The Hagiographer and the Avatar

The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi

Antonio Rigopoulos

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781438482286, 9781438482293
• eBook ISBN: 9781438482309
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Examines the key role of a hagiographer within a charismatic religious movement.

In this biographical study, Antonio Rigopoulos explores the fundamental role of a hagiographer within a charismatic religious movement: in this case, the postsectarian, cosmopolitan community of the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba. The guru's hagiographer, Narayan Kasturi, was already a distinguished litterateur by the time he first met Sathya Sai Baba in 1948. The two lived together at the guru's hermitage more or less continuously from 1954 up until Kasturi's death, in 1987. Despite Kasturi's influential hagiography, Sathyam Sivam Sundaram, little scholarly attention has been paid to the hagiographer himself and his importance to the movement. In detailing Kasturi's relationship to Sathya Sai Baba, Rigopoulos emphasizes that the hagiographer's work was not subordinate to the guru's definition of himself. Rather, his discourses with the holy man had a reciprocal and reinforcing influence, resulting in the construction of a unified canon. Furthermore, Kasturi's ability to perform a variety of functions as a hagiographer successfully mediated the relationship between the guru and his followers. Drawing on years of research on the movement as well as interviews with Kasturi himself, this book deepens our understanding of this important pan-Indian figure and his charismatic religious movement.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Narayan Kasturi’s Hagiographical Enterprise
• 1 Narayan Kasturi’s First Life: Investigating the Hagiographer’s Roots
• 2 Narayan Kasturi’s Magnum Opus: Sathyam Sivam Sundaram, Parts 1 & 2
• 3 Narayan Kasturi’s Magnum Opus: Sathyam Sivam Sundaram, Parts 3 & 4
• 4 The Hagiographer’s Multiple Roles within the Sathya Sai Baba Movement
• 5 A Conversation with Professor Kasturi
• 6 Understanding Sathya Sai Baba in the Light of Dattātreya
• 7 Narayan Kasturi’s Last Years
• 8 Epilogue: Narayan Kasturi’s Legacy Lives On
• Notes
• General Bibliography
• Works by Narayan Kasturi
• Works on Narayan Kasturi
• Index