Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India by Daniela Bevilacqua

Author:Daniela Bevilacqua [Bevilacqua, Daniela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, American, Asian American Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781351805704
Google: 5chHDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-01-19T04:40:42+00:00

The number of Jagadguru Rāmānandācāryas

Traditionally, a Jagadguru is the human initiator of a new paramparā. Since many paramparās trace their lineage back to a God, their human initiators are regarded as avatārs of that God and by consequence also those Jagadgurus who continue the paramparā. In the case of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya, the Jagadguru is supposed to be an avatār of Rāmānanda who, in turn, is considered as an avatār of Rām. This characteristic, added to the meaning of the word Jagadguru, explains why the title of Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya can confer prestige to a guru or someone who wants to be recognized as such.

Although the Śrī Maṭh is universally accepted as the seat of the Jagadguru Rāmānandācārya, because the sampradāya has historically never had a unique leader, there is a certain flexibility in the bestowing of the title to such an extent that today the number of Jagadgurus is not clear. Some of them are considered fake and often many ascetics do not even know their names. For this reason, it was difficult for me to collect information about them, especially qualitative materials about how they obtained the title. I questioned sādhus of the sampradāya about them, I sent e-mails to other Jagadgurus’ centers, and conducted online research, including watching their videos on their YouTube channels. I could not organize meetings with them as I did not have precise information about where they live and whether they were at their āśrams, as most of them spend the year traveling in India and abroad.

After these preliminary researches, I concluded that although some Rāmānandīs try to justify the existence of more Jagadguru Rāmānandācāryas on the model of the number of Śaṅkarācāryas, their presence may actually be linked initially to the spread of the Rāmjanmabhūmi movement and then to the power of those Rāmānandīs associated with the Akhāṛā Pariṣad.

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