Paper short abstract:

I will try to pull apart archetypal relationships and representative genres that constitute the “encounter stories” aspect of the pan-Indian narrative of the bhakti movement, asking whether they are specific with regard to region, religion, social level, or epoch.

Paper long abstract:

Stories of encounters between poet-saints comprise one of the most significant genres contributing to the standard narrative of a pan-Indian bhakti movement. The relationships defined by these encounters, however, are of several sorts: between rulers and persons they wish to enroll as their spiritual advisers, between leaders of religious communities that perceive each other as rivals, between bhaktas who speak and bhaktas who record, between gurus and disciples, between family members (whether by birth or adoption), between poet-singers who desire to hear one another perform, or between sparring or debating partners. The list is long—so long that one wonders whether it is possible for a poet-saint to be enrolled in the bhakti movement in the absence of one or more of these ties.

In this presentation, I would like to try to pull apart these archetypal relationships and genres, asking whether they are specific with regard to region, religion, social level, or epoch. Clearly such stories are often in the business of creating relationships where strictly speaking they did not exist, thus weaving a bhakti web that adds value to history. But in the course of doing so, do they also cast aside other sorts of encounters that fail to measure up to someone's perception of what ought to count as true bhakti? If so, perhaps value is simultaneously being subtracted.