Smṛti Practices in Nineteenth-Century Gujarat

In a recorded discourse from 1824, Swaminarayan (1781-1830), the founder of the community, states that “a sampradāya (a religious community) is fostered by the scriptures which narrate its God’s divine incidents, from birth up until death (Vacanāmṛt 2012, 468-469).” He authorized the creation of these life stories, usually translated as jīvan caritra or līlā caritra, to document his life and teachings to nurture and ensure the longevity of the community. In seventy years, the corpus stretched to many texts, together amounting to over 180,000 verses, and the production of biographies of Swaminarayan and his successors continues even to this day. Biographical production in the Swaminarayan community becomes a pertinent site to test the value of biography and hagiography as heuristic concepts to understand life stories. When this genre of texts is situated in a larger ecosystem – that considers how people experience and create narratives, how they transmit the stories, how authors create texts that refocus the narratives, and how the community receives the life stories – one begins to realize the deficiency of the concepts. Narratives found in hagiographical text function not simply within an enclosed text or story plot but concomitant to biographical processes outside the text.    

In this paper, I focus on smṛti, commonly translated as "remembering," and argue that it is the central operating factor in the processes of biography and hagiography production and reception. I examine nineteenth-century texts in Gujarati and Hindi from the community, which include recorded discourses of Swaminarayan elaborating on the topic and several texts by monks who demonstrate the practice. Utilizing literary theory and approaches to religious experience (Calinescu 1993; Taves 2009), I develop a framework called (re)experience as a heuristic tool to understand smṛti and its relationship to the diverse biographical processes found in the community. (Re)experiencing is the process by which initial experiences or encounters through various mediums are re-engaged or appropriated to participate in that said experience.

For this paper, I am not concerned with smṛti as a genre, categorizing mythical or epic texts defined in Indian classical literature, but more focused on its connotation with memory (Larson 1993). Memory or social memory plays a critical role in understanding how life stories are transmitted or sustained within communities and how they are performed and received (Novetzke 2008; Srinivas 2008; Campany 2009; Ruffle 2011). However, as one studies smṛti in texts from the nineteenth century, one realizes smṛti is more complex than just remembering. It is not simply recalling an experience or memory to remember it in its initial form, though that can be a goal. Smṛti falls in the junction of material and cognitive practices by which devotees actively engage with episodes to unravel meanings and intensify emotions. 

What are these smṛti practices, and how do they expand our understanding of biography as a category? Swaminarayan provides a template:

"Furthermore, one should entangle one’s mind in the web, that is, God’s actions, and continuously think of God. As one (action) fades, recall another. When the second fades, call to mind the third. Continuously like that, never let the mind stay idle…Moreover, these [actions, talks, and darśan (seeing)] should be remembered this way: In this village, a congregation with Maharaj (Swaminarayan) and the monks happened this way, and Maharaj’s pūjā (worship) happened this way, and he spoke that way, and in this manner, one should remember God’s actions (Vacanāmṛt 2012, 66-67)."

Swaminarayan illustrates one feature of the practice: the necessity to methodically retain details of their experiences. In this instance, smṛti requires concentration when in the company of God or monks so an individual can recall actions continuously. Texts by Swaminarayan’s monks demonstrate that they practiced this process seriously. In the Śrīharikṛṣṇalīlāmṛtsāgar, Madhavdas Swami provides incredible data of his interactions with Swaminarayan with numerical tallies. For example, Madhavdas Swami (2012, 863-865) saw Swaminarayan in 160 different villages and heard him speak in 325 distinctive places. The details included in the smṛti of interactions with Swaminarayan highlight the meticulous care followers took of these experiences.

Along with remembering and writing down details, smṛti required an understanding when approaching the experience and the ability to make meaning when (re)experiencing. It required individuals to put the life story in an extensive social and theological framework. Nishkulanand Swami, in his small text, the Harismṛti, guides the reader through his method of smṛti by way of the organization of the text. The first four sections provide the numerous actions he observed Swaminarayan perform, but the last three sections provide his perspectives while recollecting those events. To present a few of many, he understands Swaminarayan as his faithful friend, the giver of happiness, and the Lord of the universe (2011, 541-546).

In the above quote, Swaminarayan inadvertently provides a syntax for producing biographical material. Therefore, practicing smṛti meant composing life stories. Smṛti practices revealed why authors wrote religious narratives and biographies the way they did and how people performed and received the life stories, all while continuing smṛti. (Re)experiencing situates biography/hagiography as a process in a more complex web of smṛti practices by which Swaminarayan followers actively engaged with episodes they experienced personally or through some other medium. It sheds light on the relationship between religious experience and representation, text and audience, and history and imagination.