Theology for Ethno-Indologists: The Case of a Rewritten Pūjā Text

Presenter:

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Abstract

As collaborative and project-based scholarly outputs increase, we see that scholars of South Asia traverse disciplinary bounds in order to gain new insights into the phenomena they examine. In this paper, I shall examine a cross-discipline which combines textual history and anthropology: ethno-indology. Popularised by Axel Michaels, the approach helps us better understand the agency of a text beyond the words on a page, especially in the field of ritual studies. Although the combination of anthropology and textual history allows Indologists to form new theories relating to ritual innovation, community formation and sociological changes. In this paper I argue for the inclusion of theology in order to understand the deeper-rooted forces from within the tradition that drive change, as opposed to external factors such as socio-economics. I will examine the case of the Svāminārāyaṇa-Mahāpūjā – first used in October 2018, the text is now regularly performed by its community, taking the place of previous versions of the ritual text. By comparing the two texts, we can see how the new text has been composed in relation to the old one, therefore allowing us to trace the history of this text and practice. Using ethnography allows us to capture the text’s performance. However, without understanding the theology that underpins the text, it is impossible to understand the drive behind writing this ritual anew – here, clarity in religious doctrine determined the need for a new, purpose-written text. Thus, by adding the lens of theology to the fruitful combination of historical and anthropology within ethno-indology, we may discover new explanations for phenomena in South Asian studies.