Bringing Krishna back to India : global and local networks in a Hare Krishna Temple in Mumbai /
"The Hare Krishnas have long been associated with American hippie culture and New Age religious movements. But they have developed deeply rooted communities in India and throughout the world over the past 50 years. Known officially as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Oxford University Press,
[2024]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "The Hare Krishnas have long been associated with American hippie culture and New Age religious movements. But they have developed deeply rooted communities in India and throughout the world over the past 50 years. Known officially as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), this once-marginal religious community now wields vast economic assets, political influence, and a posh identity endorsed by Indian business tycoons and Bollywood celebrities. This book examines this globalized religious community in Mumbai, India's business and entertainment capital, where ISKCON draws Indians from diverse backgrounds to adopt a socially conservative Krishna bhakti identity amidst a neoliberal megacity and the city's famed cosmopolitanism. Examining the full-circle globalization of a religious movement, this study considers how religious revivalism shifts people's relationships to religion, family, culture, and nation through constructing new forms of community. Through ISKCON, devotees partake in a form of Hindu belonging that foregrounds discourses of choice, belief, and rationality over family and inherited traditions, embodying a Hindu traditionalism that is profoundly modern. This study also provides a vivid example of how transnational organizations shape local religion. As ISKCON fashions devout religious identities amidst urban spaces, such as college campuses, corporate wellness retreats, and Bollywood celebrity events, it promotes a religious Hindu modernity that reflects elite urban Indian aspirations and aesthetics"-- |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xi, 324 pages) : illustrations. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780197656488 019765648X 0197656471 9780197656471 0197656463 9780197656464 |