Jalaram Bapa: The Public Expression of Regional, Vernacular Traditions among Gujarati Hindus in the UK

Abstract

The scholarly literature concerning Gujarātī Hinduism in the UK has tended to pay attention to the public face of ecumenical, rationalised, or representative Hindu practices and beliefs. This has been at the expence of any scholarly enquiry into the role that regional, vernacular traditions play in the religious lives of Gujarātī Hindus in this country. This issue is brought into sharp focus when we consider that, despite being the focus of devotion for a significant number of Gujarātī Hindus in the UK, the regional vernacular traditions concerning the popular nineteenth-century Gujarātī saint Jalarām Bāpā have been virtually ignored by the academy. This introductory article argues that the Jalarām Bāpā tradition, through miraculous events and narratives, is offering a contemporary and alternative religious expression to that offered by representative Gujarātī Hindu traditions. Furthermore, it is doing so in a very public manner that appears to validate regional, vernacular traditions as opposed to marginalising or dismissing them.

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