Gathering the Bhaktas in Marå†hî: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Scholarly and devotional studies of famous Marå†hî sant-poets1 routinely cite the writings of Mahîpati as a vital source of stories and
history. Mahîpati’s works have achieved an almost canonical status in transmitting these stories in Marå†hî. Yet despite such consistent acknowledgement and citation, Mahîpati and his writings have enjoyed little attention for their own sake, and the ways in which these stories fit within Mahîpati’s general project remain to a large extent unexamined. At first glance Mahîpati’s works may appear to be simply a compilation of many separate and disparate stories—a sort of omnibus of hagiography. But something much more complex, nuanced, and interesting is at work. More than merely collecting these stories in one place, Mahîpati weaves the stories of the bhaktas together into a broad narrative whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This I will refer to as a collective hagiography. A collective hagiography not only makes the broad narrative (or even tradition) visible; it also makes the narrative and its components available to be utilized for various ends.  For this reason, Mahîpati and his writings merit more and closer attention than they have received to date. As a step toward redressing this oversight, in this essay I will examine the first and most widely circulated of Mahîpati’s works—the Bhaktavijay (“Victory of the Bhaktas”)4—as a single, unified text with themes that reappear throughout many individuals’ stories.