Experiments with Religious Symbolism in Catholic Ashrams in India

The paper deals with the religious symbolism that emerged in Catholic ashrams in India. Drawing on material gathered during field research, it examines how originally Hindu symbols are integrated into Christian symbolism, what meaning they take on in that symbolism, and what this newly created symbolism brings to the ashram communities and to the Indian Church. A brief introduction to the subject of Catholic ashrams from a historical perspective is followed by a description of the symbolism under study, accompanied by an interpretation of its meaning as conceived by its creators. For the sake of clarity, examples of this symbolism are grouped into three categories: architecture, the figure of Christ, and ritualism. The understandings of the symbolism by permanent members of the ashrams, temporary visitors, and its critics are summarized so that the two main research questions can be answered: whether the integration of the component symbols adopted from the religious tradition of Hinduism into the symbolic system of Christianity has led to a change in the meaning of the component symbols and of the whole system, and whether a new religious identity of the ashram members has also been formed through this new religious symbolism.

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