Saturday 17 June 2017

Martin Fuchs gives a working paper on 'Self-affirmation, Self-transcendence and the Relationality of Selves: Bhakti as Social Theory'



This is a Werkstattbericht, a report on work in progress, in the full sense of the term! It is not a finished paper. The paper has a long gestation period and represents a step in a process that runs through several stages. It invites comments and critique, in particular with respect to the issues of religious individualization.
This paper does not introduce and discuss a specific historical case of religious practice or ideation. Instead it targets an entire phenomenon, or family of related phenomena, to which the label bhakti has been applied. This has certain drawbacks. In particular, interlinkages between various dimensions of the phenomena under discussion, which a close empirical study can provide, cannot be closely pursued and may thus not become visible. The reasons why I chose to go for an overall discussion of bhakti are twofold. On the one hand, bhakti is still not very well known outside the expert community, and even within South Asia studies or the study of Indic religions, has still not always received adequate attention.[1] On the other hand, taking our interest in the processuality of types of individualization and the modes of institutionalization of such forms, the “case” of an extended moment – or series of moments – of religious history that illustrates the pertinence of individualization observations provides relevant material for a general discussion. There are other contributions in our volumes [the concluding volumes of the KFG after the Eisenach conference later in this month] that provide a much more focussed discussion of particular cases, issues and approaches, as does the forthcoming volume on Bhakti and Self, based on a conference held in Erfurt in the context of the KFG in June 2016.
Bhakti is a case of a special kind not only within Hinduistic or more broadly Indic religions. It stands out also in religious history at large with respect to the extension and duration of existence (depending on how one counts, between 1600 and 2000 years up to our times), and because of the diversity and versatility of this case of religious individualization. Zooming in, the processes we assemble under the name bhakti are highly varied, regarding the composition of participants and followers, their pedigree, their imageries, their conceptualizations, their affiliations, and the social context and social effects. At the same time, certain issues and aspects are recurring. They concern the conceptualization of the Divine; they also concern the ideas regarding the relationship to the Divine and the notions of grace or compassion (kripa,  arul) as well as love (prem), the importance of relationality and connectedness in practices and conceptualizations of self, and also some overall historical dynamics – the ever new emergence of alternative versions of bhakti and the forms of institutionalization.
The aspects I foreground are not final, and I look forward to the discussion for additions and critique. The historically and regionally different cases I allude to more indirectly than directly have still to be fleshed out and referenced (to the extent space allows) once the overall composition of the paper looks satisfactory. And finally, I hope to deepen, and add further dimensions to, the reflections on the relationality of selves at the end of the paper.


[1] Axel Michaels in his widely read book on Hinduism – Der Hinduismus: Geschichte und Gegenwart (München: Beck 1998) – dedicates a mere eight, and at that very superficial, pages (pp. 277-285), plus a few short references here and there, to bhakti.

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