The article was published in the "International Journal of Hindu Studies."
Brian K. Pennington, director of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society and Professor of Religious Studies, has published a new article in the International Journal of Hindu Studies, titled 鈥淎n Elusive Himalayan Secularism: Managing Pilgrimage in Garhwal, 1815-2021.鈥
The article examines the controversy surrounding state government authority over pilgrimage practices in Garhwal, a linguistic-cultural region in the Indian Himalayas.
In November 2021, the state government of Uttarakhand, India withdrew the C膩r Dh膩m Devasth膩nam Management Act, a law enacted only two years prior to establish state government authority over pilgrimage practice at fifty-three temples in Garhwal. Supporters of this bill had sought to ensure transparency in the management of these major pilgrimage temples. Hereditary ritual specialists at the temples and others vehemently contested the law鈥檚 efforts to regulate practice at the temples associated with the C膩r Dh膩m Y膩tr膩 pilgrimage, where ritual and administrative practice was long governed by diverse local traditions.
As Pennington argues, the debates over this law mirror closely the century-long struggle during British rule to protect pilgrims, maintain pilgrimage infrastructure and combat corruption while avoiding the entanglement in Hindu religious affairs that was prohibited by British law. Just as British officials were caught between the imperative to avoid involvement in the religious affairs of their Hindu subjects and the moral demands to protect pilgrims from exploitation, partisans in the 2019鈥21 debate differed on whether to accede to the 鈥渢raditional鈥 ritual rights of those attached to the temples or to reform temple practice according to modern organizational principles. The article argues that the debates over the 2021 C膩r Dh膩m Devasth膩nam Management Act rehearse the tortured history of Indian secularism and reveal again its intractable contradictions.