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    Band 35 | 2018 Zeitschrift fiir Indologie und Siidasienstudien mead at ant Prag: Zeitschrift fiir Indologie und Siidasienstudien herausgegeben von Hans Harder und Ute Hiisken Band 35/2018 n Ihre Buchhandlung oder an den Verlag: str. 12, 28211 Bremen, Tel. 0421-3479901 Gottingen Text von RV 228.5, 10.79.2 und 5.45.8 won Y 10.5, 28.1 und Y 51.5 Inhalt CARMEN BRANDT. Die Darstellung der nicht-sesshaften Frau in der bengalischen und euro- piiischen Literatur: ‘Bede’-Frauen und ‘Zigeunerinnen’ im Vergleich ... 1 DEEPRA DANDEKAR Pilgrimage, Authority and Subversion: Anonymous Marathi Christian Didactic Literature in Nineteenth Century India MARTIN GAENSZLE The Nepali Temple in Banaras: From Royal Gift to National Icon ......... 61 CAROLA LOREA Sectarian Scissions, Vaishnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature: A Virtual Dialogue between the Bengali Songs of Bhaktivinod Thakur (1838-1914) and Duddu Shah (1841-1911)... 83 CHRISTINA OESTERHELD An Exemplary Modern Man? Mirza Rusva’s Sharifzadah 11s MAGDALENA PIECH Translation as a ‘Translingual Act of Transcoding Cultural Material’. Two Plays by Shakespeare in Indian Languages in the Colonial Context 133 MAX STILLE Arabic Rhetoric and Islamic Homiletics in 20" Century South Asia 169 epee scetics of Kashi: an Anthropolg sea, S&B. SARASVATY 1978. A. Pxical py ion, Varanasi 1978. 2 poration. Va" Samrajyesvar Mahadev mandir tatha dharma¢g, ak Sessa, S oat samvardhan: ek janakiri. Ancient Nepal 147: 4o..4°° 9-54. mdu. The Kot Massacre 1, Letters from Kathmai acre. Kirtipu, ‘Sms, L. F. 198) ie 1973. The Center Out There: Pilgrim's Goal. History Of Relj- ns 12(3); 191-230. . sions ee ‘A History of Nepal. Cambridge 2005. Martin Gaenszle a fir Sidasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde 2 1090 Wi ae Inurin guenszle@univie-2cat Sectarian Scissions, Vaishnava Deviancy, and Tra- jectories of Oral Literature: A Virtual Dialogue be- tween the Bengali Songs of Bhaktivinod Thakur (1838-1914) and Duddu Shah (1841-1911) Carola Lorea A prologue on contemporary and social relevance’ When Gourango Hazra of the Hindu-dominated Beldanga village in Murshi- dabad took on a Muslim Fakir as his guru, he was beaten up, his hut burnt down, and a boycott was imposed on him. For the crime of singing songs in Durlabhpur, Nadia district, Latif Shekh was killed with a Spear and left impaled on the ground.’ Many are forced to leave their village due to the threat of having their huts burnt down, their long hair cut, or their ek'taras* destroyed. According to Shakti Nath Jha’s report, an assembly instituted in Rajpur village went so far as to proclaim that if you kill seven Bauls (bau!) you will surely go to heaven (JuA 2001: 37). After his fieldwork in Murshi- dabad, Jha revealed that out of 218 Baul families, 134 have been harassed in one way or the other (JHA 2001: 42). Only a few of these incidents reach the public and are echoed in the media.‘ One recent episode should clarify how persecution and discrimination operates even far away from some remote villages of rural Bengal, and how close to Europe these operations can take place through the global and transnational relevance of powerful religious This article was made possible thanks to the institutional and financial support of a DAAD esearch grant at the University of Heidelberg (April 2017 — January 2018), and a Gonda fellowship at the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden (January - June 2018) Earlier versions of a paper on which this article is based have been presented at the Univer- sity of Rome for the conference “Understanding religious radicalism: discourses, identities and representations within and across South Asia” and a longer draft was presented at the University of Heidelberg, South Asia Institute. I am very thankful to Lucian Wong for sharing his knowledge and offering useful comments which helped to improve this paper. These incidents of persecution have been described in detail in Banerjee (1997) and Jha (2001). An ektdrd is a one-string drone instrument quite typical of solo Baul performances. For example, (n. a.) “Baul hacked to death in Jessore”, Binews24.com, 25 February 2014; and Ruben Banerjee’s “Religious persecution of Baul singers of Bengal”, India Today, 15 April 1997, Zeitschrift fOr Indologie und Sdasienstudien 35 (2018) 83-114 and Haridasi’ came to Italy last year, th, ft Sotynanda to sing Baul songs and travel in Europe, i ‘concert in Villa Vrindavana, a beat; shad been invited 10 perform for ‘of Florence —a place where one can rata ISKCON center in the coun i and even Vedic martial arts, The day be. Sanskrit, yor, vegetarian coms organizers gave a phone call to Satyanand, fore te performance, Ot that the concert was canceled and that “because ao Ha ey "6 the temple authorities said that they mae they are 7: from the humiliation, the performers syf_ ‘not welcome to perform. Apart iioney that they would have camed fr fered a loss in terms es Eetnmithemscives'as Vai oe ee, ‘and as they do not see any contradiction between the two (baisnab ‘ould not believe that they were forbidden to sing their songs of oe toe von to Radha and Krishna at the ISKCON centre, een ing neatly demonstrates that the implications at stake in a - ? A Anibersile are not at all confined to the 19 century, = aceaeap a — religious history, its longue durée and its present relevance need to be underlined in order to understand the ways in which ‘many lives have been —and still are — put at risk because of the demarcation ied lidation of religious identities. In order to reflect the synchronic and diachronic relevance of marginalizing discourses in a continuum, my methodology combines the study of modern literary sources with ethno- graphic sources collected during extended field-work in West Bengal (2011 -2015, winter 2016/7 and winter 2017/8), employing oral interpretations and contemporary exegeses to expand and complement the available written evidence. This article is about songs as mirrors of sectarian scissions. They reflect the reasons why inthe final decades of the 19* century, Bengal witnessed a shizomatic appearance of religious movements which were not previously wn sso, sesorted several C4 Bauls (see Satyananda’s website at the Oni http://www. satyanandadasbaul.com/ last Sectarian Scissions, Vaignava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 85 “<<. © ——_ defined individually and demarcated with a separate name. These religious nities — for example those that came to be known as Baul, Sahajiya (sahajisa), Kartabhaja (kartabhaja), Matua (matuya) etc.’ — are formed by Jow-caste or so-called ‘untouchable’ people from subaltern milieus. They ted and often claim to be originated from a religious substratum known as Gaudiya/Bengali Vaishnavism, or Chaitanya Vaishnavism.* In this arti- le, I will outline the exclusionary politics of 19% century Bengali Vaish- navism in its approach towards the ‘apasampradayas’ (deviant sects) — a category which was employed to define a clearer border between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. While scholarly literature tends to treat heterodox lineages as passive subjects in the orthodoxization of Vaishnavism, I will focus on the agency and the repercussions among the esoteric and heteropractical sub- jects who responded to accusations and marginalization from the dominant Vaishnava discourse.’ A short background will be needed in order to track 7 Common threads among these communities of low-caste practitioners are mainly the re- jection of the caste system and proclamation of equality among all castes; a strong empha- sis on disciplining the body understood as a microcosm and a vehicle to attain perfection; the rejection of celibate renunciation; the devotion towards unselfish love deprived of lust (prem) as a cosmogonic and soteriological ideal; the adoption of sahaja (innate, sponta- neous, simple) as a religious path devoid of exterior ritualism and as the ultimate state of realization. On the Baul tradition see Jud (1999); Openstiaw (2002); Lozea (2016). On Vaishnava Sahajiyas see Haves (2000, 2006) and Sarpapuikaky (2015); on the Kartabha- jas see BaNenset (1995) and Unsan (2001); on the Matua movement see BANDYOPADHYAY (1997); Bairacya (1999); MukHERIEE (2018), # See Cuakravarri (1985). Throughout the article I will refer to Bengali Vaishnavism un- derstood as the devotional religious movement that is comprised of numerous different schools and lineages inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 - 1534) and his follow- ers. Some of these could not be contained in the institutional ambit of Gauriya Vaish- navism (Bg. gawriva, Skt. gaudiya; also Anglicized as Gaudiya) for several reasons that concem doctrinal, practical and socioeconomic divergences (see Buarta 2017). Gauriya Vaishnavism owes its name to the region (Gaur) where Chaitanya and his associates have operated. It refers to the institutionally sanctioned form of Vaishnavism that grounds it- self in the teachings of Chaitanya, its authorized hagiographies, and the writings of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan. Through the foundation of the Gauriya Math and Mission (1920), Gauriya Vaishnavism became a modem and transnational religious institution, although it is not a monolithic and homogeneous entity. All Bengali Vaishnavas worship = although in radically different manners ~ the divine couple of Radha and Krishna, where Krishna is seen as the supreme bliss that only Radha, a model for the perfect devotee, can enjoy; they revere Chaitanya as the dual incarnation of Radha and Krishna; and they con- sider part of their practice singing and/or listening to devotional hymns in congregational sessions called kirtan, * The use of the categories orthodox/heterodox is certainly controversial in the context of Indic religions, where orthopraxis is historically more relevant than orthodoxy (RINEHART 2004; 408; Orson 2007: 9; NicoLson 2010: 171), Nevertheless, in the context of mod- ¢m Bengal, religious reformers employ similar binaries to refer to their sphere of action (Vaishnava versus ‘abaisnab’; four authorized sampraddys versus illegitimate ‘apasam- «ation of heterodox Vaishnava linea; the istry of ee Bauls and Fakits, who inhabit a grey these communi ead devotional Vaishnavism, have sutfereg ae anes by conservative Hindus as well as Islamic reform ccution and opr against Bauls have started to appear in the faa ntury and possibly culminated with the fatwa agains Siesui Reyazuddin Ahmad in 1926 (Baul dhvamsa Phatoya) aside the Islamic discourse on heresy and persecution, and in- ‘stead focus on the attacks on the non-pure or “deviant” Vaishnavas (asuddig nab) orchestrated by newly established Vaishnava ay. ne ities. The decision is driven by the fact that there has been some work done on the ization of Islam in Bengal and more specifically on the ion of Bauls and Fakirs (JuA 2001, Caupxuri 2014). But there js ‘hardly any scholarly work on how the radicalization of a Bengali Vaishnava identity impacted less powerful communities of low-caste practitioners, ‘The reasons for this gap are multiple. They include the fact that the global spread of Gauriya Vaishnavism (BRYANT er al. 2004; SarpeLLa 2013) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) — popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement — successfully established a public image of a tolerant, peaceful and quintessentially non-violent religion. To ee! fecited to focus on how the forma- f Gauriya /aishnava canons and institutions might have entail ‘exclusion of low-caste communities of practitioners ad Ertuen be thodox Vaishnavism is itself far from being a homogeneous institution: it = apscoagia trajectories and currents which are often in conflict another. Its respected forefathers, Bhaktivinod Thakur and his son Bhaktivedanta eee had different visions, which in turn differ con- eo of the ISKCON establishment, Orthodox . ra any case carefully distinguish themselves from + sn heater eae eee, among these communities define ae of ving from, Chaitanya Vaishnavism — for ‘spiritual pedigree’ to Chaitanya, Nityananda, or Ni- PIM €s.).On te eso sap vor ea subjects equally employ distancing cate over overs prone Sominant authorities, e.g, defining them- en oe Vaden, vrasik’ bhakia) versus conservative, fanatic ‘Kenan he 01m ‘orthodox! and } Scholarship on Bengali Vaishnavism has fa 44 *heterodox’ for the last ninety years (e.g. in Sectarian Scissions, Vaisnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 87 tyananda’s family members as their first preceptors, or *ddigurus’!® ~ they were not included in the modern community-building project that gave birth fo global Vaishnavism. Scholars such as Joseph O'Connell, Jason Fuller, Ferdinando Sardella, and Varuni Bhatia, have discussed the 19th century Mreation of Gauriya Vaishnava institutions asthe result of anxieties and mor- al concerns of the bhadralok (members of Western educated urban elites of professional. salaried, mostly upper caste Hindus). Their works accurately describe the formation of a neo-Vaishnava community that sought to refine, restore, and rehabilitate a presumably lost and corrupted form of Benga- i Vaishnavism during the formation of a nationalist consciousness. In the process, these reformers defined and disciplined Vaishnavism, sanctioning ps, texts and practices that appeared to be ‘proper’ and ‘pure’ (suddha baisnab), while rejecting and excluding others which did not reflect their mores and were accused of being deviant and heretic (apasampraday). Ac- cording to Lucian Wong (2018), oblique remarks condemning heteroprac- tical subjects are found also in pre-modern Vaishnava literature; hence the modern crystallization of a Vaishnava orthodoxy is not to be considered as an unprecedented rupture to be ascribed to the colonial encounter, but rather as the continuation of a much older doctrinal debate around deviancy. While Wong has remarkably problematized the notion that anti-heterodoxy polemics are a 19" century bhadralok phenomenon, it is hard to deny that explicit condemnations, often revolving around obscenity and indecency,'' expressed in terms of communal identities, are indeed part of a new and un- precedented vocabulary. What these academic works often do not talk about is; what happened to those religious communities that in a short time-span became heterodox? What was the impact of these newly created criteria to define who is a proper Vaishnava and who is a ‘bad Vaishnava’? How were these criteria accepted or contested by the groups that were excluded from the formation of a modern and polished Vaishnava identity? Most studies seem to treat Baul, Darbesh (darbes), or Sahajiya communities! in general, © Chaitanya and Nityananda are the 15 century saintly figures who are revered as the founders of ecstatic, devotional Vaishnavism in its Bengali declension, Some unorthodox Tineages maintain that Nityananda, their primordial guru, was the guru of Chaitanya. Other lineages trace back their spiritual ancestry to Nityananda’s son Birbhadra (BHATTACARYA 1957: 44; IsLam 2004: 117). "See BaNerice (1987). The representation of the subaltem, the Dalits, and especially Dalit women, as shameless and promiscuous, is also analyzed in the work of Crary Gurra (2016: 14-36), Sahajiya in the study of Bengali religions mostly refers to Vaishnava Sahajiya lineages, Whose literary corpus has been only partially studied (among the earliest authors, see Bast 1932, DAs 1972), Baul, Darbesh, Kartabhaja and other groups have been often referred to 45 Sahajiya because their goal as well as their way is inscribed in the polysemantic term —— CCC elites’ condemnations. By contrast, | aj ‘as passive recipients of tee not simply excluded from the process of ia show tat thes ine nections and dialogues (although of an uneasy the) and responses fo each other's criticism, shaped qh cand asymmetrical type) Bengali religious identities in relational terms r jon ofthese moto ng merely excluded from the modern Vaishne, also argue that, far took place, and low-caste communities were not aly iad engaged in strategies of resistance and survival, : a watts these questions . Iwill use predominantly literary sources, in ‘nation with oral sources collected during several periods of extensive combination field-work with Baul, Darbesh and Sahajiya Practitioners, as sa = Sareea the Vaishnava community presence on the web, This article leads to a clearer comprehension of how these dynamics of ing self-representation and religious identities profoundly affected the developments of Bengali oral literature, leaving clear signs in the language of the songs. religious movements ae i. themselves with a rich repertoire of oral narratives transmit ough poetry and songs, in a style that has been often adopted by urban intellectuals and Serres for bhadralok audiences (e.g. the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose songs borrowed freely from the Baul genre). The history of Bengal, espe- ially its religious history, is mirrored in the history of Bengali songs. Songs in Bengal are not confined to the realm of entertainment and musical aes- thetics, as they represent, for several communities, a veritable encyclope- ‘dia of beliefs and practices, and a vehicle for the transference of traditional an orb Paper ar ‘Professional performers genres i S, and singing, “s ‘Sarbadhikary reminds us, are, despite marked ae hee ely central to all Vaishnava religious lives (2015: 24). In this article, I will Picco wh Ssclise therelone they reject caste, patriarchy, scripture-based ies oh mcrae Schaja 2s the youl entails the achievement of an ecstat Manscewbace, and even berween , between pure and impure, between immanence fie Sec ot Sata cages na. id Miva. Mn the modern interpretation aici ha es waage, Saaiya shale 's insead Ylowed as cheap, mundane and SC mmthing Wiking 3 tegines t offense, to refer to "those addicted See ae i it scenes Tay pp, Pils Pratoupnsa sis fvaniquote ore Pr races UB) An insighiful comparison between the AYA 8 Castiys Veishnaves van be found in Dis (1978, chapter Sectarian Scissions, Vaisnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 89 ay the complexity of this phase of cultural and religious history by dis- cussing and juxtaposing the songs of two composers who lived in the same time period and grew up some fifty kilometers apart: Bhaktivinod Thakur (Bhaktibinod Thakur), and Duddu Shah (Duddu Sah). Bhaktivinod Thakur, born as Kedarnath Datta, was a high caste, Kayastha pureaucrat, appointed as Deputy Magistrate under the British colonial gov- ernment. Born in Ula (Birnagar), a village in Nadia (now in West Bengal), he became possibly the most prolific writer, thinker and publisher of modern Gauriya Vaishnavism, later reclaimed as the forefather of the global ISK- CON movement.'? Duddu Shah, born in a Muslim family in the village of Beltola, Jhenaidah (now part of Bangladesh) in 1841, was a practitioner and a composer from the Baul tradition (JAHANGIR 1964-5; JHA 2012). Interna- tionally known for its music and spiritual songs, the Baul tradition, far from being a systematic and unitary school of thought, represents an antinomian, anthropocentric, humanistic religious strand with explicit Tantric overtones jn which Vajrayana, Vaishnava and Sufi ideas on the self and the universe merged, based on techniques to know and control the microcosmic body (Lorea 2016: 28-77). Duddu Shah was a disciple of the more well-known preceptor and composer Lalon Fakir (Lalan Phakir), whose songs have been popularized, recorded and discussed in numerous scholarly works (e.g. CaKRABARTI 1992; SALomon 1991), having gained the status of national cul- tural heritage.'* I propose to compare and juxtapose these two repertoires because, al- though the two composers might not have personally interacted during their lifetime, their songs seem to speak to each other quite directly. In this virtual dialogue, Bhaktivinod Thakur represents the views of an educated elite of Vaishnava reformers, while Duddu Shah could be considered as the spokes- person for antinomian and marginalized Sahajiya lineages and their struggle to maintain their traditional authority and status. During the composers’ life- time, this demarcation line, as it will emerge in the course of the paper, was often blurred and impermanent, leaving open and overlapping spaces for dialogue, loans, adaptations and exchange. At the same time it was precisely this unsettling ‘fuzziness’ between religious boundaries that powerful voices of both communities, such as Bhaktivinod and Duddu, attempted to address and resolve by defining the borders of their revised religious selves. aa © On the life and works of Bhaktivinod Thakur, apart from his own epistolary autobiography 4, [DIAKUK 1916), see Das (1999), ‘The official page of UNESCO on the Baul tradition in Bangladesh can be found at the Url Hitps://ich uneseo, org/en/RL/oaul-songs-00107 (last accessed 21/09/2018), | views and changing articulations of 5 work of O'CONNELL (1982), FULLER (2 thoroughly Bes GeBritish officials, in missionary <” ‘Buaria (2017). in the eyes ety 2009) and Buamis 01) ecolonial ethnographers, Bengali Vaishnavas in counts and in rch ibed as a very large — and very depraved ~ group eee ing Protestant and Victorian concerns for mo. ny: these sources describe Bengali Vaishnavas 9s of evil repute, those who have no relatives, widows, individuals too people ‘plead a steady working life, and prostitutes [...]. They are idle pea : » (Dr. Wise in Risley 1953 [1891]: 259-60), a on of tir festivals, Lal Behari Dey’s account eloquently this ive on low-caste Vaishnava devotees and performers: shows this Ps sas ig ie. Vaishnava ascetics], Bauls [...] they danced “Bairagis [bairdgi, with wild excitement [...] they shouted Ee . [le and Krish- na tll their throats became hoarse. They fi at the mouth; they cut religious somersaults; men and women danced together promiscuous- Jy, the latter excelling the former in the violence of their gestures [...] dressed in primitive nudity [...] he was singing, dancing and aman Prismit ih ig shouting at a tremendous rate, now falling to the ground, now jumping up, now twisting his body in varied contortions [...] anyone not being acquainted with the manners of the Vaishnavas would think that the man had gone “daft’. But the madder a Vaishnava is, the holier he is deemed by the people” (Dey 1874: 231-2, quoted in Buatia 2017: 82- 3, my emphases). Ecstatic and erotic Vaishnava devotion, with its unruly use of the body, ‘was portrayed with a particular emphasis on obscenity and sexual promis- cuity, often exacerbated and mirrored in the construction of the character of the Vaishnava woman (baisnabi). These views have been reproduced by oo Narerem facirs inspired their urge to clearly differ- pecrren coordina’ unruly and suspiciously erotic devotion of Vaishnavas, traditional preceptors (gdsdi) and performers “irranis, kabigal, baul), . oe Bengali Vaishnavism often emphasizes that until the late IF century, leworta realm of religiosity was made of loosely amalga- wae FT Te eric a Practices, with porous boundaries (FuLL- Not mean that in pre-colonial Bengal there were 183-200; Wong ; authority and doctrinal discrepancies (SrEw- 2018), but rather, that these discrepancies did not need to sectarian Scissions, Vaisnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 91 the shape of separate religious identities, nor were they condemned on moral grounds. This “untidy” Vaishnava world (BHATIA 2017: 54-89) be- came consolidated, structured, and institutionalized, through the auspices of the vernacular press and the agency of some members of the bhadralok ety; notably among them Kedarnath Datta, later known as Bhaktivinod Thakur (1838-1914); the seventh of his fourteen children, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati (1874-1937) and their close associates. They began to intervene i traditional spheres of indigenous religious activity by restructuring and reconfiguring traditions (Fut LER 2009) in their attempts to respond to the harsh missionary and colonial criticism which I have mentioned above. The vilification of heterodox Vaishnavas started to enter dominant narratives, as exemplified in this song by Bhaktivinod Thakur (1916b, song n. 6 of Baul sarigit):"* matha nerd kap'ni para, tilak nake, Skin-head wearing tight loincloth, gala mala sandal make-up on his nose, rocking rosaries on the throat, dekh'te baisnaber mata, sal sakta trying to look like a Vaishnava, kajer bela acting like a Shakta"® in fact. Calling it sahaja-worship he plays the uncle with the girl of someone else.'7 sahaj bhajan karchen mamu sange laye parer bala Bhadralok Vaishnava enthusiasts took great pains since the last decades of the 19th century to reclaim Vaishnavism as a noble indigenous tradition and to rehabilitate its reputation, setting it apart from low-caste, antinomian, sus- piciously Tantric, Vaishnava movements. A crucial notion to be employed for this purpose, I argue, is the notion of apasampraday — a term purportedly used first by Bhaktivinod Thakur (CakraBarti 1986: 6), widely reiterated by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founding 15 Unless otherwise specified, I use the 2002 edited version of Bau! sarigit by DaSaratha-su- ta-disa (see THAKUR 2002). The earliest publication, according to the latter, is dated 1893. However, the earliest edition that I could access for consultation is dated 1916 (or gaurab- da 430 in the Bengali Vaishnava calendar; see THAKUR 1916b). % Shaktism in Bengal is a widely spread form of Hindu Tantric religiosity in the form of devotion to the goddess, the divine manifestation of creative and manifested feminine power or Sakti, in her several forms (see McDaniet. 2004), Vaishnavas and Shaktas have often been seen as antagonistic sects. However, Bengali Vaishnavism has several “Shakta components’ (for instance, Radha is worshipped as a Sakti of Krishna; Dimocx 1966) and, ‘on the other hand, the Shakta cult of the Goddess has been domesticated and Vaishnavized . ‘according to some scholars (e.g, Dov 2005). All translations from Bengali are mine unless otherwise specified, ‘92 | Carola Loree = , more recently, by his American follow of ISKCON, Sion bad, defective, deviating, + samprajy,> ‘The term (apa prefix ty, often translated as sect) is glossed as a qa a religious ‘sect and used by orthodox Vaishnava spokespersons to refe, viant religious that they envisage as degenerate, immoral, or unau to those communities 1 claim to be Vaishnava, but in fact, purportedly, they thorized, that pretend ora Vaishnavas’, Shaktas, or Muslims disguised are 65+ 2; Swami 1991), femponort NI 1881; 65-9, 91-2; ) as Vaishnavas ee roca a pre-existing riddle popularized by a con scholar from South India who supposedly moved t Gone noe 1780s, Totaramdas Babaji.'* The riddle identifies thir, teen deviant sects. These sects, which came to be defined as apa: sampraday, appear ively and in extremely negative terms in the prolific writings ‘of Bhaktivinod Thakur and his followers. Since the last two decades of the 19" century, a number of periodicals and books started to appear — both in Bengali and later also in English — ex. plicitly aimed to define who is a legitimate Vaishnava and who falls outside of the parameters of decency and discipline, through the merciless denigra- tion of the so-called apasampradays.'” Among the first publications of this ‘kind, two Bengali periodicals were particularly influential in setting a new religious trend and establishing the definitions of proper and authoritative ‘Vaishnavism set against the apasampradayss or “sinister so-called devotees”, ™ Auk Baul, Karibhai, Nera, Darbes, Sdi/ Sahajia, Sakhibhabaki, Smarta, Ja-Gosai / ‘Ati Bari, Cirddhari, Gaurdniga Nagart/Totd kahe e teror ‘Satiga nahi kari (Tota says, ad ‘hese thirteen [sects] I {do not associate). The riddle, and the emergence of the apasam. ‘Prodi category, isbriely discussed in: JA (2001: 17-20); DAs (1993: 38-39): Caxnansnrt (1986: 6; 2017: 307}; and in Sexuax Baxovoranuvay (2004: 85-6) — where he erroneously ‘eferred to Totaramdas as Tota Puri. Totaramdas is said to have reintroduced kirtan in the around 1838 (S17 Visnupriya-patrika 1898: 83-85). ‘on. selected list of publications where the invective is most prominently pres- epg oapten Bhaktibinod Thakur (1st issue 1881); the periodical dr han far Sis Kunis Go (Ist issue 1891); Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvat, eamanee, ce condecnstion Of ‘perverted enjoying mood’ or Sou fanige ce een Gosvamt, Sahajisa dalan (Crushing the Saha- ao fn re id volume 1975]; Suhrotra Swami. Apasampradayas: snes Bhaktivedanta Academy, Mayapur. 1991; Sudarsan Ray. sections of Vaishnava religion), Sri Gou- - BS 1401 (1994-5); Various authors. sre you Gauriya?) Sri Gopinath Gauri Yardyana Gosvami Maharaja. Discern- tod Gauri Vaishnavism versus Sahajiyaion: Vrindavan, Gauriya Vedanta . 2014; Online dium of we y ‘compendium o should not become Sahajiyas. bitp:/Jwww prabhupada- Sectarian Scissions, Vaisnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 93 the Sahajiyas.®” A few examples from such periodicals can clarify what were most frequent accusations directed to the “unauthorized” Vaishnavas, related to divergences in doctrine as well as praxis cating fish and Employing marihuana for ritual purposes; lacking concern for the respect of the conventional hierarchies of the caste system (varnasramadharma); wor ipping femininity and giving a prominent ritual role to women; according fundamental importance to bodily practices and so on. These accusations, as aleverage to stipulate the superiority of the newly defined Vaishnava ortho- doxy,. appear in a specular manner in the verses and rhymes of Bhaktivinod’s songs, as I will show in section 6. In the first issue of SAsANATOSANI (1881: 68) we read: “Pseudo-Vaishna- yas such as the Baul, Darbesh etc. will often abandon their wives and indulge in licentious association with other women, arguing that such repellent be- haviour is actually sddhana”. In the eighth issue of Sri Bisnupriya Patrika, an article reproduced a debate between a householder Vaishnava and a Darbesh.?! The householder clearly rejects the Darbesh as a member of the larger Bengali Vaishnava community: “the manners and rituals of a Darbesh are completely different from those of a Vaishnava. Their inclinations and engagements are extremely despicable. Those who use scented oils, tobacco and fish; who keep the company of women; who eat repugnant food [...] cannot be called Vaishnava in our estimation” (Sri Bisnupriya Patrika 8, 8 (1898): 349; quoted in Buaia 2017: 144-5). While this identity-making operation through the exclusion of less pow- erful, subaltern practitioners was taking place in the purging and ennobling mission of the urban bhadralok reformers, the accused lineages did not simply remain silent looking at their tradition being condemned. I suggest that it is exactly around these years that in the songs of Baul practitioners a sense of distinction and belonging is set forth vis-a-vis orthodox Vaishna- vas. Whereas Baul songs would typically stress equality among men, the fictitiousness of religious affiliation, and the uselessness of. dividing mankind ® Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Letter to Hamsadutta, Calcutta, 70-09-02. See Pra~ ‘bhupada Vision, Uri: https://prabhupadavision.com/2013/03/02/no-spiritual-link/ last ac- cessed 22/09/2018. * Compared to Baul and Sahajiya, the term Darbesh (echoing the Persian, dervis) has a more obvious connection to Sufism (on the similarities and the shared cultural ambience of Sufi = Vaishnava identities at the grassroots level in Bengal, see Nicuo1as 1969; Castan 1995; Stewart 2001; Is.am 2004; Ernst 2005). At present, Darbesh lineages are active throug- hout Bengal and some practitioners obtained (at least outwardly) status and recognition in the mainstream society, entering the gateway of the show-business through “fusion” and ‘folk’ music. See URL htips://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/eity-musici- ‘ans-pay-tribute-to-kalachand-darbesh/articleshow/64958328.cms also URL hitps://www. 190950 94 | Carola Loree ‘emerged as a response 43, The songs of Duddu Shah: 19 century Baul song-texts also talk sectarian aie Pee categories, outlining differences about doctrines. I als, behaviors and doctor cism from hegemonic polemical voices, ritu. to consider that these kinds of Songs Taking distance from ‘the Vaishnavag: was an erudite and well-read disciple of Lajoy Duddu Shah re on Duddu Shah is scare . Although scholarly Be pepoeredicin) histories. Duddu Shah was farmer (according to different ‘Arabic and Persian. His father Vaishnava literature with a local pan aoe caritamrta (JHA 2012: 9) — the most popular hagiog- by heart the Caitanya ictory, can be ‘ the fourth son of the Muslim preacher and/o, I ce. some infor. found in vernacular publications and oral sources) Jharu Mandal. He was educated in purportedly sent him to study Sanskrit Scrip- Itis believed that he knew a verses of Chaitanya, ubiquitously recited, interpreted and revereq a ds of Vaishnavism (Stewart 2010). Whereas his preceptor, peer never employed the term *Baul’ in the songs attributed to him, ‘Duddu’s songs might be the first place in which a self-definition as ‘Baul’ is advocated for and confidently expressed.” See, for instance, the following song - rendered rather freely, like all ensuing examples, to convey the as- ssonances and associations of the original: A famous composition by Lalon Fakir (? ~ 1890) says: “That day Hindu, Muslim, Bud- dhis. Caistian, they won't stay as separate castes and clans; but when is such a society go- ing © show up” the Un , 2002: 516-7; a performance by Fakir Russell Shah can be found hiv=CZSIPEjhqVI last accessed 21/09/2018) Aas : rs ae says: “Everybody asks Lalon, what is your caste? ee \caste look like? I have never seen it with my own eyes!" (Ah'- i 4 famous version performed live by Farida Parveen can be found here ‘- 'youstoe combwatchv=XCInVRBCLGQ last accessed 21/09/2018). wort of mention are Sabatgir's Baul gan @ Duddu $ah (1964-5) and Sakti Exceptions i Sits Dud SA's padabalt (2012), * Bebone, fn i LaeTink 06 4 0008 9 indicate specific group of people, haul as an adjective has ‘been used i premodern {0 express a state of exalted madness or devo tonal ecstasy ones Itty Va athe yin moved cer terms forthe definition of his path sectarian Scissions, Vaignava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 96 Vaishnava religions — Baul Baisnab dharma ek nahe to bhai aul and . not one, brother; there is nO connection Baul dharmer sdthe baisnaber yog nai etween Vaishnava and Baul religion. va ‘i ‘The Vaishnavas are a distinct bises sampraday baisnab sect; : Chanting prayers to the five pajica tattve kare japatap of God they always wear a rosary of tul'st mald anusthane, sadai pasil beads. ‘The Bauls worship the Human = Baul manus bhaje where s/he is gracefully pres- _yekhdne nitya biraje ent, jmmersed in the nectar of cos- — bastute amrta maje, mogonic matter: . hence women are their com- panions. [..-] The practice of Darbesh Bauls — darabest bauler kriya Birbhadra [son of Nityananda] —Bir'bhadra jane sei dhara knows that strand Thus Duddu here reports the Darabes Lalan Sair kathay, Duddu words of Darbesh Lalon [La- janay tdi. Jon Fakir]. | ndrri sangi tai. (Jahangir 1964-5: 11) In this song, Duddu seems to appropriate the categories outlined by Gauriya Vaishnavas and use them for defending and describing his own community, and to establish their sense of distinction and superiority. Vaishnavas need exterior and formal practices: wearing necklaces, reciting prayers, perform- ing rituals, But the Bauls’ doctrine is in the present (bartamdne), in the body: it revolves around the substances which are the cause of human life (bastu). “Baul is one who looks for God within the human”, says the refrain of per- haps the most popular song composed by Duddu Shah, recently performed on a Bangladeshi TV channel by Arup Rabi. % Ye khdje manuse Khoda sei to Baul. See hitps://www.youtube.com/watehv=SWk2Ty ©Z5WU, Among the other songs of Duddu in which he systematically explains the charac- teristics of the sddhand of the Bauls, see especially song n, 81 in JuA (2012; 88). with sectarian divergences, Duddu says: song dealing In another ‘apne 1 ccinieda Nader gora Caitanya yare kay ‘The fair-skinned saint of. = ee pani Sakta Bharattr® kache Sakti mantra og the Soa mnanda [Ray] __ give Rdmanander katche maar ‘on the Baul doctrine. Baul dharmer tattva poche mate shipped the Human and —tabe to manus bhaje, param tatrva ined the highest teachings. [...] pay. [...] sei tattva bhai abasese, sei tattva bhai abasese, Baisnabera ney. ‘The monkey-ascetics don’t know a markat bairagi yara ek aksar nd pay go tara Well-read in sacred scriptures, just Gita Bhagabat para, pandit saday tilak mala kaupin atar dal rosaries and tight underwear know Jane né he tara e sakal ... (ahatigir 1964-5: 66) Jn this interesting song, Duddu Shah says that Chaitanya was trained by Ra- mananda Ray ~a Sidra by birth — in the techniques and practices followed sebraery Reading between the lines, with the help of both intertextuality”” oral exegesis, the verses imply that Chaitanya underwent a specific a Practicing in couple with a female consort (who appears ‘peatetly in the Songs of Duddu under the name of Sathi). These narratives S {altemative Chaitanya are widespread among Sahajiya lineages, but they 7a absolutely despised in orthodox circles. The song represents the figure (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a complex character, who escapes the rigidi- = Neha Babel the ascetic who vere s gave sannydls to Chaitan; ae a naif" in the of tis sng lies by Jus 2017, 40), Wy, replaces “sakta Bhdratt” in the Betis of tsar cae nen Chaiteny’ won people's hearts /all the mischievous jue Lorentpend ited the saintly reincarnation of the Human they realizes, sdnvik}, thowe sinners called him epilep Wess h island orgie ete 8024 Oh the Vaishnavas was cresied/ and all he 08 bo any wo, "ike Gown Sanskrit scripusses / These Brahmin demons do PAW he howe dori les) uh DN BLS Scissions, Vaisnava Deviancy, and Trajectories of Oral Literature | 97 Sectar of its orthodox portrait: it reminds bhadralok Vaishnava revivalists that their icon of Vaishnava devotion — often juxtaposed as antithetical to Shakta tices (as explicitly stated in the first song of Bhaktivinod quoted in sec- tion 3) — was initiated with a Shakta mantra. According to oral exegesis, his Shakta initiation reveals that he intimately worshipped the Mother and oth- er incarnations of divine femininity. Duddu suggests that the revolutionary teachings of devotion to mankind (manus bhajan, which in the language of the Bauls refers to secret practices that involve a ritual consort) have then been appropriated by the Vaishnavas. But Duddu warns the listeners: the fake Vaishnava ascetics nowadays do not know a syllable of these esoteric teachings — they simply wear sectarian marks and engage in futile scholastic readings. Specular to the bhadralok Vaishnava accusations against Bauls, which describe fake ascetics as showing long beards and a saintly appear- ance to take advantage of their credulous devotees,” the songs of Duddu use irony and cynicism to describe Brahmins, Vaishnava ascetics (bairagi, and nerd ner?) and the Kartabhajas (whom he calls “the Ghoshpara follow- ers of Sati Ma’) as opportunistic braggers, merely interested in initiating a swarm of disciples (see JAHANGIR 1964-5, song 96 p. 47; and song 138 p. 69). His verses ridicule institutionalized practices — whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian (see song 150, 151, 153) — thus giving back to his lineage cred- ibility and dignity in the public sphere through songs. Looking for God in sacred scriptures, he argues, is like licking the paper where the word ‘sugar’ (cini) is written, and expecting to learn from it about the taste of sweetness (song n. 152). 4, Reactions, resistance and sectarian divisiveness A recurrent narrative maintains that because of societal pressures and suc- cessful corrective measures, heteropractical groups are about to die out and their numbers have drastically declined (see OrensHaw 2004: 107). In the words of a contemporary Vaishnava preacher of global fame, “since we are preaching, they [the Sahajiyas] have somehow stopped”. Subjected to the pressures to subscribe to a new standard of morality, it is plausible that several Sahajiya practitioners merely “stopped”. Contrarily to this trope of loss, however, many other groups have responded to their *be- Coming heterodox’ in several different ways. Some groups reacted with ex- Plicit and visible acts of resistance, and some adopted strategies of survival ae w e See for example Bhaktivinod Thakur’s Baul sangit (1916b), song n.5. Excerpt from Srila Bhaktivedinta Narayana Gosvamt Maharaja's morning discourse in Olpe, Germany, on February 21, 2003, a “hidden transcripts” (Scott 1990) in the re. and self-defense, enacting Tm ordinate. For instance, visible tee omnia ie ce of bhadralok Vaishnava authorities, Ac. tok lace