Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter One: Theolinguistics: Orientalists, Brahmos, Vedantins, and Yogis 26 Chapter Two: From Indian Romanticism to Guru Literature 63 Chapter Three: Theosophistries 105 Chapter Four: The Hindu Sublime, or Nuclearism Rendered Cultural 142 Chapter Five: Blasphemy, Satire, and Secularism 184 Chapter Six: New Age Enchantments 220 Afterword 265 Notes 271 Index 313

Promotional Information

A highly engaging, often brilliant and wide-ranging book with broad scholarly appeal. Aravamudan has produced a novel synthesis that goes beyond other works in the field to articulate a vision of the cosmopolitan range of Indic thought within the metropole. The book is an important contribution to postcolonial studies and to scholars working in comparative literature, anthropology, history, and globalization studies. -- Bernard Bate, Yale University An intellectual tour de force combining literary criticism, archival research, philosophical reflections, and cultural analysis. The elegant merging of various disciplinary fields makes Guru English an important reference tool for a variety of scholars interested in cultural globalization, religious studies, colonial and post-colonial formations, and literary criticism. -- Marco Jacquemet, University of San Francisco Rich in intelligent readings on a range of topics that are cleverly linked to the resuscitation, re-fashioning, and export of Asian religion. -- Bruce Robbins, Columbia University Guru English significantly extends the reach of postcolonial criticism by bringing into conversation literary theory and area studies. It presents some of the best analyses to date of the prose through which a colonial construct called 'Indian spiritualism' has found both a market and an afterlife in the contemporary world. Aravamudan's probing examination of the Hindu Right's language of nuclear triumphalism, of Rushdie's writings, and of the promises held out by a long line of transnational gurus--from the Maharishi to Deepak Chopra--will establish him as a major cultural commentator of our times. -- Dipesh Chakrabarty, The University of Chicago Guru English is an innovative and insightful analysis of the language used during the last two centuries in the discourse on religion in South Asia. The genes of British English were mutated by Indian requirements and the resulting language was indispensable to the redefining of Hinduism. Processed through orientalism, colonialism, and nationalism, it is now moving towards cosmopolitanism and the diaspora. The new texture of this language bears the heightened imprint of cultural and political concerns. -- Romila Thapar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

About the Author

Srinivas Aravamudan is Associate Professor of English and Director of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University. He is the author of Tropicopolitans: Colonialism and Agency, 1688-1804.

Reviews

"A highly engaging, often brilliant and wide-ranging book with broad scholarly appeal. Aravamudan has produced a novel synthesis that goes beyond other works in the field to articulate a vision of the cosmopolitan range of Indic thought within the metropole. The book is an important contribution to postcolonial studies and to scholars working in comparative literature, anthropology, history, and globalization studies."—Bernard Bate, Yale University

"An intellectual tour de force combining literary criticism, archival research, philosophical reflections, and cultural analysis. The elegant merging of various disciplinary fields makes Guru English an important reference tool for a variety of scholars interested in cultural globalization, religious studies, colonial and post-colonial formations, and literary criticism."—Marco Jacquemet, University of San Francisco

"Rich in intelligent readings on a range of topics that are cleverly linked to the resuscitation, re-fashioning, and export of Asian religion."—Bruce Robbins, Columbia University

"Guru English significantly extends the reach of postcolonial criticism by bringing into conversation literary theory and area studies. It presents some of the best analyses to date of the prose through which a colonial construct called 'Indian spiritualism' has found both a market and an afterlife in the contemporary world. Aravamudan's probing examination of the Hindu Right's language of nuclear triumphalism, of Rushdie's writings, and of the promises held out by a long line of transnational gurus—from the Maharishi to Deepak Chopra—will establish him as a major cultural commentator of our times."—Dipesh Chakrabarty, The University of Chicago

"Guru English is an innovative and insightful analysis of the language used during the last two centuries in the discourse on religion in South Asia. The genes of British English were mutated by Indian requirements and the resulting language was indispensable to the redefining of Hinduism. Processed through orientalism, colonialism, and nationalism, it is now moving towards cosmopolitanism and the diaspora. The new texture of this language bears the heightened imprint of cultural and political concerns."—Romila Thapar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India