‘Bhakti challenges communal religion’


John Stratton Hawley maps the mystical journey which knits India.

Professor of Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, John Stratton Hawley has written/edited 18 books, many of which track the religious tradition of north India. His latest offering, A Storm of Songs, examines how devotional songs such as padams mingled with the abhangs, how the Dalit narrative and Sufi music found an outlet in creating the network called the Bhakti movement. In a conversation, he maps the mystical journey which knits India.

What do you mean when you describe India as a great nation because it has a religious narrative? In the present context, is the narrative coming in the way of the country’s secular credentials?

Doubtless, my thinking on this issue is shaped by being an American. Ours is a country that has a strong sense of itself as a collective body and as a collective presence in history. It’s not always been for good — we can be such bullies and so self-righteous — but there it is...............Read more

 

Source: The Hindu


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