Ascetics, kings, and the ‘triumphs’ of Vaiṣṇavism in Mughal India: myth and memory in the many lives of Krishnadās Payahārī from Rajasthan to the Western Himalayas

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper interrogates popular narratives regarding the spread of Vaiṣṇavism in early modern North India through an examination of the memory of the Rāmānandī ascetic and bhakti saint Krishnadās Payahārī. Payahārī is remembered as a pious, Nāth Yogi-defeating wonder worker as well as a powerful figure in the political sphere, directly responsible for the conversion of kings from Śaiva-Śākta tantric religion to Vaiṣṇava devotion. Examining oral traditions from Rajasthan, Panjab, and the Western Himalayas, along with seventeenth-century hagiographical texts, while also drawing upon ethnographic research at sites where Payahārī is actively remembered and revered today, this paper offers insights into the mythological function of Payahārī as emblematic Vaiṣṇava ascetic, the historical relations of Vaiṣṇava (bhakti) and Śaiva-Śākta (tantric) religiosity in Mughal India, the role of ascetics and monastic communities in this period and its remembrance, and the beguiling presence of Payahārī and his memory today. In particular, we investigate the enduring effects of Mughal influence on the Western Himalayas in the puzzling, still vital place of Payahārī and a Vaiṣṇava state deity in the social life of the Śaiva-Śākta-dominated Kullu Valley.