‘Some pujaris in India told me that
American Hindus were old-fashioned’
Religion scholar Tulasi Srinivas, in conversation with Arthur J Pais
In between teaching assignments and writing scholarly books, Tulasi Srinivas makes time to talk about the practice of the Hindu religion. She is the president of New England and Maritime Association of the American
Academy of Religion, and book review editor, Journal
of Asian and African Studies. Her book Winged Faith
– Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism
through the Sathya Sai Movement (Columbia
University Press) published last year said the contro-
versial leader who had a vast following across India
and in other countries had started ‘a global civil reli-
gious movement incorporating Hindu and Muslim
practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influ-
ences, and ‘New Age’-style rituals and beliefs.’
In May, the University of California Press will pub-
lish Cultures: Food, Globalization and South Asia,
which she co-wrote with Krishnendu Ray, New York
University assistant professor of nutrition and food
studies. Srinivas says it examines Indian food ‘as a lens
and a text for looking at everyday life and we trace its
history from colonial times to the present day... I am
interested in the economy of food and its social con-
struction — how Indian women view feeding and pro-
visioning for their families — but the book deals with
so much more.’
An assistant professor of anthropology at Emerson
College, Boston, she is soon giving a talk at the Center
for Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity
School,.
Tulasi Srinivas
What is your talk about?
It is part of the Hindu Studies Colloquium and is titled
‘Abiding Faith: Ritual, Newness and Ethicality in Hindu
Temples of Bangalore City.’ I would be examining popular
everyday Hindu rituals in Bangalore, to discuss how religion and religious sensibilities move and change in contexts of globalization. But this has also given me an opportunity to think of myself as a teacher and how I engage
American students, including second- and third-genera-tion Hindus, to look at the traditional and evolving aspects
of practiced Hinduism. This is based on my decade-long
study of these temples, the devotees and the priests in
Malleswaram, Bangalore. I am working on a book on this
subject tentatively titled Forging Faith: Globalization and
Religion in Hindu temples in Bangalore City, which I plan
to publish next year.
In June 1998, when I was in Malleswaram, one of the
young priests who had watched me taking elaborate notes
and following up with questions for weeks told me a story
that introduced an important comparison. He told me that
Lakshmi and Saraswati were sisters that they engaged in
sibling rivalry. Hence scholars ( whom Saraswatifavors) are
invariably poor, and the rich ( whom Lakshmifavors) might
not have a love of learning. He then said, ‘Lakshmi, anyone
can take, Saraswati must be won. She does not come easily.
You must have an open mind, have a good respect for the
guru, and be willing to work hard.’
I asked my father (the legendary Indian sociologist M N
Srinivas) about it and he said it was a populist myth that
spoke to the need for openness of critical thinking in schol-
arship and that the relationship between teacher and stu-
dent, unlike business partnerships, is one of mutual shared
trust and questioning of knowledge. It is a hierarchical
relationship only to the extent of transmission of knowl-
edge.
My students here at Emerson and at other places I have
taught, including Boston University and Georgetown
University, have been eager to engage the more positive
aspects of this myth. So in teaching them about Hinduism
I encourage them to think beyond the boundaries of con-
ventional thinking about religion, but in a disciplined and
respectful way. This type of thinking is different from cre-
dentialing us as Hindus; rather, it allows truly innovative
and experimental thinking to flourish — something that I
see as desperately needed in America for Hindus and oth-
ers. An innate curiosity about diversity of religions and a
celebratory attitude towards them helps us as Hindus reach
the essential tenets of Hinduism and of religion in general
— that is, of different ways of being and believing.
COUR TES Y TULASI SRINIVAS
