Ramdev's Mela: A Study of Pilgrimage From Western India

Presenter:

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Abstract

The saint tradition in the medieval period was a very important phenomenon across the South Asia region. In Rajasthan, Ramdev is one such 14th century figure. He is said to be a Rajput prince and avatar of lord Krishna on one hand, an Ismaili missionary, and son of a Dalit on the other. During his lifetime, he is said to have performed miracles and his teachings have a strong anti-caste assertion and egalitarian spirit. He is very popular among the lower castes and Muslim but was detested by upper castes until recently. In the 20thc. the popularity of Ramdev grew exponentially and it gets reflected in the performance tradition and ritual associated with him. I look at Pilgrimage or Mela as it is popularly called in Rajasthan, an important festival for Ramdev’s devotees. In this paper, I will look at the idea of pilgrimage, what does it mean to walk to the shrine for devotees? How do the sacred geography and sacred calendar come into being? What is the significance of the smaller shrines for the pilgrims? What are the codes and conduct during the pilgrimage? I will take one pilgrimage route as a case study and try to link it up with all the questions raised in the intervention section. What does the idea of walking in a group to a sacred place as experience and memory mean to people, which unlike orthodox pilgrimage breaks the social barrier and facilitate intermingling of people from different social status? How does it negotiate the space of pilgrimage with the older pilgrims? This paper deals with the crucial question of caste, especially in context of recent development that the number of upper caste followers has increased significantly.