Killing' the Guru
Anti-hierarchical tendencies of 'Bāuls' of Bengal1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4894029 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeanne Openshaw (0000-0002-9479-6067, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1SD, U.K., corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 1998-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contributions to Indian Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0069-9659 • E-ISSN: 0069-9667 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/006996679803200101 |
| OpenAlex | W2064269040 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 8 |
The conferral of immense symbolic importance on so-called 'Bāuls' by educated, urban Bengalis from the end of the 19th century derives from and has contributed to various kinds of essentialisation of the category 'bāul'. Assumptions of uniformity and continuity have resulted in a scholarly over-emphasis on the role of the institutional guru. It is argued here that the authority of this guru is far from absolute, even in theory. It is undermined by the plurality of gurus, the option of internalising or universalising the notion of the guru, and the crucial role of self-cultivation on the part of disciples. Moreover, esoteric practice necessitates a male-female pair, and the theoretical and practical importance conferred on women by 'Bāuls' tends to subvert the predominantly male guru lineages ('Hindu', Muslim or mixed), as does a readiness to divinise human beings as such, rather than only perfected human beings
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Hinduism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · The Symbolic · Gender Studies · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · South Asian Studies and Conflicts
Inner World
Asceticism and eroticism in the mythology of Śiva.
Wandering Ascetics of the Rāmānandī Sect
Dissent and Protest in the Early Indian Tradition
The householder and the renouncer in the Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions
The End of the Body
Renunciation in the Religious Traditions of South Asia
Hierarchical Models of the Hindu Social System
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,24 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2022 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |