book should inform and stimulate future studies of bhakti, and its warnings against reading modern concerns into pre-modern sources should be heeded."
(Religions of South Asia)
| Acknowledgments |
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| Note on Transliteration |
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| Introduction: The Power of Bhakti |
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3 | (22) |
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Chapter One Affect and Identity in Early Bhakti: Karaikkal Ammaiyar as Poet, Servant, and Pey |
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25 | (13) |
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Chapter Two Religious Equality, Social Conservatism: The Shiva-Bhakti Community as Imagined in Early Kannada Hagiographies |
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38 | (11) |
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Chapter Three Caste and Women in Early Modern India: Krishna Bhakti in Sixteenth-Century Vrindavan |
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49 | (14) |
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Chapter Four "Are You All Coming to the Esplanade?": Devotional Music and Contingent Politics in West Bengal |
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63 | (11) |
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Chapter Five All the Valmikis Are One: Bhakti as Majoritarian Project Joel Lee |
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74 | (11) |
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Chapter Six The Political Theology of Bhakti, or When Devotionalism Meets Vernacularization |
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85 | (10) |
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Chapter Seven Bhakti as Elite Cultural Practice: Digambar Jain Bhakti in Early Modern North India |
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95 | (10) |
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Chapter Eight Lover and Yogi in Punjabi Sufi Poetry: The Story of Hir and Ranjha |
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105 | (13) |
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Chapter Nine Illuminating the Formless: God, King, and Devotion in an Assamese Illustrated Manuscript Phyllis Granoff |
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118 | (16) |
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Chapter Ten Bhakti as Relationship: Drawing Form and Personality from the Formless |
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134 | (8) |
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Chapter Eleven Bhakti the Mediator John Stratton Hawley |
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142 | (17) |
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Chapter Twelve Singing in Protest: Early Modern Hindu-Muslim Encounters in Bengali Hagiographies of Chaitanya |
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159 | (12) |
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Chapter Thirteen Bhakti and Power from the Inside: A Devotee's Reading of What Chaitanya Achieved |
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171 | (10) |
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Chapter Fourteen Fall from Grace?: Caste, Bhakti, and Politics in Late Eighteenth-Century Marwar |
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181 | (11) |
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Chapter Fifteen The Ties That Bind: Individual, Family, and Community in Northwestern Bhakti |
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192 | (11) |
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Chapter Sixteen Waterscape and Memory: The Aina-i Tirhut of Bihari Lai "Fitrat" and the Politics of a Bhakti Past |
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203 | (11) |
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Chapter Seventeen Bhakti in the Classroom: What Do American Students Hear? |
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214 | (11) |
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| Bibliography |
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225 | (20) |
| List of Contributors |
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245 | (4) |
| Index |
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249 | |
John Stratton Hawley is Claire Tow Professor of Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University. He is the author of A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement. Christian Lee Novetzke is professor of South Asian studies and comparative religion at the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. He is the author of The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India. Swapna Sharma is senior lecturer in Hindi at Yale University. The contributors are Gil Ben-Herut, Divya Cherian, John E. Cort, Richard H. Davis, Shrivatsa Goswami, Phyllis Granoff, Eben Graves, David L. Haberman, Manpreet Kaur, Aditi Natasha Kini, Joel Lee, Kiyokazu Okita, Heidi Pauwels, Karen Pechilis, William R. Pinch, and Tyler Williams.
