10/07/2025 08:30
- 09:30
HALL: Franz König Hall
Proponent:
Shukla-Bhatt N.
Speaker:
Dixit S.,
Shukla-Bhatt N.
This panel explores the question: What serves as an anchor for contemporary Hinduism even as political shifts and increased mobility worldwide have resulted in significant transformation of the social fabric of Hindu communities? The two papers in the panel examine this theme from different perspectives and find cultural memory - preserved through narratives and long cherished spiritual ideas - to be one such component. The first paper, titled "Leap of the Limping Goddess: Upward Mobility of Ai Khodiyar and Her Worshippers," examines the recent rise of the divine status of a regional goddess on pan-Indian and global stage with transformation of the socio-political standing of her worshippers as well as their immigration to different parts of India and the world. It focuses on the role played in this by Khodiyar's cultural memory, which was traditionally preserved in oral narratives, but now circulates in print, audio-visual media, and on the internet in Indic languages and English. The second paper, titled "Remembering in the City: Samadhis as Sites of Memory-making in Vrindavan," discusses how the memory of saints channeled through storytelling inscribes their burial sites - samadhi - with deep spiritual meaning and shapes the sacred landscape. Studying the samadhi of the sixteenth century Gaudiya Vaishnava theologian and saint, Rupa Goswami, in Vrindavan, north India, this paper discusses how it embodies the presence of the saint and spiritual teachings in present times, even though the material culture and social ethos around it have been continually changing with visitors from around the world. Both presentations engage with scholarship in religious studies, sociology, and memory studies. During their presentations, the presenters will support their core arguments with visual materials like photographs and videos.