Manufacturing Charisma in the Metropolis

Abstract

Scholars’ attempts at classifying Indian spiritual leaders generated over the years numerous typologies, often created in analogy to categorizations found outside an immediate religious fold. Copeman and Ikegame suggested, for instance, among other possibilities, a twofold categorization of such figures by establishing a conceptual relationship to the distinction between local and corporate economies. The movement discussed in this essay is characterized by such a decidedly low-profile, local complexity, and a somewhat surprising form of provincialism, given its setting in contemporary cosmo- and megalopolitan Mumbai. Based on the movement’s publications and conversations with long-time devotees, the essay outlines the developments in the self-presentation of the movement and its founding figure.