! Copyright by Emilia Bachrach 2014 ! The Dissertation Committee for Emilia Bacharach Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Reading the Medieval in the Modern: The Living Tradition of Hagiography in the Vallabh Sect of Contemporary Gujarat Committee: ___________________________ Rupert Snell, Supervisor ___________________________ Kathryn Hansen, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Martha Selby ___________________________ Cynthia Talbot ___________________________ Kathleen Stewart Reading the Medieval in the Modern: The Living Tradition of Hagiography in the Vallabh Sect of Contemporary Gujarat by Emilia Bachrach, B.A.; M.T.S. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2014 For Zoran. Acknowledgements This dissertation has been developed with the incredible patience, enthusiasm, support, and generosity of many people and institutions. The primary research for this project was conducted with the support of a Junior Fellowship (2011-2012) from the American Institute of Indian Studies. Writing was supported by a Graduate School Named Continuing Fellowship (2012-2013) from the University of Texas at Austin and a Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2013-2014) from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies. I owe thanks to many of the American Institute of Indian Studies staff, both in Delhi and in Chicago, but especially to Purnima Mehta and Elise Auerbach, who were patient in providing support during research in India. In Austin, the administrators of the University of Texas’ South Asia Institute and of the Department of Asian Studies—particularly Rachel Meyers and Jennifer Tipton—were helpful in facilitating various aspects of preliminary language study and funding and research in India. I conducted research in several libraries and archives in India and the United States, including the University of Texas at Austin Libraries; the Vidya Vibhag Library in Kankroli, Rajasthan; the Pratham Peeth Archives in Kota, Rajasthan; the Gujarat Vidyapith Library in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; the Gujarat University Library in Ahmedabad; the Vallabh Sadan Library in Ahmedabad; the B.J. Institute of Higher Learning and Research in Ahmedabad; the L.D. Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad; and the Oriental Institute of Baroda in Baroda, Gujarat. I owe thanks to the staff at all of these institutions, but particularly to Dr. Ramji Savaliya at the B.J. Institute of Higher Learning and to v! Adhikari Ashok Paliwal at the Vallabh Sadan. Gujarat University served as my institutional home in India and Dr. Intaj Malek supervised my work there. I would also like to thank Murtaza Gandhi, who patiently and enthusiastically helped me to transcribe and decipher many Gujarati materials. I am extremely grateful to Amit Ambalal who allowed me to use his personal library and who introduced me to many individuals in the pu!"im#rg$y community. Thanks also to Paulomi Shah, who will be designing a book that Amit and I are collaborating on and whose enthusiasm for my research is much appreciated. I have shared portions of this research on panels at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting (2013); the Central Texas Colloquium on Religion (2012); the Madison South Asia Conference (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013); and the Conference on Early Modern Literatures in India (2012). I received helpful responses and suggestions from the participants at each of these conferences. Rupert Snell, Tony K. Stewart, Thibaut d’Hubert, John Stratton Hawley, and Neelima Shukla-Bhatt served as chairs and respondents and provided valuable feedback. I am overwhelmed by the hospitality that I have been shown during my studies in and research trips to India over the past several years. I owe very special thanks to Jitubhai and Surekhaben Shah for being like a second family to me and for always providing me with a safe and comfortable home in Ahmedabad. I thank Ashok, Ranjan, Avdesh, and Siddharth Paliwal for their generosity, care, and good humor. Sumit Sharma, who read the v#rt#s with me every morning at the Vallabh Sadan in 2011-2012, reminded me that it did not matter how many times I thought I had read an episode, there was vi always more to learn. I thank all of the men and women at the Goswami Haveli who invited me to observe the unique sev# there. I owe special thanks to Kailash and Krutika Bhatt and to Shashikhanth, without whom I would have laughed less and would certainly have arrived for dar%an and other temple events at the wrong times. To all the men and women of the many satsa&g groups that I visited weekly at temples and in private homes—I am extremely grateful for your patience and trust in me. I give special thanks to Hasmukhbhai, Kaushalbhai, Kishoriben, Nitaben, Bharatiyben, Manjulaben, Dipaben, Kumudben, Kailashben, Kashmiraben, Maheshvariben, and Dr. Yoginiben Mehta and her family. Thanks to Vrajeshkumar Maharaj’s personal assistant, Lakshmilalji, to Rekhaben, and to many other sevaks for their hospitality during my stay in Kankroli, Rajasthan in March 2012. Thank you also to Dr. Rachna Tailang for sharing her intimate knowledge of her own family’s history in Kankroli. Many members of the Vallabh Kul graciously assisted me with my research. I give special thanks to the following individuals: Vrajnath Maharaj, Tilak Goswami, Vrajbhamini Goswami, Abharan Goswami, and Vrajlata Betiji in Ahmedabad; Vrajeshkumar Maharaj and Vagish Goswami in Kankroli-Baroda; Pranay Goswami in Baroda; Goswami Indira Betiji in Baroda; Milan Goswami in Kota-Mumbai; and Goswami Anandbava in Rajkot. I am extremely grateful to Shyam Manohar Goswami in Mumbai for sharing his scholarship, time, and endless wisdom. My colleagues and fellow graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard Divinity School, and elsewhere have made this long journey both possible and enjoyable. I would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their intellectual companionship, friendship, and support during various stages of my graduate student vii! career: Sarah P. Taylor, Arun Brahmbhatt, Stella Dubish, Nell S. Hawley, Hamsa Stainton, Ishan Chakrabarti, Priya Nelson, Ellie Strand, Bhavya Tiwari, Jayita Sinha, Keely Sutton, Vibha Shetiya, Dean Accardi, Kayden Althen, Amy Hyne, Suzanne L. Shulz, Shital Sharma, Dinyar Patel, Isabel Huacuja Alonso, Richard Delacy, Nikola Raji!, Shruti Patel, and Kathryn Hardy. I am grateful to many teachers and mentors—both in the United States and in India. I owe special thanks to Andy Rotman at Smith College, Ramu Pandit and Virendra Singh in Banaras, Meghna Bhatt and Nilotpala Gandhi in Ahmedabad, the late Shyamdas, Frederick Smith at the University of Iowa, John Stratton Hawley at Columbia University, Heidi Pauwels at the University of Washington, Parimal Patil, Diana Eck, Anne Monius, and Richard Wolf at Harvard University, and Gail Minault, Joel Brereton, Patrick Olivelle, Kamran Asdar Ali, Syed Akbar Hyder, and Oliver Freiberger at the University of Texas at Austin. Rupert Snell and Kathryn Hansen have been ideal co-supervisors of this dissertation. They have both provided endlessly patient guidance, expert advice, and enthusiastic encouragement every step of the way. I am profoundly grateful for all they have shared with me during my time in Austin and can only hope that I will inspire and support my future students as they have inspired and supported me. My other committee members—Kathleen Stewart, Cynthia Talbot, and Martha Selby—have also been dedicated and inspiring teachers and mentors throughout my coursework, research, and writing. This is a dissertation about practices of reading, and each of these individuals has viii taught me to read lovingly, critically, enthusiastically, inquisitively, carefully, and patiently in different and invaluable ways. My family has given me vital support throughout the many years of graduate school. My parents, Judith and Richard Bachrach, have been tirelessly optimistic and encouraging of my academic endeavors and have always made sure that I have kept both feet on the ground. My sister Marion has been a model of perseverance, inspiring me to put all challenges into perspective. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Emina Stojakovi! and Zvezdana Stojakovi!, have helped make Austin Texas a true home. My husband Zoran has made this entire process not only possible, but also worth it. He has been ever patient and has pushed me to do my best and to stay sincere. He has also repeatedly reminded me that my work is lovable and that life away from the desk is even more lovable! Hvala ti Zorane na strpljenju, podr"ci, ljubavi i toleriranju vremena izgubljenog u pisanju. Ova disertacija je za tebe. ix! Reading the Medieval in the Modern: The Living Tradition of Hagiography in the Vallabh Sect of Contemporary Gujarat Emilia Bachrach, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisors: Rupert Snell, Kathryn Hansen This dissertation considers how and why a canon of medieval Hindi hagiography has continued to be significant for modern Gujarati devotees who follow the teachings of the sixteenth-century Hindu theologian Vallabhacharya. The texts in question, known as v#rt#s, are based on oral hagiographies of Vallabhacharya, his descendants, and their early disciples, and provide sectarian history, theology, vicarious epiphany, and examples of devotional and social conduct. In modern