‘Sanskrit-speaking’ Villages, Linguistic Utopias and the Metaphysics of Development
Imagining Sanskritland
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:31st Aug '26
£155.00
This title is due to be published on 31st August, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book is a recollection of McCartney’s journey across ‘Sanskritland,’ which is the term coined to refer to the utopian landscape within which the ‘Language of the Gods’ is thought to be spoken.
There are three destinations on the author’s journey. The first includes understanding how Sanskrit narratives are woven into yoga-inflected ‘lifestyles,’ forming biographies operationalised toward soft-power purposes. Next, the historical sociolinguistic contexts that have shaped Sanskritland are discussed, framed by application in sustainable development narratives. Finally, comprehensive demographic and linguistic analyses of Sanskrit across all of India’s census enumerations (from 1872 to 2011) shows the ‘shifting sands’ of Sanskrit’s ‘speakers’ and how the ‘Sanskrit-speaking’ village data show that most people who identify as speakers of Sanskrit live in urban areas and ‘speak’ Sanskrit as a third language. All of these together shed light on how, why, and where Sanskrit is spoken in the twenty-first century, the complex and dynamic historical and contemporary that have allowed this, and how both yoga and Sanskrit are instruments for development and soft-power projects.
This book is an essential read for scholars and students of linguistic anthropology, Indology and sustainable development.
'Bridges persistent gaps between philology, history and ethnography that have plagued Indology. Through an empirical study of so-called "Vedic" villages, the spoken Sanskrit movement, and transnational wellness discourses around Yoga and Ayurveda, the author draws our attention to the sociolinguistics, as it were, of an imaginary place called "Sanskritland". Given the growing symbolic significance of Sanskrit to the construction of a Hindu Rashtra, a space permeated by what policy parlance names "Indian Knowledge Systems", this book appears not a moment too soon.'
Ananya Vajpeyi, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi
'Imagining Sanskritland is a masterful exploration of the making of a linguistic utopia, chiefly as an ideological project that has been shaped by the troubles and travails of Hindutva. By putting contemporary Indian populist nationalism in the spotlight, the many claims of "Sanskrit-speaking" for authenticity, morality and civilizational pride are traced and studied within narratives about the wellness industry, consumerism, sustainable development and ecological harmony. In helping us understand the many gaps and disconnects between the ideal worlds of Sanskrit revivalism and the realities of the everyday, McCartney has made a significant and stellar contribution to the study of cultural politics in the age of contemporary populism.'
Rohan D'Souza, Professor, ASAFAS, Kyoto University.
'McCartney weaves decades of painstaking interdisciplinary research into this close study of contemporary Sanskrit revival. Integrating anthropological theory, archival research, Sanskrit studies, sociolinguistics, census data, and careful fieldwork, his travels in Sanskrit-speaking villages in India paint a compelling picture of the role of language ideology in a time of profound social change. This study will do what all powerful studies should do: question assumptions, topple cultural icons, and create debate. The depth and breadth of intellectual resources that McCartney brings to the topic make it a key resource for anyone interested in the role of tradition in contemporary India.'
Laurie L. Patton, Professor of Religion Emerita, Middlebury College
ISBN: 9781032759746
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
272 pages