Acting as a Way of Salvation: A Study of Raganuga Bhakti Sadhana

Sixteenth-century Hindu theologian Rupa Gosvamin established a technique by which, in imitating one of the significant figures in Krishna’s dramatic world, a devotee might actually come to inhabit the world of the character whose part he or she was playing. Haberman here demonstrates that the Hindu view of reality accepts such role playing, called raganuga bhakti sadhana, as a preeminent way to salvation. He argues that Hindu devotional religion is not entirely a religion of grace, as many scholars have held, but one which requires discipline and effort. Throughout the book, Haberman explores Indian dramatic theory, Rupa’s unique application of that theory to devotionalism, developments in the practice of this technique, and its contemporary manifestations. David L. Haberman is a professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University. He has been making frequent visits to the region of Braj for over forty years, studying and writing about the religious culture of this important pilgrimage center. Since initially publishing Acting as a Way of Salvation: A Study of Rāgānugā Bhakti Sādhana(Oxford University Press, 1988), he has published five related books:Journey Through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna (Oxford University Press, 1994), an annotated translation of RūpaGosvāmin’sBhaktirasāmṛtasindhu (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 2000), River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India(University of California Press, 2006), People Trees: Worship of Trees in Northern India(Oxford University Press, 2013), andLoving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan (Oxford University Press, 2020). His fondness for the sacred land and religious culture of Braj remains strong.