Re-Imagining South Asian Religions Numen Book Series
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Re-imagining South Asian Religions Numen Book Series Studies in the History of Religions Series Editors Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada) Richard King (University of Glasgow, Scotland) Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) Gerard Wiegers (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) VOLUME 141 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nus Re-imagining South Asian Religions Essays in Honour of Professors Harold G. Coward and Ronald W. Neufeldt Edited by Pashaura Singh Michael Hawley LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 Cover illustration: Reproduced with kind permission by Donna Ruparell. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Re-imagining South Asian religions : essays in honour of professors Harold G. Coward and Ronald W. Neufeldt / edited by Pashaura Singh, Michael Hawley. pages cm. — (Numen book series ; volume 141) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-24236-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-24237-1 (e-book) 1. South Asia—Religion. I. Pashaura Singh, editor of compilation. II. Hawley, Michael (Michael Edwin), editor of compilation. III. Coward, Harold G., honouree. IV. Neufeldt, Ronald W. (Ronald Wesley), 1941– honouree. BL1055.R415 2013 200.954—dc23 2012036677 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0169-8834 ISBN 978-90-04-24236-4 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-24237-1 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS Acknowledgments ........................................................................................... vii List of Contributors ......................................................................................... ix List of Figures .................................................................................................... xv Preface and Introduction: Re-imagining South Asian Religions ....... xvii Pashaura Singh and Michael Hawley PART I REFLECTIONS ON THE FIELD Traditional Sanskrit and Modern Scholarship: A Personal Journey ........................................................................................................... 3 Harold G. Coward A Modest Retrospective ................................................................................. 15 Ronald W. Neufeldt PART II NEW ORIENTATIONS, GLOBALIZATION, AND PEDAGOGY Re-imagining Sikhi (‘Sikhness’ ) in the Twenty-First Century: Toward a Paradigm Shift in Sikh Studies ............................................ 27 Pashaura Singh The Politics of Perspectivalism: Anekāntavāda as a Counter- anthropologising Strategy ........................................................................ 49 Tinu Ruparell Rewriting the Hindu Traditions from Global Perspectives ................. 67 Vasudha Narayanan Pedagogy in the Janam-sakhis: ‘Teaching Texts’ Moving Past Old Categories ...................................................................................................... 89 Toby Braden Johnson vi contents PART III PERFORMANCE AND MEMORY Re-imagining Religious History through Women’s Song Performance at the Kāmākhyā Temple Site ................................................................. 115 Patricia Α. Dold Tibetan Buddhist Monastic Performance: Ritual Practice and Cultural Preservation in the Tibetan Diaspora .................................. 155 Sarah F. Haynes ‘Performance’ and ‘Lived Religion’ Approaches as New Ways of ‘Re-imagining’ Sikh Studies ...................................................................... 171 Charles M. Townsend PART IV HISTORY, ENCOUNTER, AND EXCHANGE Re-imagining Theosophy through Canadian Art: Indian Theosophical Influences on the Painting and Writing of Lawren Harris ............................................................................................... 195 Michael Stoeber Re-imagining Hindu Beginnings in Canada ............................................ 221 Paul Younger The Indianness of Christianity: The Task of Re-imagination ............. 245 Dyron B. Daughrity M. K. Gandhi and the Sikhs: Violence, Religious Identity, and Competing Modernities ............................................................................ 271 Michael Hawley Index .................................................................................................................... 293 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies and the Religious Studies Department, University of California, Riverside, pro- vided general financial support for the March 2011 international research seminar on “Re-Imagining South Asian Religions: A Conversation on Old World Cultures through 21st Century” on which this volume is based. This special two-day event was organized to honor the contributions of Dr. Harold G. Coward, Professor of History and Founding Director, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, BC, Canada and Dr. Ronald W. Neufeldt, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, University of Calgary, Canada. The seminar sponsors included Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Trust and the Sikh Foundation of Palo Alto, California. Veronica Quesada gave assistance in organizing the event and helped with publicity. We wish to thank Professor June O’Connor, who represented Dr. Vivian-Lee Nyitray, Chair of Religious Studies Department (who was in Japan to attend an international seminar), at the seminar and welcomed the visiting scholars with a bouquet of flowers on her behalf. Professor Stephen Cullenburg, Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS), showed special interest in this research seminar, and we thank him for his support and participation in the inaugural session. Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany, Chairman of Sikh Foundation of Palo Alto, Dr. Harkeerat Singh Dhillon and Mrs. Saranjit Kaur Saini have contributed energetically in many ways to build the new program in Sikh Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Their selfless and untiring support is much appreciated. Professor Singh’s doctoral students, Toby B. Johnson and Charles M. Townsend, assisted greatly with hospitality and other nec- essary arrangements for the seminar. We thank both of them for their timely help. The opening section of this volume begins with the preface that puts the research seminar into perspective by highlighting the various activi- ties of this event. It is followed by the introduction which deals with the interpretive discussion of various essays. The opening section ends with the personal reflections of Professor Harold G. Coward and Professor Ronald W. Neufeldt. The following three sections cover all the various essays in the volume. Although the essays are well documented and dis- cuss certain sensitive issues in a scholarly fashion, the interpretations are viii acknowledgments the responsibility of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the editors, the sponsors of the seminar, the University of California, or the publishers. October 2011 Pashaura Singh Michael Hawley LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS HAROLD COWARD (Ph.D., McMaster University, Canada) is Professor and Founding Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Soci- ety, University of Victoria, Canada. His South Asian research and teach- ing has focused on Hinduism (the Grammarian and Yoga Schools) along with comparative studies in the thematic areas of scripture, pluralism, environmental and health care ethics, and human rights/responsibilities. His publications include Bhartrhari (Twayne, 1976), The Sphota Theory of Language (Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), Jung and Eastern Thought (SUNY, 1985), Hindu Ethics with Julius Lipner & Katherine Young (SUNY, 1989), The Philosophy of the Grammarians with K. Kunjunni Raja (Princeton, 1990), Derrida and Indian Philosophy (SUNY, 1990), Pluralism in the World Religions (Oneworld Oxford, 2000), Scripture in the World Religions (One- world Oxford, 2000), T. R. V. Murti (Munshiram Manoharlal, 2003), Man- tra: Hearing the Divine in India (Columbia, 2004), Yoga and Psychology: Language, Memory and Mysticism (SUNY, 2002), Human Rights and the Hindu Tradition (Praeger, 2005), and The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought (SUNY, 2008). He has also edited many vol- umes including Studies in Indian Thought: the Collected Papers of T. R. V. Murti (Motilal Banarsidass, 1983), Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism (SUNY, 1987), The South Asian Religious Diaspora in Britain, Canada and the United States with John Hinnells and Raymond Williams (SUNY, 2000), and Indian Critiques of Gandhi (SUNY, 2003). DYRON B. DAUGHRITY (Ph.D., University of Calgary, Canada) is Associ- ate Professor