Cuz It's Hot... Cuz It's Hot... Cuz It's Hot Baby, Cuz It's Hot

As you might know if you're reading this, I will be trying to keep a public record of my travels through India at the request of friends and family. In the morning I will leave, and I should arrive in Delhi early evening on Wednesday. I'm not bringing my computer, or a phone, or much of anything really. I've learned from past travels that those things rarely come in handy, and I go pretty light these days. This will be my first excursion into a non-Western country.

My primary purpose will be preliminary research regarding an ethnographic research proposal I wrote as an undergrad. The proposal was an attempt to combine my academic interests in anthropology of religion, symbolic anthropology, urban anthropology, neoliberal "globalization," and the history and philosophies of India with my personal interests in the occult and Ganesha. The idea is to collect ethnographic data via the method of long-term participant observation on Tantric sects devoted to Ganesha/Ganapati, especially ones who have grown in or relocated to urban environments. My efforts in the next six weeks will be devoted to answering the following questions:

• Is such research possible, i.e. do such sects exist in a condition that would make the research ethically and practically viable?
• Is such research desirable, i.e. do I think I could find a good enough reason to present the results to the academic community? I've laid out some good arguments in my proposal, but I would like to reiterate them through personal experience.
• Do I personally want to spend two years and then probably more in India? This may turn out to be true, but I think I have many more things left for me to do in Baltimore before I go for my PhD: magically, personally, and academically. Also, I might end up changing my mind about what I want to study. I began some research in Baltimore with Dr. Durington that has many avenues open for exploration. Or I could return to philosophy or religious studies, or try cultural geography or something else entirely. Or spend the rest of my dark days enslaved to Tyler and his whip playing Texas Hold'Em...

I'm also going to have some fun in India, in case you were worried. But while I'm there, I will also be exploring the ethics of tourism and volunteer work, in case I haven't bored you enough. I will also be continuing my regular ritual practices, and I shall add to my pack a Hymn to Ganesh that I got off of one of Jason Louv's MySpace bulletins. I think he wrote it, but maybe he got it somewhere else. I'm reposting it here, to remain until he scolds me:

One-tusked alabaster god
Sat in resplendent fury
In the halls of the mind
Eternal incense smoldering
Pre-cyclopean and justified
I called you and you answered
You who wrote my bedtime story
Have rewritten it again and again
Each time I fall asleep
And then awaken
Destroy the monsters under the bed
Destroy bad magic and those who practice it
Destroy the obstacles I create for myself
Destroy my mistakes
Destroy my conditioning
May there be
No obstacles to consciousness
No obstacles to love
No obstacles to the body
No obstacles to the truth
God is Great
And there you have hung upon my wall through every incarnation
Unchanging and watching through every incarnation
Through every world and reality you are
Ganesha Lord of Obstacles
Lord of the Path
Scribe of Eternity
Elephant God
One-Tusked
Dutiful Son
Master of Paths
Keep my path lit and open
Behold his mighty form
Aum Gung.

As if I haven't enough to do already, I will be packing four slim volumes to peruse in my spare time. I don't get to read much when I travel, but I can never resist taking books. In case you're wondering, they are:

• Book Four Parts I and II by Aleister Crowley
• Trust by Alphonso Lingis (Al, if you're reading this, I'm doing all this because you've warned me repeatedly never to lead a boring life. Mom, if you're reading this, it's all Al's fault. And Matthew Durington's)
• The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Ethnographic Sorcery by Harry G. West (Dr. Collins, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I didn't finish it in Ethnographic Field Methods. But I will)

I'm also taking Lonely Planet's India guide and Hindi/Urdu/Bengali phrasebook. I didn't learn as much Hindi as I would have liked before the trip, but I will be in cities with a lot of English speakers.

I'm sorry if I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to anyone before I left, but I won't be gone that long unless I decide to never come back (just kidding, Mom).

Finally, for the truly masochistic, what follows is my original research proposal before it was graded by Dr. Collins. Feel free to make suggestions for the bibliography!

The Esoteric City: Tantrism in the Indian Metropolis

India has taken long strides since its independence from British colonial rule and has quickly emerged on the global stage as a major player. Its cities have evolved as confrontations between high technology, ancient religion, overpopulation, varna and jāti clashes, and all of the problems inherent in the process of globalization. An understanding of Tantrism is fundamental to give an account of the Indian religious character, and therefore to understand India and its culture. The unfortunate lack of reliable scholarly work on Tantrism complicates the problem, and we are left with denunciations by the religious orthodox and popular mistreatments by the West in the form of “California Tantra.”

This research will focus on the practice of Tantrism as it occurs in the milieu of urban India, investigating the roles Tantra has in the symbolic economy and in the creation of public space, and how urban life has impacted the rural folk-orientation of Tantra and its practitioners. Also to be included is a study of how the traditionally “lower-caste” Tantrisms interact in urban space with the “higher castes.” Furthermore, it will be examined how Tantra’s appropriation of symbolism from the “public cult” into the “esoteric circle” mirrors the process of ethnography in symbolic anthropology.

Context

The nature of Tantra has been historically difficult to pin down. Broadly speaking, it is a religious movement straddling both Hinduism and Buddhism, and like Buddhism rejects caste differences both within and outside of ritual space. Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, for example, is a Tantric Buddhism. Originally a spiritual means for the lower caste to codify its professional knowledge, it has undergone various permutations throughout history. Today Tantra is generally concerned, like yoga, with various means to achieve spiritual awakening, although sometimes through more unorthodox methods, such as the ritual uses of sex or drugs. Tantra also tends to be more concerned with the female aspects of deity, and with the realities of everyday life. With all the varieties of Tantrisms, a huge body of scriptural works has amassed to rival those of orthodox Hinduism or Buddhism, and Tantra continues to use the orthodox texts as well. Written scripture, however, takes a back seat to oral teachings transmitted from guru to student.

Anthropology has had much more to say about cities and city culture since the 1990’s, when urban theories within the discipline really began to emerge. The effects of culture on urban planning, economy, and politics are profound, as are the impacts on culture from these social forces. The opportunities for applied anthropology are multiplied in the metropolis. India’s major cities are at the heart of the country’s entry into globalization, from Hyderabad’s computer industry (granting the nickname “Cyberabad”) to Pune’s intellectual status and automobile industry (“Oxford of the East,” and “India’s Detroit”). India is also a very pluralistic society, and the world’s oldest continuous civilization.

Urban anthropology is in one sense a study of the unseen forces at work in a city, and an often reflexive account of our hidden assumptions. It could be described as a science of power and forces, with a different perspective than political science. Tantra is in many cases a magical science of power, unseen forces, and hidden assumptions.

Methodology

A key component of this research will be the acquisition of informants to provide access to the sometimes secretive culture of Tantrism. Hindi and English are widely spoken in most major Indian cities, and these will be the primary languages for communication, but research assistants will be able to translate the many regional and local languages. Participant observation may or may not require initiation into one or more Tantric cults. As an ethical consideration, much of what would be exchanged under such circumstances would remain unreported, but it is important to note that these would be “personal” secrets, to be kept between guru and student, and are only for the benefit of the student’s progress. Broader processes and theories could be derived from them without compromising their integrity.

Tantric practitioners will be sought in a few different major cities for comparison. Frequent visits with key informants to rural Tantric temples and holy sites might be expected. Extensive interviews will be preformed, including some life stories. Observation of public expressions of Tantrism will be important, especially those that inscribe meaning on public spaces.

Tantric practitioners will not be the only informants required. Opponents of Tantra abound among Brahminists and other sectors of the urban population; they will be pursued just as fervently in order to provide a broader context of Tantra’s situation. In order for rapport with informants to develop, a considerable amount of time will need to be invested in each city. Therefore, after a brief survey of potential cities, about three will be selected for long-term repeated visits.

The end product of this research will be a written ethnography, perhaps supported with video. Such a work will be a much needed addition to the literature on Tantra specifically and to that of India, globalization, and urban anthropology in general.

Working Bibliography

Bharati, Agehananda. Tantric Traditions. 1965. Reprint, Delhi: Hindustan Publishing, 1993.

Bhattacharyya, N. N. History of the Tantric Religion: A Historical, Ritualistic and Philosophical Study. 1982. Reprint, New Delhi: Manohar, 1987.

Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2000.

Gusterson, Hugh. “Studying Up Revisited.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review 20(1):114-119, 1997.

Harper, Katherine Anne and Robert L. Brown, eds. The Roots of Tantra. New York: SUNY, 2002.

Inda, Jonathan Xavier and Renato Rosaldo, eds. The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader. Malden: Blackwell, 2002.

Low, Setha M. “The Anthropology of Cities: Imagining and Theorizing the City.” Annual Review of Anthropology 25:383-409, 1996.

Low, Setha M. “Spatializing Culture: The Social Production and Social Construction of Public Space in Costa Rica.” American Ethnologist 23(4):861-879, 1996.

Low, Setha M., ed. Theorizing the City: The New Urban Anthropology Reader. New Brunswick: Rutgers Univ., 1999.

Low, Setha M. and Denise Lawrence-Zúñiga, eds. The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture. Malden: Blackwell, 2003.

Nader, Laura. “Up the Anthropologist: Perspectives Gained from Studying Up.” In Reinventing Anthropology. Dell H. Hymes, ed. Pp. 284-311. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.

Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. The Cultural Heritage of India. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan, 1986.

Riepe, Dale. Indian Philosophy since Independence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1979.

Rodman, Margaret C. “Empowering Place: Multilocality and Multivocality.” American Anthropologist 94(3):640-656, 1992.

Samuel, Geoffrey, Hamish Gregor, and Elisabeth Stutchbury. Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 1994.

Saran, Prem. Tantra: Hedonism in Indian Culture. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 1998.

Sassen, Saskia. “Whose City Is It? Globalization and the Formation of New Claims.” Public Culture 1996(8):205-223, 1996.

Urban, Hugh B. The Economics of Ecstacy: Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal. New York: Oxford Univ., 2001.

White, David Gordon. Kiss of the Yogini: “Tantric Sex” in Its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago, 2003.

Zukin, Sharon. The Cultures of Cities. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995.