Ramana Maharshi and the Colonial Encounter
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Master‟s Thesis: Ramana Maharshi and the Colonial Encounter By Alan Edwards A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Studies Victoria University of Wellington 2012 Abstract Recent scholarship on Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) follows the romanticism of hagiographical literature, presenting him as a purely spiritual and timeless figure, thus ignoring the political contours of colonial India. Scholarly literature, then, has effectively deracinated this internationally acclaimed figure from one of the most fascinating and transformative historical periods of the modern era. The current study seeks to correct ahistorical representations of Ramana Maharshi by considering the historical processes that determined his status as a Maharshi (Great Vedic Seer) and Advaitin. I aim to show that Ramana Maharshi‟s image as a timeless and purely spiritual figure actually locates him in his historical situation, and further, that his status as a Maharshi (Maharṣi) and Advaitin reflects the ways in which „the political‟ and „the spiritual‟ interacted during colonial India. This thesis will delineate the process by which Ramana‟s status as a Maharshi allowed his religious identity to shift from an unorthodox, localised, and ethnic-sectarian form to one in which he symbolised a religious authority in an orthodox and pan-Hindu way. In a broader context, then, this thesis seeks to address the following question: how, and to what extent, did colonial dynamics affect the ways that Hindus interpreted and represented their religious figures during the nationalist period? Here I will demonstrate that Ramana Maharshi represents a compelling case study in the ways in which Orientalist stereotypes about a „mystical East‟ affected the intersection of politics and religion in colonial India. ii Acknowledgements It has been a privilege to work with Dr. Rick Weiss and Dr. Michael Radich on this project. I feel extremely fortunate and grateful to have two excellent mentors – your knowledge, skill and accomplishments have been an inspiration. I thank you both for your invaluable guidance, encouragement and support, and for having been so generous with your time. I would like to specially thank Dr. Weiss for helping me to think about India‟s colonial period in ways that were significant to the development of this thesis. Many seeds were planted during our meetings that became key ideas and themes of this work. I would like to specially thank Dr. Radich for helping me to approach writing in a more effective way. My writing process and style have benefitted significantly on account of your guidance. I wish to thank the Religious Studies department at Victoria University for providing me with excellent resources and a great environment in which to work. A special thanks goes to Aliki Kalliabetsos for all her help, support and encouragement. I am very grateful to Sekhar Bandyopadhyay for allowing me to attend his brilliant and inspiring course on „Gandhi, India and the World‟. I would like to thank AsiaNZ: NZASIA for their generous „Postgraduate Research Award‟. This award allowed me to conduct research in India and collect original archival data that greatly contributed to the quality of this work. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Victoria University for their „Faculty Grant‟, which allowed me to attend and present a paper at the 2011 AASR Conference in Australia. Many thanks to AASR, the Religious Studies department at the University of Queensland, and the History department at Victoria University for the opportunity to present a paper. I wish to specially thank Adam Bowles at the University of Queensland for his helpful suggestions and hospitality during my visit to Brisbane. I would also like to thank a list of fellow Postgrads for their encouragement, suggestions and friendship; David Murphy, Cheryl Johansen, Dylan Clark, Zane Mather, Amy Searfross, Eda Czarnecki, Atsushi Iseki, Will Hoverd, Negar Partow, Dan Dowling, Akvilina Cicenaite, and Michael Teitelbaum. Finally, I am immensely grateful to Jasmine Cook-Auckram for her encouragement, support and love. You are an inspiration. iii Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Ganapati Muni and the Maharshi Construct ................................................ 14 1.1. Ganapati Muni: Sanskrit scholar, poet and spiritual adept ........................................ 19 1.2. The radical freedom fighter: political representations of Ganapati Muni ................... 23 1.3. Persistent activist and Congress member ................................................................... 27 1.4. Ganapati‟s mission and Ramana as the Rishi Vedic Emperor .................................... 31 1.5. Ramana‟s “great love” for Ganapati and support for nationalism............................... 35 1.5.1. Ramana on Ganapati .................................................................................. 36 1.5.2. Ramana symbolically endorsing nationalism ............................................. 37 1.5.3. Ramana verbally endorsing nationalism ..................................................... 39 1.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 2: The Vedic Rishi as ‘national hero’ ................................................................. 43 2.1. The appeal of the mythic Maharshi symbol .............................................................. 44 2.1.1. The mythic rishis ....................................................................................... 45 2.1.2. Paul Brunton and “the Maharishee” ........................................................... 47 2.2. The „national hero‟: Ramana as the living embodiment of Hindu truth ..................... 50 2.2.1. The political pursuits of early biographers ................................................. 52 2.2.2. Political leaders celebrating Ramana .......................................................... 54 2.2.3. Hindu intellectuals and the Advaita construct ............................................ 57 2.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 3: Framing Ramana’s religious identity: Advaitin or Śaiva bhakta? ............... 63 3.1. “Others find that it tallies with Śrī Śaṅkara” ............................................................. 66 3.1.1. Does Ramana call himself an Advaitin? ..................................................... 66 3.1.2 “The consciousness of individuality was very much there” ......................... 69 3.2. “All these different mārgas or sādhanas lead to the same goal” ................................ 74 3.3. Orientalism, textual bias and Vedanticisation ........................................................... 79 3.4. The Tamil Śaiva bhakta ........................................................................................... 84 3.4.1. The Periya Purāṇam and Ramana‟s „God-mad‟ state in Śaiva temples ...... 85 3.4.2. “This Hill is Śiva Himself” ........................................................................ 87 iv 3.4.3. The Tamil Śaiva saints and sacred texts ..................................................... 90 3.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 93 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 95 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 101 v Introduction India‟s colonial encounter with Britain produced a multitude of brilliant political and religious leaders such as Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Seemingly unique among the array of Indian figures who achieved international acclaim during the colonial period stands Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), who Aurobindo described as a “Hercules among yogis…who had won glory for India.”1 This uniqueness stems from the assumption that he was detached from the political sphere and immune to the forces of Hindu reform and Indian nationalism, an assumption that surprisingly is also reflected in scholarship on Ramana Maharshi. In stark contrast to this view, I aim to show that Ramana Maharshi‟s image as a timeless and purely spiritual figure actually locates him in his historical situation, and further, that his status as a Maharshi (Maharṣi) and Advaitin reflects the ways in which „the political‟ and „the spiritual‟ interacted during colonial India. 2 In a broader context, then, this thesis proceeds with the following question in mind: how, and to what extent, did colonial dynamics affect the ways that Hindus interpreted and represented their religious figures during the nationalist period? The current study seeks to correct ahistorical representations of Ramana Maharshi by considering the historical processes that determined his status as a Maharshi and Advaitin. I will argue: (1) that the political ambitions of Ganapati Muni (Ramana‟s chief disciple) determined Ramana‟s status as a Maharshi, contrary to the assumption that this status relied solely on the recognition of his alleged spiritual