This volume is all the more welcome as it deals with a topic rarely studied as far as the Indian sub-continent is concerned: the relationship between communities of traders and their religious affiliations and activities. The interpenetration of the religious and the economic domains is the subject dealt with by the writers of these essays. The volume contains nine articles with two in English and the others in French. Short abstracts in both languages are given at the end of the volume, and each paper is followed by its bibliography. Though most of the studies deal with Hinduism there is one about Jainism, one about a denomination of South Indian Christians and one about the Shia Muslims called Khojas. A number of the contributors are anthropologists and base their analysis on field work (Lachaier, Bouillier, Pache-Huber and Mahias) while others study texts (Couture and Clémentin-Ojha) and some combine both approaches (Simpson, Kumaradoss and Boivin).
In their introduction, Catherine Clémentin-Ojha and Pierre Lachaier underline the fact that Indian religions see no contradiction between the pursuit of two goals often viewed as antithetical: worldly possessions and salvation. In all cases presented in the volume the traders are members of religious sects, either by personal choice or family tradition, or belong to a minority, such as the Ismailis and the Jains, thus they constitute a specific group within the general body of religious worshippers. A sectarian affiliation strongly influences the way of life of its members and requires a much greater availability and personal involvement. It also implies a very personal aspiration towards salvation and a great preoccupation with spiritual merits. Unless one is prepared to admit that devotion constitutes an insurance against financial and other risks, it appears paradoxical that traders who are this-worldly by profession belong to these sects in great numbers. As a religion, Hinduism is thought to set a very high price on renunciation and selflessness, yet the studies show that the Hindu members of the merchant class do not see any contradiction between the ideal of detachment and the effort towards acquisition of wealth and its accumulation. Though the four puruṣārtha, the aims of human existence according to Hindu philosophy, include the pursuit of riches, artha, it is lower in the scale than dharma and mokṣa, and is the domain of the third varṇa or class, the Vaiśyas. Interestingly, the Bhatiya traders, studied by Edward Simpson, refuse the status of Vaiśya in favour of that of Kṣatriya, which, they said, was previously theirs. They are also of two minds regarding their sectarian affiliation: vaiṣṇava of the Pūṣṭi Mārg, a sect generally favoured by traders in Western India, or śākta, worshippers of the Goddess, like the Gujarati Kṣatriyas. The Bhatiyas explain their recent loss of commercial power and riches as a result of the ‘cooling’ of their Rajput blood.
André Couture in his study of several episodes of the Harivaṃśa shows how Krishna, like the Prajāpati of the Brāhmaṇas, redistributes among his devotees all the wealth that he acquires, keeping nothing for himself. In so doing he shows a way to salvation that is opened to merchants. They are free to acquire as many riches as possible, according to their svadharma, provided they give them away to the devotees. The necessary redistribution of the riches previously acquired is a theme that runs through all the essays in the volume.
In his condensed contribution P. Lachaier presents a number of religious practices that have taken place since independence within commercial and industrial organisations: of importance are astrology and geomantics, numerous rituals performed in the work-place, display of religious images, lavish celebration of various festivals, patronage of public and private temples and new management techniques based on neo-vedānta philosophy. The manager is supposed to view himself as a karma yogī, and his entrepreneurial vocation as a road to salvation. The overall religious atmosphere that is created reinforces the cohesion of the employees both among themselves and with their employer.
Two very interesting articles examine the relations, even more problematic, that monks have with worldly goods. Clementin-Ojha studies a nineteenth-century text “on the customs of the Gosawees or Gosaeens” written in 1827 by an East India Company administrator John Warden. These ‘Gosawees’ were ascetics, saṃnyāsin of the daśanāmī community, established by Śaṅkara in the eighth century. Warden's intention was to help British administrators and magistrates in their daily tasks. He thought that the economic and military activities of these monks, though possibly their only means of subsistence, were hardly compatible with their religious status. Less compatible even was their leaving celibacy for marriage! Clémentin-Ojha, relying on historical and judicial documents, shows that monks were part of a complex circuit of exchanges with very precise rules. Because they were officially allowed to receive gifts of money and also of land, monks were given the opportunity to accumulate wealth, employ workers on their farms and even inherit property in the name of their monastery or as head of a maṭh. In her paper Véronique Bouillier brings to light the circuit of exchanges built between the inmates of a monastery who received gifts from laymen and the economic success that this generosity brought to these devotees. In the case she studied, Shiva is the main deity, and the monks belong to the Nāth yogī sampradāya. This particular sect, established by Gorakhnath in the twelfth century, is known for its practice of Haṭha Yoga and for the powers, siddhi, that it is supposed to bring its members. In Rajasthan, yogīs were earlier favoured by kings who donated lands for their monasteries in exchange for blessings of various kinds. The Marwari merchants from Shekhavati have now replaced them and become devotees of the Amritnath Ashram, along with their families. In exchange of gifts and service, sevā, the ashram and its monastic head pass on to the devotees the fruit of their yogic practices: cures from illnesses, gains in business, premonitory advices, protection against financial losses, etc. Besides, as in all other cases studied in the volume, the donators gain prestige and recognition in this world in addition to salvation in the next. Bouillier notes that the abbot has to reconcile the ever-increasing number of worldly-minded devotees coming to him for material and spiritual benefits with the need to remain steadfast in his ascetic practice so as to be capable of giving guidance.
Véronique Pache-Huber studies the Shri Maheshwari Samaj, the associative organisation of the Maheshwari community, a merchant caste that originated in Rajasthan but later migrated all over India to pursue their trade or their professions. The main objective of the Maheshwari Association is to preserve and strengthen caste unity and, at the same time, to redistribute the riches, accumulated by some members, among the less fortunate ones. It takes care to avoid ostentatious display of wealth that might create jealousy among members and prefers to redistribute wealth through commercial transactions between one Maheshwari to another rather than by the giving of gifts. They facilitate social meetings and matrimonial unions between members of the caste and contribute to aid funds. Thus the members of the Shri Maheshwari Samaj exchange the gift of time and money for prestige and increased prosperity. A brief reminder of the religious tenets of this caste would have been useful since Śiva-Maheśa is an unusual deity for a Vaiśya community.
In Marie-Claude Mahias's paper both the asceticism of the Jain Digambar monks and the wealth of their disciples, which are of an extraordinary kind, are examined. In the Jain community making gifts and donations takes the first place among religious duties and is practised by all, men and women, in fabulous displays and even in the form of ritual auctions. Social and ritual status are the worldly rewards of the great generosity displayed during theatrical processions and celebrations. At the same time, the law of karman guarantees spiritual merit for all donors. Huge amounts of money are given to the ascetics, to the Tīrthaṅkars' images and to the temples encouraging stiff competition among the members of the community. M.C. Mahias shows that there is now a tendency among the Jains to attach more value to success in professions than to commerce and to prefer lotteries, in which every one can participate, to auctions that are monopolised by the wealthiest.
The contribution of Vincent Kumaradoss reveals the evolution of an Indian Protestant Church established at the end of the eighteenth century among the ‘untouchable’ Nadar community in the district of Tirunelveli in South India. The converted members of the Nadar caste, originally employed in palm climbing and toddy tapping, went through a remarkable economic and social evolution under the influence of European missionaries who educated them, helped them to start small business and made them proud members of the community. The converts who changed their profession and life style gained status. In the mid-nineteenth century, Sattampillai, a Nadar, established an independent Church called the Hindu-Christian Church of Lord Jesus, in an effort to do away with the western trappings of their previous model of Christianity. The new theology of this church makes interesting reading. A church near Chennai (Madras) was built thanks to the subscriptions of members, a rapprochement with the Church of South India is a current trend. The case of these Christians shows a complete fusion between caste and religion, and economic interests are not lost sight of.
Michel Boivin's article deals with the relationship between the quest for salvation and the increase in wealth among the South Asian Ismaili Khojas. Renouncement of earthly goods never was for the Khojas a preliminary condition for obtaining salvation. On the contrary, the acquisition of wealth is considered a duty as the Khojas' religious literature indicates. The Ismaili Pīrs who are known to be celibate ascetics are not models for all men to imitate, but nevertheless are exceptionally holy men. Since the arrival in India of the Ismaili Imām in the middle of the nineteenth century, asceticism has been totally rejected and service to the Imām and to the community has been put forward as the proper way to salvation. Gifts made to the Imām are redistributed by him to the members of his sect. M. Boivin goes back in history to show how the community accepted the integration of lower castes and helped their members financially: as a result, the Khojas increased in number. The third Āgā Khān (1877–1957) greatly encouraged the accumulation of wealth and its redistribution. He also established a number of financial foundations.
The findings of the volume Divines Richesses may be a surprise only to those who believe that no rich man will ever be saved and that the West is grossly materialistic whereas the East is spiritually inclined.
