Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity

STUDY OF RELIGION PICTURING THE GODDESS: BAZAAR IMAGES AND THE IMAGINATION OF MODERN HINDU RELIGIOUS IDENTITY Zo Newell Thesis under the direction of Prof. Richard J. McGregor This project inquires into the role of visual print technology in the construction of a pan-Indian sense of religious ident...

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Main Author: Newell, Zo Margaret
Other Authors: Richard J. McGregor
Format: Others
Language:en
Published: VANDERBILT 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03232011-101111/
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spelling ndltd-VANDERBILT-oai-VANDERBILTETD-etd-03232011-1011112013-01-08T17:16:47Z Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity Newell, Zo Margaret Religion STUDY OF RELIGION PICTURING THE GODDESS: BAZAAR IMAGES AND THE IMAGINATION OF MODERN HINDU RELIGIOUS IDENTITY Zo Newell Thesis under the direction of Prof. Richard J. McGregor This project inquires into the role of visual print technology in the construction of a pan-Indian sense of religious identity at the end of the colonial era. I take as my starting point the statement by Sri Ramakrishna of Calcutta that "a real Hindu" is someone who has, and worships, pictures of deities --specifically, pictures of the mother goddess-- and proceed to the phenomenological and historical consideration of a selected set of images. I argue that these images represent deep-rooted cultural symbols of a narrative through which a loosely-related "family" of indigenous practices came to be imagined by its practitioners as a cohesive and inclusive religion, in contradistinction to European narratives which reduced Hinduism to a form of paganism or a "colonial construction". This idea of Hinduism embraced members of all communities as "children" of Mother India. Moreover, the ubiquitous availability of inexpensive, mechanically reproduced deity made it possible for devotees of all castes and genders to worship independently of formal religious settings and specialists. I develop my arguments in conversation with Benedict Anderson's concept of nation as "imagined community", Walter Benjamin's theories on art as mechanical reproduction, and Arvind Sharma's insights on dharma as a crucial category for thinking about Indian religion . Drawing on the work of Mircea Eliade and Bruce Lincoln, I argue for myth as represented visually in these images - as a form of sacred narrative which gives meaning to historical catastrophe by homologizing the individual's particular situation with cosmic reality. I apply this theory to the religious anxieties aroused, for late-nineteenth century Hindus, by the historical catastrophe of colonization. I undertake a genealogy of selected images in terms of their religious symbolism, their narratives of power and versatility as exemplified through the goddess, and their ability to inspire what Anderson calls a "broad, horizontal" sense of religious community and of communal agency in India on the cusp of independence. Richard J. McGregor Ellen T. Armour John J. Thatamanil Jinah Kim VANDERBILT 2011-04-26 text application/pdf http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03232011-101111/ http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03232011-101111/ en unrestricted I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.
collection NDLTD
language en
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Religion
spellingShingle Religion
Newell, Zo Margaret
Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
description STUDY OF RELIGION PICTURING THE GODDESS: BAZAAR IMAGES AND THE IMAGINATION OF MODERN HINDU RELIGIOUS IDENTITY Zo Newell Thesis under the direction of Prof. Richard J. McGregor This project inquires into the role of visual print technology in the construction of a pan-Indian sense of religious identity at the end of the colonial era. I take as my starting point the statement by Sri Ramakrishna of Calcutta that "a real Hindu" is someone who has, and worships, pictures of deities --specifically, pictures of the mother goddess-- and proceed to the phenomenological and historical consideration of a selected set of images. I argue that these images represent deep-rooted cultural symbols of a narrative through which a loosely-related "family" of indigenous practices came to be imagined by its practitioners as a cohesive and inclusive religion, in contradistinction to European narratives which reduced Hinduism to a form of paganism or a "colonial construction". This idea of Hinduism embraced members of all communities as "children" of Mother India. Moreover, the ubiquitous availability of inexpensive, mechanically reproduced deity made it possible for devotees of all castes and genders to worship independently of formal religious settings and specialists. I develop my arguments in conversation with Benedict Anderson's concept of nation as "imagined community", Walter Benjamin's theories on art as mechanical reproduction, and Arvind Sharma's insights on dharma as a crucial category for thinking about Indian religion . Drawing on the work of Mircea Eliade and Bruce Lincoln, I argue for myth as represented visually in these images - as a form of sacred narrative which gives meaning to historical catastrophe by homologizing the individual's particular situation with cosmic reality. I apply this theory to the religious anxieties aroused, for late-nineteenth century Hindus, by the historical catastrophe of colonization. I undertake a genealogy of selected images in terms of their religious symbolism, their narratives of power and versatility as exemplified through the goddess, and their ability to inspire what Anderson calls a "broad, horizontal" sense of religious community and of communal agency in India on the cusp of independence.
author2 Richard J. McGregor
author_facet Richard J. McGregor
Newell, Zo Margaret
author Newell, Zo Margaret
author_sort Newell, Zo Margaret
title Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
title_short Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
title_full Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
title_fullStr Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
title_full_unstemmed Picturing the Goddess: Bazaar Images and the Imagination of Modern Hindu Religious Identity
title_sort picturing the goddess: bazaar images and the imagination of modern hindu religious identity
publisher VANDERBILT
publishDate 2011
url http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03232011-101111/
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