Women's Renunciation in South Asia

Women's Renunciation in South Asia

Religion/Culture/Critique Series Editor: Elizabeth A. Castelli How Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film By Erin Runions (2003) Connected Places: Region, Pilgrimage, and Geographical Imagination in India By Anne Feldhaus (2003) Representing Religion in World Cinema: Filmmaking, Mythmaking, Culture Making Edited by S. Brent Plate (2003) Derrida's Bible (Reading a Page of Scripture with a Little Help from Derrida) Edited by Yvonne Sherwood (2004) Feminist New Testament Studies: Global and Future Perspectives Edited by Kathleen O'Brien Wicker, Althea Spencer Miller, and Musa W Dube (2005) Women's Renunciation in South Asia: Nuns, Yoginis, Saints, and Singers Edited by Meena Khandelwal, Sondra L. Hausner, and Ann Grodzins Gold (2006) Retheorizing Religion in Nepal By Gregory Price Grieve (2006) The Religious Dimensions of Advertising By Tricia Sheffield (2006) Gender, Religion, and Culture in the Pre-Modern World Edited by Brian Britt and Alexandra Cuffe! (2007)

WoMEN's RENUNCIATION IN SouTH AsiA NuNs, YoGINIS, SAINTS, AND SINGERS Edited by MEENA KHANDELWAL, SONDRA L. HAUSNER, AND ANN G RODZINS GOLD

* WOMEN'S RENUNCIATION IN SOUTH ASIA Meena Khandelwal, Sondra L. Hausner, and Ann Grodzins Gold, 2006. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-7221-7 Photo by Meena Khandelwal, 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLANTM 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73644-7 DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-10485-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women's renunciation in South Asia :nuns, yoginis, saints, and singers I edited by Meena Khandelwal, Sondra L. Hausner, and Ann Grodzins Gold. p. cm.-(religionlculturelcritique) Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: Introduction I Sondra L. Hausner and Meena Khandelwal-Do saints need sleep? I Meena Khandelwal-Living practical dharma I Sara Shneiderman-The true river Ganges I Kristin Hanssen-Staying in place I Sondra L. Hausner-Passionate renouncers I Kalyani Devaki Menan-How Buddhist renunciation produces difference I Kim Gutschow-Renouncing expectations I Lisa I. Knight-These hands are not for henna I Anne Vallely Afterword : breaking away- I Ann Grodzins Gold. 1. Women-Religious life-south Asia. 2. Women and religion South Asia. 3. Monastic and religious life of women-south Asia. I. Khandelwal, Meena. II. Hausner, Sondra L. Ill. Gold, Ann Grodzins, 1946-.IV. Series. BL 1055.W66 2006 206'. 570820954-dc22 2005056645 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: August 2006 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Transferred to Digital Printing 2011 ISBN 978-1-137-10485-4 (ebook)

To Tessa Barrholomeusz (1958-2001) and Lynn Teskey Denton (1949-1995) whose pioneering ethnographic research with women renouncers in Sri Lanka and India inspires and grounds this work.

CoNTENTS List of Illustrations Series Editor's Preface Acknowledgments V111 IX XI 1. Introduction: Women on Their Own Sondra L. Hausner and Meena Khandelwal Portraits of Singular Women 2. Do Saints Need Sleep? Baiji's Renunciation as Service 39 Meena Khandelwal 3. Living Practical Dharma: A Tribute to Choma Khandru and the Bonpo Women of Lubra Village, Mustang, Nepal 69 Sara Shneiderman 4. The True River Ganges: Tara's Begging Practices 95 Kristin Hanssen 5. Staying in Place: The Social Actions of Radha Giri 125 Sondra L. Hausner Landscapes of Contemporary Traditions 6. Passionate Renouncers: Hindu Nationalist Renouncers and the Politics of Hindu tva 141 Kalyani Devaki Menon 7. How Buddhist Renunciation Produces Difference 171 Kim Gutschow 8. Renouncing Expectations: Single Baul Women Renouncers and the Value of Being a Wife 191 Lisa l Knight

CoNTENTS vii 9. These Hands Are Not For Henna Anne Vallely 10. Mterword: Breaking Away... Ann Grodzins Gold Glossary Notes on Contributors Index 223 247 269 277 281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 3.1 Portrait of Chomo Khandru, 1998 70 3.2 View of Lubra Village, 1995 72 3.3 Portrait ofnyima Putik, Chomo Khandru's great-niece, 1999 87 4.1 Tara and her husband Karun, dressed in their finest, 1997 98 6.1 Uma Bharati, 1990 143 8.1 Phulmala Dasi Baul, West Bengal, 2005 217 9.1 Svetambar nun, Jain temple Nakodu, Rajasthan 228 9.2 Terapanthi samanis from Jain Vishwa Bharati, Rajasthan 229 10.1 Shobhag Kanvar Chauhan beside her home shrine, 2003 253

SERIES EDITOR's PREFACE RELIGION/CULTURE/CRITIQUE is a series devoted to publishing work that addresses religion's centrality to a wide range of settings and debates, both contemporary and historical, and that critically engages the category of "religion" itself. This series is conceived as a place where readers will be invited to explore how "religion"-whether embedded in texts, practices, communities, or ideologies-intersects with social and political interests, institutions, and identities. Womens Renunciation in South Asia: Nuns, Yoginis, Saints, and Singers offers ethnographically rich and detailed portraits of women living according to ascetical imperatives expressed in Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Himalayan Bon, and Bengali Baul traditions across South Asia. The project focuses on some of the most pressing theoretical concerns of contemporary religious and cultural studies: the importance of studying lived religion and its complex interactions with received textual traditions; questions of globalization, transnationalism, and comparison; figurations and lived experiences of gender, the body, and sexuality; and religious practice itself as a potent cultural and counter-cultural mode of expression and critique. This collection of essays adds depth and resonance to-and ultimately creatively disrupts-the contemporary representation of South Asian religious life by drawing readers' attention to a series of carefully drawn portraits of the quotidian lives of individual women renunciants in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Generalizations about "South Asian religion" recede, at least long enough for complicating questions, unsettling and messy details, and new frames of reference to enter in. Crossing national borders, transgressing the boundaries that so often separate the study of particular religious traditions, and foregrounding the ethnographic relationships out of which these essays have emerged, Womens Renunciation in South Asia contributes meaningfully to the contemporary project of fieldwork-based research in religious studies and adds crucial facets to the conversations that this series

X SERIES EmToR's PREFACE seeks to inaugurate and support. Thanks to editors Meena Khandelwal, Sondra L. Hausner, and Ann Grodzins Gold for their labors in bringing these remarkable essays together. New York City December 2005 Elizabeth A. Castelli RELIGION/CULTURE/CRITIQUE Series Editor

AcKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, we thank the women renouncers whose lives are presented in these chapters. They let us into their lives and patiently tolerated our sometimes clumsy attempts to understand their worlds. Second, we recognize the contributors to this volume as true ethnographers of South Asia, able to spend years with families and communities foreign to them, and to communicate those experiences with depth and sensitivity in their writing. Each has a story to tell, based on solid and meaningful relationships built over time. We admire the way each of our contributors lived in and represents the field, and we thank them for their ideas, encouragement, and willingness to respond to our endless requests. We are grateful to our families who supported us even during our absences from other responsibilities as we neared the completion of this book. Finally, we appreciate the institutional support offered by the Departments of Women's Studies and Anthropology at the University of Iowa, including Carrie Freeman and Lavanya Murali's able and crucial research assistance, the Save the Children U.S. Himalayan Field Office, and the Department of Religion and College of Arts and Sciences of Syracuse University. Mark Hauser skillfully produced our map and must be thanked not only for terrific cartographic expertise but for his patience. Our heartfelt thanks also to Laurie Winship for her meticulous labor on the index. It is no easy task to edit a book three ways, across two continents. But the wealth of experience our contributors and informants offer has meant that thinking through these essays together-across time zones, under deadlines, over hundreds of emails, and via thousands of air miles-has been an exceptionally rich intellectual experience that none of us could pass up. Our hope is that putting them together in one volume offers students and scholars of religion, gender, and South Asia new food for thought and new angles through which to see these worlds.

okm 6ooKM -.....::. } omiles 400Miles -.,. Zangskar Subdistrict,.. Jammu and Kashmir Chapter 7 Ladnun, Rajasthan Chapter 9 e NewDelhi, Chapter6.A. Haridwar, Uttaranchal, Chapters 2 and 5 e Lubra Village, Mustang District, Chapter3 India.A. Dhaka, Chapter 8 )(f Sylhet, Chapters West Bengal, *Kolkata, Chapter 8 * Bolpur/Santiniketan, West Bengal, Chapter 8 + Chilluri, West Bengal, Chapter 4 + *