From rejecting caste to establishing Vedic summer camps: sanātana dharma in flux at a South Indian temple

Abstract

Ideas on what constitutes a righteous Hindu way of life have undergone important changes in recent years, reflecting events of global, national, regional and local scale. The UN’s adoption of the International Day of Yoga, Narendra Modi’s third consecutive premiership, the establishment in 2015 of the Hindu faith-based non-for-profit organisation Samarasata Sewa Foundation (SSF), and the passing away of the spiritual leader Gurujī, who supported esoteric tantric rituals, all contribute to fluctuations in the understanding of sanātana dharma at the South Indian Śrīvidyā temple-complex Śaktipur. Having first visited Śaktipur in 2014 when its founder Gurujī was still alive, and lived there in 2017–18 as an initiated researcher, followed by shorter stays in 2019 and 2024, I witnessed how expectations around Śrīvidyā worship and conduct transformed over the past decade. While the change in leadership prompted by Gurujī’s passing and Śaktipur’s connection with the SSF, “protecting and promoting Hindu Dharma,” have redefined sevā and pūjā through direct interventions, the government’s overt Hindu narrative supports these dharmic adjustments indirectly. Significant events at Śaktipur, from Gurujī tearing away his upanayana thread, to SSF awareness programmes, to the establishment of Vedic gurukulams, reflect the evolution of dharmic prescriptions over time. Combining fieldwork and digital data, I illustrate these shifts, and how they affect gender, caste and sexuality.