Book Reviews 447

the Karamojong. He wonders about the role of Church in education in a

society that remains predominantly oral. The debate about whether
Karamojong have become post-traditionalist is interesting. The point Knighton
makes here and throughout the book is that Karamojong culture is able to
endure both political and religious actors because of its crosscutting continuity
and change. The reason for this dynamism, according to the author, is largely
due to their age-set system and the time dimension it provides (261).
This is clearly an important book on critical issues affecting not only
Karamojong but all pastoralists of Africa. Knighton writes with a remarkable
skill and keen sensibility toward Karamojong. By virtue of its analytical strength
and breadth, this book is indispensable resource for all scholars of African reli-

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gions and culture. Those who read it will discover insights within each chapter
that will prove valuable in sorting out the complexities of African societies
today. Knighton stayed true to his objectives and has presented a well-written
book on the vitality of Karamojong religion.
doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfm016 Samuel Elolia
Advance Access publication May 23, 2007 Emmanuel School of Religion

Reconstructing Tradition: Advaita Acārya and Gaudı̄ya Vaisnavism at

˙
the Cusp of the Twentieth Century. By Rebecca J. Manring.˙ ˙Columbia
University Press, 2005. 305 pages. $50.00.

This book, more than a decade in the making, is a tour de force on the
relatively little known fifteenth to sixteenth century Bengali teacher Advaita
Acārya. Advaita could be claimed, in some sense, as the “father of Gaudīya
Vaisnavism,” the devotional movement focused on the Hindu god Kr˙sna,
˙ ˙ is best known through the sixteenth century Bengali figure Caitanya,
which ˙˙ ˙
understood by many to be an incarnation of Lord Krsna himself (or the joint
embodiment of Krsna and his favorite consort Rādhā). ˙˙ ˙ To set the book’s
˙˙ ˙
context: Advaita, originally from the Sylhet region now in Bangladesh, moved
to Shantipura (north of Kolkata), and was reputed to be an excellent Sanskrit
scholar, teaching many young Brahmin men, including Caitanya. Advaita
eventually deferred to the ecstatic bhakti of his student, becoming one of
Caitanya’s leading disciples. Caitanya’s hagiographies emphasize Advaita as
the instrumental cause of Krsna’s birth as Caitanya in Kali Yuga. To Advaita’s
followers however, he was ˙himself
˙˙ a divine incarnation, and set high moral
standards still followed only by them.
One of the main interests, and values, of this book is its exploration of the
nature of hagiography. Manring describes what this type of text reveals about
an author, subject, and cultural context from a modern academic perspective.
She discusses hagiography as a literary genre (in Gaudīya Vaisnavism, South
˙ ˙˙
448 Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Asia and beyond), and points out that status enhancement is more a goal than
historical accuracy (though the latter may be present). She demonstrates how
texts describing Advaita fit this model: he shows miraculous abilities from
birth on, defeats and converts all opponents, undertakes astonishing journeys,
is extremely long-lived, and, particularly true in South Asia hagiography, is
himself divine (in his case, a partial incarnation of Krsna, and, interestingly, of
Śiva). She points out the important fact that often ˙hagiographical
˙˙ records of
religious figures are often the only ones that exist.
Manring then looks at different hagiographies of Advaita. The first on his
life beyond in relation to Caitanya is the Advaita Mangala, probably written in
the seventeenth century by one Haricarana. Manring ˙gives an extended discus-
sion of the text’s structure and content.˙ Advaita is revealed as an orthodox

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performer of great austerities and devotion, as pure Brahmin and guru, and as
husband and father (of six sons). Interestingly, his name, Advaita, suggests
non-dualism and his ( primary) wife’s name is the dharmically conventional
and respectable Sītā, though both are seen as partial manifestations of the
supreme erotic couple, Krsna and Rādhā.
˙˙ ˙
It seems that after Caitanya’s death there was some tension due to both
theological and political issues between those following Advaita, who empha-
sized brahmanic rule-abiding purity, and the iconoclastic egalitarianism of the
followers of Nityānanda, another major disciple of Caitanya. (Manring does,
however, also examine some of the less orthodox texts on Advaita, some
sahajiyā influenced, which show him as teaching and practicing meditation or
ritual helping Krsna devotees (mañjarī) aid the lord in erotic mādhurya
˙˙ ˙
bhāva.) Given ongoing sectarianism, eventually Advaita’s lineage fragmented
and while he remained a broadly honored figure, his disciples became a small
school within Gaudı̄ya Vaisnavism.
˙
The book illustrates ˙ ˙ how cultural change will turn background into
well
foreground. There was a revival of Advaita’s fame and importance in the nine-
teenth century. Manring argues this was in part due to a desire to recover lost
national heritage and prestige during a time of rising nationalism in Bengal in
the face of British and Christian influence as seen in missionary schools and
organizations like the Brahmo Samaj and the Asiatic Society. Advaita’s caste
purity and devotional propriety legitimated and lent respectability to Bengali
identity, particularly among the Brahmin elite. Manring gives a good sense of
the religious and political ferment of the time among Bengali devotees of
Advaita by focusing on two figures: his descendent Vijayakrsna Gosvāmı̄
(1844–1899), who was long influenced by Vedanta and the Brahmo ˙˙ ˙ Samaj
before returning to the Gaudı̄ya fold, and Acyutacarana Caudhurī Tattvanidhi
(1866–1953), a Caitanya follower˙ ˙
from the Sylhet district, who is the figure
most responsible for Advaita’s resurgent renown.
Manring shows that at the turn of the twentieth century, many new manu-
scripts on Advaita Acārya suddenly appeared, the most important of which
were “found” by Acyutacarana. Here and elsewhere, she balances a “hermeneu-
˙
tics of suspicion” with an understanding sympathetic to insiders’ views. These
 Book Reviews 449

manuscripts were claimed to be much older, but are unmentioned by anyone

outside Advaita’s own followers. Thus the book’s title “reconstructing tra-
dition,” a tradition which aimed to make Advaita’s school the “truest” or
“purest” Gaudı̄ya Vaisnavism. She points out that the tradition does not focus
on an ur-text˙ presumed˙ ˙ to be most valuable, but on later texts as being more
authoritative since they contain more cumulative wisdom. Clearly, the hagio-
graphical tradition here continues. The most significant of these texts were the
full life biography Advaita Prakāśa and the Bālya Līlā Sūtra on the birth and
youth of Advaita. The latter text, written in erudite Sanskrit with apparent
mimicry of the Bhāgavata Purāna, emphasizes Advaita’s lineage deriving from
the highest Brahmin group (kulīna)˙ and his equality with Śiva and Visnu. This
˙˙

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emphasis is meant to show Advaita to be both divine and a top-ranking
Brahmin, indicating Bengali superiority to the British, and Advaita’s group
sectarian pride of place over other schools.
Even more important is the Advaita Prakāśa, written in middle Bengali,
which Acyutacarana “discovered” in 1896. Acyutacarana claimed that the text
was written by one ˙ Iśāna Nāgara in 1568 (contemporary ˙ with Advaita) and
“hidden” for 350 years. Manring summarizes the book, which includes such
feats as Advaita vanishing at will and walking on water at age 12, and later
circumambulating India at greater breadth than Caitanya. Much is made of
Advaita’s late marriage to the sisters Sītā and Śrı̄, who despite their youth fall
instantly and deeply in love with Advaita, and he has six sons. The text then
begins to focus more on Caitanya, whom Advaita heralds. The text describes
Caitanya’s intense devotion, journey to Puri, meeting with the Goswamins,
and final “disappearance” into Jagannātha, then returns to Advaita’s last days
and final passing also into a divine image. Here and elsewhere, Manring
details how divinity first appears in Advaita in the majestic mood (aiśvarya
bhāva), and then moves through the progressively more intimate moods of
servanthood, friendship, parental love, and finally the erotic (mādhurya) mood
as seen in Krsna’s and Rādhā’s love play.
Women ˙associated
˙˙ with Advaita also receive hagiographical treatment, par-
ticularly Sītā (Devī), Advaita’s senior wife. While a major actor before marriage
in the Advaita Mangala and Advaita Prakāśa, in texts focusing on her,
˙
especially the Sītā Caritra, she is also a sectarian leader, has miraculous
powers, and a long teaching career. Like Advaita, she is both divine and a
respectable Brahmin. Her primary role is devoted wife, so she says she can
teach only women and her teaching is that of her husband, yet she is so power-
ful that two male disciples become women to learn from her.
A final chapter offers a fascinating ethnographic report on Advaita’s des-
cendents and Advaita worship today (there are also pictures mid-book, taken
by the author). Her visits to Shantipur in Bengal and Sylhet in Bangladesh in
the early 1990s add a valuable contextual perspective to the textual views
above. After a formal tour of Advaita and Śākta temples in Shantipur, Manring
returned to interview family members, and later attend a rāsa līlā festival.
Most telling is how little emphasis there was on the above hagiographical texts,
450 Journal of the American Academy of Religion

how little interest in textual debates and how untroubled followers are by the
degree to which writings reveal a particular author’s perspective. In Sylhet,
Manring made a pilgrimage to Navagrama, Advaita’s birthplace, which is now
marked by a small temple outside a rural village, reachable only by boat. The
conclusion repeats previous points, but offers a good summary of the book’s
themes discussed above.
In sum, Manring’s research on Advaita Acārya, and hagiographical
traditions about him, shows immense breadth and depth. Although primarily
textually focused, it is clear she knows the context well too. She traveled widely
in both Bengal and Bangladesh, gathering an impressively complete manu-
script inventory. In the conclusion, she laments the loss of many manuscripts

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and the deteriorating condition of many libraries in India, something with
which many scholars, Western or Indian, can concur. Manring and her team
should get great credit for recataloging and microfilming the Sukumar Sen
library. Manring’s deep knowledge and ability to place and reveal specific
agendas in various texts is both a strength (excellent scholarship, great resource
for specialists) and a weakness (not easily accessible to non-experts). Still, for
those interested in Gaudīya Vaisnavism, Hindu devotional traditions, or
˙ ˙ valuable book.
comparative hagiography, ˙this is a very
doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfm017 Andrew O. Fort
Advance Access publication May 22, 2007 Texas Christian University

River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern

India. By David L. Haberman. University of California Press, 2006. 277
pages. $24.95.
David Haberman has written a compelling, vividly heartbreaking and irra-
tionally hopeful book. It is a book destined to be widely read and taught, as
it promises to involve and inspire students of religion and ecology at all levels.
It is a book that might even have a benign effect on the problematic world it
seeks to describe. I am not saying this is a flawless work. I shall duly carp at
some of its weaknesses, but I am more inclined to praise the singular virtues of
River of Love in an Age of Pollution.
Haberman writes clearly in a hybrid genre, which manages fluidly to inte-
grate natural history with human and religious history; visions of divine realities
with visions of material landscapes; authorial commentary with voices of pil-
grims, priests, and activists. He also offers—not only in bits appropriately scat-
tered throughout the text, but thankfully gathered as wholes in an invaluable
appendix—some beautiful translations of devotional odes to the Yamuna, which
wonderfully convey the theological poetics that lie at the heart of this book.
Haberman’s volume unfolds a merged ecological and religious crisis in
alternatively moving and nauseating detail. The Yamuna River—worshipped