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dc.contributor.authorThakkar, Chirayu*
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-03T10:27:26Z
dc.date.available2017-07-03T10:27:26Z
dc.date.issued2017-06-17
dc.identifier.citationThakkar, 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/s40613-017-0061-0en
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10034/620548
dc.description.abstractThe 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.
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringeren
dc.relation.urlhttps://internationaljournaldharmastudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectDwarkaen
dc.subjectSwaminarayanen
dc.subjectPilgrim taxen
dc.subjectReligious reformen
dc.titleTransposing tirtha: Understanding religious reforms and locative piety in early modern Hinduismen
dc.typeArticleen
dc.identifier.eissn2196-8802
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Chesteren
dc.identifier.journalInternational Journal of Dharma Studiesen
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.rights.holderThe Author(s).
dc.date.updated2017-07-01T04:10:17Z
dc.date.accepted2017-05-15
or.grant.openaccessYesen
rioxxterms.funderUnfundeden
rioxxterms.identifier.projectUnfundeden
rioxxterms.versionVoRen
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2017-06-17
html.description.abstractThe 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.


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