Songs of Transformation: Vernacular Josmanī Literature and the Yoga of Cosmic Awareness

Abstract

Josmani, the Sant tradition found in northeastern Nepal and among the Nepali-speaking community in Assam, India has a documented history going back over two hundred years.1 Although other Sant traditions of the Indian subcontinent have received voluminous attention, the Josmani tradition has not been explored within the framework of contemporary scholarship. This article examines the private and public domains of Josmanls, their Yoga practice, and their social life within the context of their worldview. The approach adopted here is comparative and historical with a focus on other contemporaneous Hindu traditions. Besides Josmanls, several other Sant traditions flourished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Nepal.2 This study is therefore not exhaustive; it explores the role of the syncretic traditions prevalent in the northeastern region of the subcontinent. There can be no disagreement about the identification of the Josmani as a Sant tradition emerging from the same pan-Indian spirit that infused the Alvârs and Nayanars, Kablr and Nanak, and the later Sants of northern India.3 Josmanis identify themselves as Sants (see Sharma 1963: 239, 272, 283, 318-19, 346) and distinguish themselves from other vernacular traditions like the Nath Jogis.4 The common constituents of this tradition are the same as those of the medieval Sants of India. Like other Sants, Josmanis are syncretistic, although the nature of syncretism differs in