Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas

In this moving ethnographic portrait of Hindu renouncers -- sadhus or
ascetics -- in northern India and Nepal, Sondra L. Hausner considers a paradox that
shapes their lives: while ostensibly defined by their solitary spiritual practice,
the stripping away of social commitments, and their break with family and community,
renouncers in fact regularly interact with "householder" society. They form a
distinctive, alternative community with its own internal structure, but one that is
not located in any single place. Highly mobile and dispersed across the
subcontinent, its members are regularly brought together through pilgrimage circuits
on festival cycles. Drawing on many years of fieldwork, Hausner presents intimate
portraits of individual sadhus as she examines the shared views of space, time, and
the body that create the ground for everyday experience. Written with an
extraordinary blend of empathy, compassion, and anthropological insight, this study
will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers alike.