1st Edition

Authenticity, Legitimacy and the Transglobal Yoga Industry A Sociological Analysis of Shanti Mandir

By Patrick S.D. McCartney Copyright 2025
262 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

262 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

262 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book is a sociological study of knowledge and knowers and explores the production and perceived value of ‘yogic knowledge,’ how distinction is curated, and how access to this knowledge is gained.   The book focuses on the organization Shanti Mandir (SM) in India, a new religious movement, which was founded in 1987 by Swami Nityananda Saraswati. It is a non-profit charity operating... Read more

Preface; Acknowledgements; Primary Texts Mentioned; A Brief Outline of this Book Part I Chapter 1. Entering the Temple of Peace; Chapter 2. The Ashram, its Surrounds and the Daily Schedule; Chapter 3. Shanti Mandir’s Tradition, Lineage and Philosophies; Chapter 4. The Social Network and Symbolic Exchanges of Capital; Chapter 5. Marketing Yoga, Sanātana Dharma and Neo-Hinduism Part II Chapter 6. Reading the Guru-as-Text; Chapter 7. Darśana’s Double-bind: Shame, Anxiety and Celebration; Chapter 8. Suggesting Śāntarasa: The Aesthetic Mood of Satsaga Part III Chapter 9. Analysing Yoga’s Knowledge Spectrum; Chapter 10. Cultivating Gazes and Knowledge Structures: Aesthetic Theories of Perception and Performance; Chapter 11. Exiting Shanti Mandir; Index

Biography

Patrick S.D. McCartney is a Phoenix Fellow at Hiroshima University, Japan. He is also a Research Associate at Nanzan University’s Anthropological Institute, Japan, an ISRF Research Fellow at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. Patrick is trained in archaeology, social anthropology, classical philology, sociolinguistics and computational social science. He works at the boundaries of the politics of imagination and the economics of desire. A sustained interest has involved exploring the biographies of Sanskrit and yoga and their relations to political theology, competitive diplomacy and faith-based development.