About the Book
A Critical Analysis of Bhima Bhoi and the Mahima Cult is a rare compendium of insightful essays by eminent Indian scholars on the Mahima Cult, its genesis, and its growth. The volume focuses on Bhima Bhoi, the poet-philosopher and the prime interlocutor of the Renegade Faith, who started a revolt from below to champion human rights. To critically appreciate the Saint-poet Bhima Bhoi and the Mahima Cult (Dharma of Glory), the history of the 19th-century Indian sociocultural system, especially that of Odisha and its adjoining states, needs to be reconstructed. Since there is no surviving oral and written text authored by the founder of the cult, Mahima Swami, it is only the unlettered genius Bhima Bhoi, who produced innumerable prayers, hymns, and poetic recitals of profound philosophical import, which made him the legend, the poet-archivist, and historiographer of the Mahima Cult. Bhima was simultaneously the poet of the soul and the soil, who used theology and social experience to provide a supportive sub-structure to a transcendent, ecstatic vision. This volume asserts that Mahima Dharma is an autochthonous reform movement and a regional variation of the Indian Bhakti tradition and mystical poetry.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part I: Mahima¯ Cult
Chapter One: Mahima¯ Dharma: A Revolutionary Religious Movement with Empathetic Concern for the Suffering, Ganesh Prasad Das
Chapter Two: Mahimadvaita: A Critical and Comparative Study, Saroj Kanta Kar
Part II: Bhima Bhoi
Chapter Three: Mahima¯ Dharma and Bhima Bhoi, Basant Kumar Dash
Chapter Four: Spiritual Humanism of Bhima Bhoi, Sarat Chandra Panigrahi
Part III: Bhima Bhoi's Poetry (In Translation)
Chapter Five: Translation of Stuti Chintamani (Select Cantos), Gagan Behari Das
Chapter Six: Decoding Bhima Bhoi's Concept of the Brahman: Transcreation of Select Bhajans, Satya Siladitya Kar
Part IV: Bhima Bhoi's Poetry: A Critical Review
Chapter Seven: Reflections on Stuti Chinta¯man?i, Ram Chandra Majhi
Chapter Eight: Bhima Bhoi's Concept of Reality in Brahma Nniru¯pan?a Gita¯, Nandini Mishra
Chapter Nine: Sri Sri Nirbeda Sa¯dhana: A Critical Study, Manoranjan Behura
Part V: Bhima Bhoi's Poetry: A Critical Perspective
Chapter Ten: Bhima Bhoi Discourse and the Politics of Representation, Santosh Kumar Ratha
Chapter Eleven: Formation of Literary Canon: The Case of Bhima Bhoi, Bijaya Kumar Nanda
Chapter Twelve: Bhima Bhoi's Poetry: A Sickle to Repeal and a Potion to Heal, Kedar Mishra
Part VI: Bhima Bhoi From A Comparative Viewpoint
Chapter Thirteen: Against Secularisation: A Note on Bhakti Poetry of Tukaram and Bhima Bhoi, Madhusudan Pati
Chapter Fourteen: The Occult and the Religion of Humanism in Bhima Bhoi and Achyutananda Dasa, Nigamananda Das
Chapter Fifteen: Religious Traditions in Odisha: Reflection on Pachasakha's “Bhakti” and Bhima Bhoi's “Mahima¯ Bhakti Ma¯rga”, Fanindam Deo
Conclusion
Index
About the Contributors
About the Author :
Nishamani Kar is a retired Group ‘A’ Officer of Govt. of India (Ministry of Defence), superannuated from the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, as Head of English faculty, and is presently working as the Senior Consultant, ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti’ (Ministry of Education, Govt. of India).
Review :
The Mahima cult, the latest blossoming of Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism), endorses a novel Shunya (the void) paradigm where the enjoyer and the enjoyed, the seer and the seen are merged in the non-dual, the Supreme Brahma. Inevitably, the meditation on 'shunyata' can lead one to - the Ana¯m (the nameless), Ana¯di (one without beginning), Alekha (the indescribable), Avyakta (the ineffable), and Niranjana (one who is everlasting). This Shunya is considered the Mahima- the prime urge of all creation. This volume explains the above-said esoteric wisdom in clear, concise, and concrete terms, taking the key from Bhima Bhoi's lyrical mellifluousness and eventually proving to be a reader's proud possession.
To appreciate saint-poet Bhima Bhoi and the Mahima Cult (Dharma of Glory), the history of the 19th-century Indian sociocultural system, especially that of Odisha and its adjoining states, needs to be reconstructed. There is no trace of any text authored by the founder of the cult Mahima Swami; it is only the unlettered genius Bhima Bhoi, who produced innumerable prayers, hymns, and poetic recitals of profound philosophical import, which made him the legend, the poet-archivist, and historiographer of the Mahima Cult, India's most important living religious tradition. This volume asserts that Mahima Dharma is an autochthonous reform movement and a regional variation of the Indian Bhakti tradition and spiritual poetry.
The followers of the Mahima Cult inculcate self-denial and surrender to God as the sources of salvation; they do not aspire after mundane pleasure. They have no prescribed mode of worship except praise of God and prayer for His mercy. Besides this, they have books containing songs and dialogues, most of which are said to have been composed by Bhima Bhoi, a Kondh, who is said to have been born blind and endowed with sight/insight by the founder. This volume presents a comprehensive picture of the unorthodox sect and its interlocutor, Bhima Bhoi while capturing the sociocultural ramifications of late 19th and early 20th-century India, a rapidly changing scenario in human history.
Bhima Bhoi, the prime interlocutor of Mahima Dharma (The Religion of Glory), advocated devout devotion to Alekh, the all-pervasive, formless absolute. His meditative, mystical, and philosophical oeuvre rendered the worship of idols redundant, questioned the hierarchies of caste and kinship, and implored Alekh Brahma to descend upon the earth to dispel the darkness from the lives of the righteous, virtuous, and devoted followers. Inevitably, Mahima Dharma was “doubly subaltern” - it disengaged epistemologically from conventional Hinduism and detached its adherents from the authoritarian grip of the high and mighty within Indian society. Marked by deep human sympathy, his devotional verses developed a narrative of spontaneous rhetoric touching the lives of the poor, illiterate, and disadvantaged, facing countless challenges on a day-to-day basis. This volume rightly captures the nuances of Bhima’s poetry while communicating the distinct dimensions of the renegade faith of the Mahima Cult.
With fifteen critical essays on Bhima Bhoi and Mahima cult, this volume explores Bhima Bhoi’s thoughts and writings replete with folk idioms and colloquial dialect that have a direct bearing on the growth of Mahima¯ Dharma in the late 19th century Odisha, India. Marked as a revolutionary religious movement that advocates one God and casteless society, Mahima¯ Dharma denounced the traditional brahminical rituals and practices which allegedly induced social injustice, religious bigotry, and caste discrimination. This volume upholds the nuances of Bhima Bhoi’s oeuvre and advocates that Mahima signifies devotion and surrender to the Supreme Reality, which is beyond all attributes. Typical in injunctions and affirmations, the renegade faith is more of an exclamation of ecstatic wonder than a rational enunciation.
