Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
2008
Keywords
Mughal rule, Akharas
Abstract
William Pinch's ambitious book traces ascetic warriors-companies (akharas) of men and their retinues who variously called themselves sanyasis, gosains, bairagis, fakirs and (especially) nagas - from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the Nehru era. He suggests first, a process of expansion and institutionalization during the seventeenth century under Mughal rule; second, a peak of influence in the eighteenth century when armed ascetics were employed as inexpensive and well-armed infantry and cavalry soldiers; and third, an incomplete domestication of militant ascetics under the suspicious vigilance of British rule and with redefinitions of "proper" Hindu asceticism in modem devotional Hinduism and Hindu nationalism.
Publication Title
Pacific Affairs
Volume
81
Issue
1
First Page
140
Last Page
142
Required Publisher's Statement
Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific is published by the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
View original published article in JSTOR,
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40377512
Recommended Citation
Curley, David, "Review of: Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires by William R. Pinch" (2008). Global Humanities and Religion. 5.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/liberalstudies_facpubs/5
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Asceticism--Hinduism; Warlordism--India
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Pinch, William R., 1960- . Warrior ascetics and Indian empires
Geographic Coverage
India
Genre/Form
reviews (documents)
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
