1 Zdeněk Štipl: The Christian Ashram Movement in India Abstract This thesis deals with the Christian Ashram Movement. The Movement represents a remarkable experiment of Christian inculturation in India, through which Christianity attempted to penetrate the cultural as well as the religious world of India. In spite of its long- lasting presence in India, approaching almost 2000 years, Christianity is still generally regarded a foreign element in the country. The story of Christian ashrams has been developing continuously throughout the 20th century and the idea of an ashram can be found in use across the various Christian denominations. First ashrams were established by the Protestant churches, especially in southern India. However, the Catholic Church got hold of the Movement in the late sixties, as a consequence of changes that were brought into the life of the Church by the Second Vatican Council. The Movement reached its peak in the seventies and eighties. At that time the number of ashrams in existence exceeded one hundred, they were found in every linguistic region of India, and the idea of a Christian ashram spread out not only to the neighbouring countries, but even across the globe. In the first chapter a brief overview of the history of Christianity in India is presented through the prism of...

Abstract: This is a qualitative studie about how devotees to the Guru Mata Amritananda Mayi relate to her and how that changes through time. The material has been collected through five interviews and through participant observation in ”Ammas” ashram Amritapuri in Kerala, south of India. The result showed that the devotees relate to Amma as a mother in some aspects and as a ”teacher” in other aspects, but they all have gained hundred percent trust for her. They all related to her different in the beginning as a devotee than after some years with her which shows that Amma could work as a transitionalobject for the devotees. The question about whether the devotees progress and cultivate”selfactivity” after this process could be answered with both yes and no. The devotees whom was interviewed seemed to have cultivated a lot more ”selfactivity” than the devotees that was observed during the time in the ashram and whom hadn't been following Amma as long time as the interviewees.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

The Sounds of Satyagraha: Gandhi's Use of Sung-Prayers and Ritual M.K. Gandhi's work towards Indian independence was influenced significantly by sung-prayers found in a collection entitled Ashram Bhajanavali, a collection which, in turn, gives fresh insight into the satyagraha movement. Gandhi's employment of sung-prayers, chant, and ritual has, however, gone unrecognized until this time. The Sounds of Satyagraha presents detailed information concerning how formative and how important these sung-prayers were to Gandhi and to the national independence movement. Chapter One sets forth this thesis, along with methodology, historical context, and certain terms defined. Chapter Two consists of a preliminary historical overview of the Ashram Bhajanavali, along with a descriptive summary of the sung-prayer materials found within it. (An analysis of ritual practices presented in Chapters 3 through 5 also provides additional information regarding historical context and development.) This collection of chanted prayers used by the Indian sayagraha community, has sometimes been referred to as a hymnal. However, the collection is much more than what the word "hymnal" might imply, both in the scope of its contents, and in its significance as a tool with which to understand the developments of Gandhi's satyagraha community. Chapters Three, Four, and Five examine in detail how the Ashram Bhajanavali was used in ritual contexts, and how these sung-prayers supported Gandhi and the nation in its work for social change. The ritual theory of Roy Rappaport is utilized to discover the Bhajanavali's sitz im leben. Chapter 3 discusses the use of these sung-prayers in ritual prayer meetings that occurred twice daily. Chapter 4 looks at additional ways in which these songs were used by Gandhi and the satyagraha community to achieve their purposes, as the movement grew into a national initiative. Chapter 5 considers how it is that this sung-prayer repertoire, being specifically sung and chanted (rather than spoken or read), had a significant power for India and appeal for the satyagraha communities. By placing this collection in its historical, social, and ritual contexts, the extent to which these sung-prayers influenced and shaped Gandhi's sayagraha in India becomes clear. Chapter 6 considers the life and work of one spiritual musician, Shri Karunamayee Abrol, who teaches the Ashram Bhajanavali, its melodies and its history. Shri Karunamayee's family were freedom fighters, and, as a child, she sang for Mahatma Gandhi, receiving his blessing. Shri Karunamayee represents a living tradition. Inspired by childhood experiences and her respect for Gandhi, she has a special devotion to this repertoire. As a spiritual musician, she is a "tradition-bearer" of the Ashram Bhajanavali. The chanting of these sung-prayers has been her daily devotional ritual for decades. Her teaching, which stems from both musical knowledge and Æ⁄¿‰ò™ experience, provides additional insight into satyagraha. Chapter Seven concludes with a review of the evidence, illustrating the large extent to which Gandhi was guided by the sung-prayers and principles found in the Ashram Bhajanavali collection. It also consists of reflections in an analysis of the success or failure of satyagraha. Ashram Bhajanavali offers insight into the Indian independence movement, which has not been acknowledged or identified previously. Final reflections place this collection within the on-going East-West dialogue, indicating its continuing importance in the current discussion.

The study of the relationship between Hindu nationalism and Hindu activist traditions of seva (selfless service) has been principally organised into three approaches: firstly, the instrumentalist deployment of the practice, secondly, the political appropriation of traditions of seva, and thirdly, that these related associational spaces are internally homogenous and distinct from alternative ‘legitimate’ religious arenas. These frameworks largely reflect approaches to Hindu nationalism which place emphasis on its forms of political statecraft and relationship to spectacular violence. These approaches raise manifold concerns. This thesis retheorizes the relationship between Hindu nationalism and seva with reference to primary and secondary sources, together with field research in the seva projects of the Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra (VKK), a Hindu nationalist association. Through deploying a reworked understanding of Fraser’s (1990) approach to associational space and Butler’s (1993, 2007) theorisation of performative acts and subject formation, this thesis contributes to rethinking Hindu nationalism and seva. I demonstrate firstly that the colonial encounter worked to produce a series of social imaginaries which were drawn upon to transform traditions of seva. Through their articulation in shared religious languages, practices of seva were productive of porously structured Hindu activist spaces in which the tradition was contested with regard to ‘radical’ and ‘orthodox’ orientations to Hinduism’s boundaries. Increasingly, articulations of seva which invoked a sangathanist ‘orthodoxy’ came to gain hegemony in Hindu activist arenas. This influenced the early and irregular Hindu nationalist practices of seva. Fractures in Hindu nationalist articulations developed as a result of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) sangathanist organisational idioms, allowing the association to inscribe its practices with pro-active meanings. In the post-independence period the alternative arenas of Hindu nationalist seva projects expanded greatly, a point evident in the degrees of dialogue between the Sangh and the sarvodaya movement. The importance of porous associational boundaries is further demonstrated through noting how engagement in visibilized arenas of popular Hindu religiosity worked to both broaden the fields of reference and vernacularize Hindu nationalist practices of seva. With reference to field research, I demonstrate that central to the expansion of the VKK’s arenas of service into spaces associated with Ayurvedic care is the incorporation of both refocused and transgressive practices. In the educational projects of the VKK, I note how seva works to inscribe daily practices of hygiene, the singing of bhajans and daily assemblies with Hindu nationalist meanings, and so works to regulate conduct through the formation of an ‘ethical Hindu self’. However, arenas of seva are also a location where we can witness subjects negotiating power. I demonstrate this through examining how participants in the VKK’s rural development projects rearticulate Othering practices of seva, with actors using the discourse to position themselves as active subjects, break gendered restrictions on public space, and advance an ‘ethically Hindu’ grounded claim on development and critique of power. This work illustrates that far from being of inconsequence to the circulation of Hindu nationalist identities, alternative arenas of seva operate as spaces where discourses are performatively enacted, refocused, transgressed and rearticulated. These acts contribute to the consolidation and disturbance of Hindu nationalist subject formations.

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