Individual Paper
7. Multiple Ontologies: Religiosities, Philosophies, Languages and Society
In this paper, I will explore how readers of the Gurucaritra, a Hindu text, treat printed copies of the text during the seven-day reading ritual. I'll investigate practices of care for religious texts like the Gurucaritra, and how readers explain their involvement in the ritual and material aspects of reading. I'll also consider whether these ritual engagements with the text contribute to alternative forms of knowledge production.
Drawing from my fieldwork in Maharashtra, India, I'll discuss how devotee-readers of the Gurucaritra follow specific routines for producing, acquiring, distributing, and disposing of the text. They believe in the book's affective powers, such as healing and purification. During religious reading, readers perform a puja (ritual worship) on the bound copy of the book using flowers, incense sticks, and specific foods. These offered objects are later shared with visitors as prasad (blessed offerings). These practices, with their performative aspects, highlight that the text is not just a physical object but also an icon. Readers of religious texts engage in meaning-making and knowledge production that transcends the literal content of the text.
Mugdha Yeolekar
California State University, Fullerton, United States