Merchants, Ritualists, and Bifurcated Hanumāns: A Cultural History of Miracle Deities in Rajasthan

Abstract

This ethnographic-historical article analyzes urban merchant devotees and collaborating ritualists as agents of cultural change, as witnessed in the recent evolution of miracle deities in Rajasthan. The article focuses on two seemingly opposite manifestations of Hanumān in that state, locally called Bālājī, and argues that merchants’ patronage of these deities has inexorably pushed their divergence. One Bālājī, considered mature and peaceful, promotes merchants’ lineage solidarity and upward mobility. At the same time, the other Bālājī, childlike and aggressive, treats anxiety disorders arising from spirit possession that threaten many of the same merchants’ families. The article interprets these dual outcomes within the Indic cosmological understanding that we live in the Kali Yuga, an era of moral degradation. Hence, devotees say that humanity is nowadays impelled to seek worshipful relationships with miracle deities, thereby restoring order in the world and providing boons for the faithful. The article contends that urban merchants need both of the Bālājīs’ distinct repertoires of miracles, representing the authority of Hanumān as a savior for our times, to address their aspirations and obstacles. Urban merchants’ patronage of these deities’ temples, and their construction of visitors’ facilities, have spurred the rise of devotional publics in northwestern India, extending beyond merchant society itself. Meanwhile, such patronage has also advanced a trend towards pan-Indian canonical Hinduism, bringing the Bālājīs in line with a nationwide norm. The article thus suggests that primordial folk beliefs about divinity are potentially reconfigured in novel ways when merchants prioritize deities based on obtaining miracles.