| This dissertation argues that the worship of certain enshrined Indian gods offering miracles has been substantially affected by socioeconomic change over the past twenty years, resulting in a new devotional culture. This phenomenon is exemplified in the rise of Balaji, a local manifestation of the monkey god Hanuman, at two sites in Rajasthan respectively known as Salasar and Mehndipur. This dissertation aligns with scholarship across disciplines on new religious movements, the popularization of faith and miracles as instruments of personal advancement, and the construction of local histories through ethnography.;Structured as a collective oral account, the research shifts between analyses of present-day devotion at shrines of miracles, the religious practices of devotees in their home locales, case studies of priests and faith healers, and anecdotes about how Hindu devotion has changed in recent decades. Respondents interpret modern socioeconomic change as cosmically preordained history resulting in societal corruption. Faith in Balaji is understood as a path for restoring an idealized moral society in which miracles take care of devotees' needs.;The historical backdrop of this study starts in 1990, when affluent merchants acclaimed Salasar Balaji and certain nearby deities as their hereditary guarantors of prosperity. These merchants also started urban devotional organizations based on their prior social and economic relationships. In the years of neoliberal reform, their prosperity and pious donations to Salasar's rulers, the Brahmins, spurred stories about miracles. This led to a new tradition of long pilgrimages on foot among farmers and townspeople from the region surrounding Salasar who were eager for a fast track to the good life.;Meanwhile, having a more decentralized form of authority, Mehndipur became a magnet for faith healers attracted by the influx of pilgrims seeking relief from afflictions. From around 1996 on, the rising volume of pilgrimage spurred the establishment of many new faith healing shrines in Rajasthan. This study observes that healers pragmatically elevated their household spirits into miracle-granting gods to serve these shrines. The outcome of these devotional changes is the popular reification of Rajasthan as a reservoir of charismatic gurus and miracle shrines aimed at a modernizing yet decaying society. |
