Overview

"In this book, Patton E. Burchett offers a path-breaking genealogical study of devotional (bhakti) Hinduism that traces its understudied historical relationships with tantra, yoga, and Sufism. Beginning in India's early medieval ""Tantric Age"" and reaching to the present day, Burchett focuses his analysis on the crucial shifts of the early modern period, when the rise of bhakti communities in North India transformed the religious landscape in ways that would profoundly affect the shape of modern-day Hinduism. A Genealogy of Devotion illuminates the complex historical factors at play in the growth of bhakti in Sultanate and Mughal India through its pivotal interactions with Indic and Persianate traditions of asceticism, monasticism, politics, and literature. Shedding new light on the importance of Persian culture and popular Sufism in the history of devotional Hinduism, Burchett's work explores the cultural encounters that reshaped early modern North Indian communities. Focusing on the Rāmānandī bhakti community and the tantric Nāth yogīs, Burchett describes the emergence of a new and Sufi-inflected devotional sensibility-an ethical, emotional, and aesthetic disposition-that was often critical of tantric and yogic religiosity. Early modern North Indian devotional critiques of tantric religiosity, he shows, prefigured colonial-era Orientalist depictions of bhakti as ""religion"" and tantra as ""magic."" Providing a broad historical view of bhakti, tantra, and yoga while simultaneously challenging dominant scholarly conceptions of them, A Genealogy of Devotion offers a bold new narrative of the history of religion in India."

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Reviews

By situating Vaisnava bhakti traditions within larger religious and political contexts, this ambitious and innovative work offers a refreshingly broad perspective on North Indian culture, along with a better appreciation of bhakti's message and appeal in the early modern era. Changing trends in religious patronage, the impact of Sufism, the varieties of religious practice, how bhakti poets disparaged tantra and yoga--these are among the fascinating historical issues explored in Burchett's path-breaking study.--Cynthia Talbot, author of The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200-2000 Kudos to Patton E. Burchett for this rich, fine-grained historical analysis of the multifaceted relationships between the human agents of bhakti, tantra, yoga, and Sufism in Sultanate and Mughal India. Religious nationalists and other simpletons will find little comfort here.--David Gordon White, author of The Yoga Sutra of Pata jali: A Biography So wide-ranging in importance and so carefully and broadly researched, this is a book people will turn to for many, many years to come--both for its own special contribution and for a basic orientation to the field.--John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement Vibrant, lyrical, and elegantly crafted, A Genealogy of Devotion is a scholarly opera on the history of bhakti (devotion) in India. Burchett fundamentally changes the way we think about bhakti, leaving readers with a book that is truly inspired.--Christian Lee Novetzke, author of The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India Burchett's provocative study adeptly traces the transformation of popular religion in early modern North India from an age dominated by Saiva, tantric, and yogic traditions to one permeated by Vaisnava bhakti piety. His well-argued thesis is that a crucial element in this shift was the interaction with and influence of Persianate and Sufi religiosity and cultural practices.--Philip Lutgendorf, author of Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey and translator of The Epic of Ram

Vibrant, lyrical, and elegantly crafted, A Genealogy of Devotion is a scholarly opera on the history of bhakti (devotion) in India. Burchett fundamentally changes the way we think about bhakti, leaving readers with a book that is truly inspired.--Christian Lee Novetzke, author of The Quotidian Revolution So wide-ranging in importance and so carefully and broadly researched, this is a book people will turn to for many, many years to come--both for its own special contribution and for a basic orientation to the field--John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs

By situating Vaisnava bhakti traditions within larger religious and political contexts, this ambitious and innovative work offers a refreshingly broad perspective on North Indian culture, along with a better appreciation of bhakti's message and appeal in the early modern era. Changing trends in religious patronage, the impact of Sufism, the varieties of religious practice, how bhakti poets disparaged tantra and yoga - these are among the fascinating historical issues explored in Burchett's path-breaking study.--Cynthia Talbot, author of The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200-2000 Burchett's provocative study adeptly traces the transformation of popular religion in early modern North India from an age dominated by Saiva, tantric, and yogic traditions to one permeated by Vaisnava bhakti piety. His well-argued thesis is that a crucial element in this shift was the interaction with and influence of Persianate and Sufi religiosity and cultural practices.--Philip Lutgendorf, author of Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey and translator of The Epic of Ram Kudos to Patton Burchett for this rich, fine-grained historical analysis of the multifaceted relationships between the human agents of bhakti, tantra, yoga and Sufism in Sultanate and Mughal India. Religious nationalists and other simpletons will find little comfort here.--David Gordon White, author of The Yoga Sutra of Pata jali: A Biography Vibrant, lyrical, and elegantly crafted, A Genealogy of Devotion is a scholarly opera on the history of bhakti (devotion) in India. Burchett fundamentally changes the way we think about bhakti, leaving readers with a book that is truly inspired.--Christian Lee Novetzke, author of The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India So wide-ranging in importance and so carefully and broadly researched, this is a book people will turn to for many, many years to come--both for its own special contribution and for a basic orientation to the field--John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs

So wide-ranging in importance and so carefully and broadly researched, this is a book people will turn to for many, many years to come--both for its own special contribution and for a basic orientation to the field--John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs Vibrant, lyrical, and elegantly crafted, A Genealogy of Devotion is a scholarly opera on the history of bhakti (devotion) in India. Burchett fundamentally changes the way we think about bhakti, leaving readers with a book that is truly inspired.--Christian Lee Novetzke, author of The Quotidian Revolution

Vibrant, lyrical, and elegantly crafted, A Genealogy of Devotion is a scholarly opera on the history of bhakti (devotion) in India. Burchett fundamentally changes the way we think about bhakti, leaving readers with a book that is truly inspired. -- Christian Lee Novetzke, author of <i>The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India</i> So wide-ranging in importance and so carefully and broadly researched, this is a book people will turn to for many, many years to come—both for its own special contribution and for a basic orientation to the field. -- John Stratton Hawley, author of <i>A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement</i> Kudos to Patton E. Burchett for this rich, fine-grained historical analysis of the multifaceted relationships between the human agents of bhakti, tantra, yoga, and Sufism in Sultanate and Mughal India. Religious nationalists and other simpletons will find little comfort here. -- David Gordon White, author of <i>The Yoga Sutra of Patañjali: A Biography</i> Burchett's provocative study adeptly traces the transformation of popular religion in early modern North India from an age dominated by Śaiva, tantric, and yogic traditions to one permeated by Vaiṣṇava bhakti piety. His well-argued thesis is that a crucial element in this shift was the interaction with and influence of Persianate and Sufi religiosity and cultural practices. -- Philip Lutgendorf, author of <i>Hanuman’s Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey</i> and translator of <i>The Epic of Ram</i> By situating Vaiṣṇava bhakti traditions within larger religious and political contexts, this ambitious and innovative work offers a refreshingly broad perspective on North Indian culture, along with a better appreciation of bhakti's message and appeal in the early modern era. Changing trends in religious patronage, the impact of Sufism, the varieties of religious practice, how bhakti poets disparaged tantra and yoga—these are among the fascinating historical issues explored in Burchett's path-breaking study. -- Cynthia Talbot, author of <i>The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200-2000</i> Path-breaking. * World Minded * Provides a thorough analysis of the political, social, and cultural developments taking place in India before and during [1450 to 1750 CE] . . . Recommended. * Choice * A well-documented and written work which courageously confronts many different topics and tries to provide a wider perspective. * Archives de sciences sociales des religions * His ambitious new book is an impressive feat, the result of over a decade of work. * Journal of the American Oriental Society * A must-read for anyone interested in medieval and early modern South Asian religion. * Religious Studies Review * An incisive and necessary contribution to the fields of Tantric and Bhakti studies. His work is thoroughly grounded in cutting-edge research and showcases a fearless mastery of Indian history. * Reading Religion *

Author Information

Patton E. Burchett is assistant professor of religious studies at the College of William and Mary.

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