A Textual and Ethnographic Examination of Female Ascetic Bhakti

Abstract

Asceticism, meaning the effort to renounce worldly life, is deeply rooted in Hindu practice. Yet despite its wide acceptance, female asceticism has remained on the margins of Hindu religious experience. Despite the lack of a model of asceticism for women, scripturally and sociologically, female ascetics are a growing religious group in India. This paper seeks to use empirical data to examine how asceticism is articulated and performed by female renunciants of the Chaitanya Vaiṣṇavism sect living in Vrindāvan. It shows how female saṃnyāsinīs are a diverse and innovative group of practitioners who are revitalizing the practice of asceticism using bhakti principles of care, community and service. This engagement, it is believed, can productively enlarge the field of feminist theologizing and South Asian asceticism.