Religious Entanglements Between Germans and Indians, 1800–1945 (Palgrave Series in Asian German Studies)

Religion as a form of cultural expression constitutes a critical element in the relationship between Germany and India. The discovery of Indian traditions in Germany and re-interpretations of those traditions in India fueled not only new theological and philosophical explorations, but also extensive innovations in the fields of music, dance, bodily experience, and political intervention. Seeking to uncover the enfolding of colonial thought structures through presentations of the Self, while placing them in the context of global colonial value chains that connected the peripheries with the centre, this interdisciplinary volume addresses India through the lens of an entangled relationship. Adopting the position that the acceleration of communication, technical development, and colonisation locally triggered re-interpretations of the religious sphere, This volume takes a look at the period from 1800 to the end of National Socialism, tracing the strands of an Indo-Germanic religion inthe making as it goes along. A special emphasis is placed on the artistic expressions of religious experience including re-enactments of musical compositions and dance configurations, which were created to embody India in Germany. This is an open access book. Note on Transliteration Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction Interfaces and Entanglements The Historical Constellation The Religious Field The Chapters References Chapter 2: ‘To Read in an Indian Way’ (Johann Gottfried Herder): Pre-Emergent Colonial Epistemologies in Indian–German Entanglements, Showcased in Protestant Theology c.1800 In Search of the Entanglement: German Orientalism, a Specific Understanding of Wissenschaft, and Their Relationship to Colonialism Hebrew People as Role Models: Theology in a New Era of Ethnography The Old Testament as a Space for the German Colonial Imagination and Johann Gottfried Herder as an Intermediary To Read in an Indian Way: The Romanticized Orient Interlude: India as Method? Summary References Chapter 3: In Search of Purity: German-Speaking Vegetarians and the Lure of India (1833–1939) India and German Vormärz Vegetarianism Indian Connections with German Theosophists German Buddhists on the Subcontinent Aryanism Without Hindus: Mazdaznan Völkisch Vegetarianism: Claims to Teutonic Superiority German Vegetarians and the Cult of the Ascetic Leader in Weimar Germany Contacts with the Indian Independence Movement in the Interwar Period Conclusion References Chapter 4: The Indian Challenge: Indology and New Conceptions of Christianity as ‘Religion’ at the End of the Nineteenth Century The Challenge The Antagonism of Religion and Science and the Birth of a New Concept of Religion The Problem of Religious History India and the ‘Religion of the Future’ Oldenberg’s Role in Troeltsch’s Philosophy of Religions Troeltsch’s Reception of Oldenberg’s Buddha (1881) Troeltsch’s Reception of Oldenberg’s The Religion of the Veda (1894) Summary of Troeltsch’s Reception of Oldenberg Conclusion References Chapter 5: Death and Transfiguration: Religion and Belonging in Felix Gotthelf’s Indian Opera Mahadeva (1910) Faith and Modernity: A Difficult Relationship A Forgotten Indian Opera Mahadeva: The Plot Press Reaction Schopenhauer, Wagner, and the Redemption Dramas Wagner’s Share: Mahadeva—A Cosmic Drama About Love, Death, and Salvation ‘Büßerin in der Hülle des Zauberweibs’ (Penitent in the Cloak of the Sorceress): Obsession or Liberation? Schopenhauer’s Share: Maya, the Will, and Pessimism Gotthelf and the Indian Renaissance The Role of Religion in National Identity: Some Conclusions References Chapter 6: The Indian Parsifal: Revisiting Felix Gotthelf’s Forgotten Opera Mahadeva An Artist’s Biography The Tail of Wagner’s Comet The Indian Parsifal The Final Threshold Conclusion: The Possibility of Revision References Chapter 7: Modernism in Disguise? Neglected Aspects of the So-Called Revival of a Classical Indian Dance Form Previous Research and Open Questions Indian Influences on Western Performing Arts Developments in India’s Performing and Visual Arts Earlier and Later ‘Revivals’ of the South Asian Performing Arts Conclusion References Chapter 8: ‘The Priestess of Hindu Dance’: Leila Sokhey’s Repertoire and Its Reception in the Netherlands and Germany (1927–38) Indian Debut Preparing for the European Stage Constructing Continuity Artistic Individuality Where the Gods Are Nigh: Dutch Reception ‘Noble Grace in the Highest Perfection’: German Reviews Conclusion References Chapter 9: Roaming Between East and West: In Search of Religious Ecstasy in the Interwar Period Sources and Steps Ahead ‘A Sea of Ecstasy’ The Convert Register Parallel Experiences The 1880 Generation Debating the Future of Religion Conclusions References Chapter 10: Negotiating Germanness with Indian Religious History: Transfers of Academic Knowledge and Notions of völkisch Belief Indology, Nazism, and Germanness Knowledge of the Other for One’s Own Changing Society Example of History or Pre-Eminence of ‘Life’? Religion, the Social Bond, and the Individual The Self-Realization of Life Through a Racist Evaluation of Religious Experience Herman Wirth and the ‘Arctic Vedas’: Constructing Primordial Aryan Experience and Sensational Forms The Artist-Philosopher-Prehistorian from Youth Movement to Ahnenerbe Foundation How to Draw Religious Knowledge from the Dawn of Mankind: India and Indology as Resources for Human Experience How to Pass on Religious Knowledge in Sensational Forms: Readings of the Rising Sun Conflicting Evaluations of the Origins at the Conference of the Coffee Magnate Conclusion References Chapter 11: Hakenkreuz, Swastika and Crescent: The Religious Factor in Nazi Cultural Politics Regarding India Introduction The Nazi Network in India Cultural Politics as Nazi Propaganda: Deutsche Akademie’s India Institute Nazism, Hindu Revivalism and Aryanism The Gaudiya Order: Krishna Worship and Nazi Propaganda Playing the Aryan Card: The Arya Samaj Hindu Mahasabha and Nazism Buddhist Anti-Colonialism, Aryanism and the Nazis Nazi Propaganda and Islamic Nationalism The “German Society” of the Aligarh Muslim University Decline of Religion Based Propaganda Conclusion References Chapter 12: Curating the Fragments of Local Modernities: The Menaka Digital Archive from the Perspective of Ongoing Research Building the Archive Scholarly Approaches and Focus of Research Artistic Research Aryan Bodies on Stage Debate on the ‘Revival’ of Indian Classical Dance Some Conclusions References Glossary Index of Names Index of Terms Religion as a form of cultural expression constitutes a critical element in the relationship between Germany and India. The discovery of Indian traditions in Germany and re-interpretations of those traditions in India fueled not only new theological and philosophical explorations, but also extensive innovations in the fields of music, dance, bodily experience, and political intervention. Seeking to uncover the enfolding of colonial thought structures through presentations of the Self, while placing them in the context of global colonial value chains that connected the peripheries with the centre, this interdisciplinary volume addresses India through the lens of an entangled relationship. Adopting the position that the acceleration of communication, technical development, and colonisation locally triggered re-interpretations of the religious sphere, This volume takes a look at the period from 1800 to the end of National Socialism, tracing the strands of an Indo-Germanic religion in the making as it goes along. A special emphasis is placed on the artistic expressions of religious experience including re-enactments of musical compositions and dance configurations, which were created to embody India in Germany. This is an open access book.