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Routledge South Asian Religion Series
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E POPULAR HINDUISM, STORIES
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C THE VOICE OF MORARI BAPU IN MULTIPLE MEDIA
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Mrinal Pande
Popular Hinduism, Stories and
Mobile Performances
This book addresses the recent transformations of popular Hinduism by
focusing upon the religious cum artistic practice of Ramkatha, staged nar-
ratives of the Ramcharitmanas.
Focusing on the sensory and media experiences, the author exam-
ines the aesthetics and dynamics of the Ramkatha ethnoscape through
participant-observation in everyday practices, and how it particularly, trans-
lates politics of staging from the realm of religion. Besides being socially
constructed, the Ramkatha heavily relies on technologies for its production
and continuation. Negotiated through a telling of Hindu religious stories,
the mediated voice of Morari Bapu, a former school-teacher turned nar-
rator, is a major medium of performance transposed into multiple media
such as theatre, stage, music and spectacle. The book engages with voice
as a vehicle of meaning to scrutinize its discursive production, imagination
and re-production across mobile contexts. It investigates how the transna-
tionally disseminated practices re-contextualize religious subjectivities of
an affective community enmeshed in spatio-sensorial modes.
The book will be of interest to academic audiences in the fields of South
Asian Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, as well as Performance Studies
and Religious Studies.
Mrinal Pande is an anthropologist, formerly at Westfälische Wilhelms-
Universität Münster, Germany. Currently, she is an independent researcher
based in Berlin. Her research, publication and interests are centred on per-
formance, media representations and body-sensory complexities of religion,
particularly Hinduism.
Routledge South Asian Religion Series
15. Muslim Communities and Cultures of the Himalayas
Conceptualizing the Global Ummah
Edited by Jacqueline H. Fewkes and Megan Adamson Sijapati
16. Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia
Edited by István Keul
17. Religion and the City in India
Edited by Supriya Chaudhuri
18. Religiosity in Contemporary Sri Lanka
Multi-religious Innovation, Paradoxical Interaction, and
Shared Religious Spaces
Edited by Mark P. Whitaker, Darini Rajasingham-Senanyake and
Sanmugeswaran Pathmanesan
19. Non-Shia Practices of Muḥarram in South Asia and the Diaspora
Beyond Mourning
Edited by Pushkar Sohoni and Torsten Tschacher
20. The Transformation of Tamil Religion
Ramalinga Swamigal (1823-1874) and Modern Dravidian Sainthood
By Srilata Raman
21. Popular Hinduism, Stories and Mobile Performances
The Voice of Morari Bapu in Multiple Media
By Mrinal Pande
22. Devas, Demons and Buddhist Cosmology in Sri Lanka
Apotheosis and the Spiritual Progression of Hūniyam
By Achala Gunasekara-Rockwell
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/asianstudies/series/RSARS
Popular Hinduism, Stories and
Mobile Performances
The Voice of Morari Bapu in
Multiple Media
Mrinal Pande
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Mrinal Pande
The right of Mrinal Pande to be identified as author[/s] of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-20435-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-20436-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-26354-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003263548
Typeset in Times New Roman
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
In memory of my parents,
Dr. Ishvardas Bhavsar and Ms. Meenakshi Bhavsar
who passed away while this work was in progress.
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction and Background to the Ramkatha 1
2 Mapping the Ramkatha 41
3 Staging the Ramkatha 70
4 Sounds in Ramkatha 103
5 Attending to the Senses 125
6 Construction of a Hindu Voice 149
7 Conclusion 167
Glossary for Indian Words 174
Index 178
Acknowledgements
This doctoral thesis was supported by the German Research Foundation
(DFG) Initiative, the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the
University of Muenster. I thank Dr. Helene Basu, Professor of Social
Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology, University of Muenster for
introducing me to the promise of cultural studies, teaching the value of
ethnography and supporting my interest in the Ramkatha performances.
Thanks to Dr. Angelika Malinar, Professor of Indian Studies at the
Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich for her role in
gently pushing me to write and analyse as a scholar within the complex dis-
cipline of Hindu practices. I also thank the Collaborative Research Centre
(Sonderforschungsbereich) 1150 “Cultures of Decision-Making” for their
additional support during the last phases of this project.
At the University of Muenster, thanks are due to Dr. Martina Wagner-
Egelhaaf and Dr. Felicity Jensz who offered ample encouragement and kept
the momentum from the earliest stage of crafting this project. I am also
thankful to my supportive colleagues and friends Dr. Karin Polit, Dr. Arne
Steinforth, Dr. Barbara Meier, Dr. Anja Wagner and Dr. Julia Koch who
suggested comments and criticism. I would like to acknowledge other col-
leagues at the Institute for Ethnology, especially Ms. Stephanie Osterheider,
Helmar Kurz, Annika Strauss and Rudolf Maier for their cheerful assis-
tance at different stages of this study.
Portions of this book have been presented at the Provincial Globalisation
Research Programme, Amsterdam in 2014; Zentrum für Religion, Wirtschaft
und Politik (ZRWP), Zurich; World Congress of International Association
for the History of Religions (IAHR), Erfurt; Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Völkerkunde (DGV) Conference, Marburg and the International
Conference on Ramlila and Ramkatha Manchan at the Indira Gandhi
National Centre of Arts, (IGNCA) New Delhi in 2015. I have been fortunate
to have thoughtful discussions with Dr. Paula Richman, Dr. Linda Hess,
Dr. William Sax, Dr. Aditya Malik, Dr. Tulasi Srinivas, Dr. Molly Kaushal,
Dr. Bharat Gupt and Dr. Radhavallabh Tripathi during this course.
Writing this note of thanks makes me look back at the intense period of
sustained learning and gives me great pleasure to express my appreciation
Acknowledgements ix
and gratitude to all those who have contributed towards it. I am deeply
indebted to the considerate people whom I met at the Ramkatha, and who
invited me into their homes and lives and allowed me to be with them with my
questions, notebook and camera. They are valuable research partners, with
whom I had long conversations. Special thanks to Mr. Virajbhai Mehta, Mr.
Girishbhai Dani, Mr. Jaydevbhai Mankad, Mr. Rameshbhai Bhimjiyani,
Mr. Nagindas Sanghvi, Ms. Jyotiben Mehta, Ms. Harshaben Keister, Ms.
Hiraben Patel, Ms. Shobhaben Jataniya and Ms. Gayatriben Zhala. Also,
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Shri Morari Bapu, who
blessed this dissertation process with his simple and straightforward nature
and enabled easy access into the ashram and gurukul precincts, leading to
endless interactions with his followers.
I take this opportunity to thank my editor, Dorothea Schaefter at
Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group), for her encouragement, guidance
and much patience. I gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for
their kind comments and suggestions. I also thank Ms. Saraswathy Narayan
and Ms. Dueata Menon for their immense help in managing, copyediting
and proofreading the book manuscript.
On a personal note, I thank all my teachers, family and friends who have
been kind and supportive. It is impossible to thank enough my parents, Dr.
Ishvardas Bhavsar and Ms. Meenakshi Bhavsar who unknowingly instilled
in me a compassionate curiosity towards my surroundings and stood firmly
besides me through the unfolding of these processes. I would not have
been able to write without my friend-spouse, Dr. Amit Pande’s unflinch-
ing support and insights in my work. He constantly motivated me to think
clearly and write better: his jokes and silly antics brought laughter into my
dull moments and sharp words reminded me to be focussed on my work
whenever I drifted. Just as significant has been the presence of my boys,
Siddharth and Shashwat who read my drafts, brewed me cups of ginger tea,
pointed to missing italicised words and waited patiently for their Mumma
to finish her thesis!
My sincere gratitude extends to all those with whom I connected and know-
ingly or unknowingly shaped my thoughts, emotions and being.
