Jack Hawley has devoted his academic career to studying Vaishnava devotional (bhakti) groups centered on Krishna. Much of his research over the last five decades has been conducted in Vrindavan, a once-small town in the “wilderness” (the “van” in Vrindavan) about 90 miles from the outskirts of New Delhi. Deeply revered by the devotees of Krishna as an idyllic land of pastures and forest glades, the surrounding district (Braj) provides the background to many beloved tales of Krishna’s pastimes, or lila. The town itself is nestled in an oxbow of the sacred Yamuna river, which is central to many of the stories and rituals enjoyed by Krishna’s devotees.
Hawley seems extremely well integrated into the region’s life and rhythms and his deep local knowledge is on display throughout the text. He begins his tour of Vrindavan with detailed discussions of ongoing environmental destruction, land development mania, Disneyfication of sacred...
University of California Press