Representations of Indian ascetics: from Johann Martin Honigberger’s memoir to early twentieth century Romanian newspapers and journals

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35824/sjrs.v5i2.23881

Keywords:

Indian ascetics, East-European travellers, Johann Martin Honigberger, Romanian periodicals

Abstract

In recent times, Indian ascetics have become pop icons due to the influence of visual entertainment media. Outside their country of origin, they are often negatively stereotyped to foster derogatory understandings of the Others and their cultures. In this paper, we will focus on representations of Indian ascetics. Starting with their early depictions in the memoir of the Transylvanian physician Dr Honigberger, we will examine their representations in Romanian newspapers and journals. In order to account for Romanian interest in ascetics from a faraway land, this paper will take into consideration the historical developments that led to the growth of European interest in them. Through a comparison between nineteenth century British (Osborne 1840) and East-European (Honigberger 1851, 1852) writings on Indian ascetics, we will try to understand whether conceptualization of Indian ascetics in Romanian-speaking territories differed in any way from that of the British colonizers in India. The paper will then move on to examine how the Romanian press conceptualized these ascetics. Evidences point to the fact that the Romanian press became interested in Indian ascetics, erroneously generalized as fakirs, from ca. 1900 to 1940. Analysing Romanian journal and magazine articles on Indian fakirs, which till now remain untranslated into English, this article will try to show how the Romanian press conceived of the ascetics of a faraway country. Our research methodology is based on text analysis, relying on a broader cultural perspective. For the purpose of this paper, we have selected a series of article samples, taking into consideration diversity in terms of regions (southern Romania and Transylvania), as well as the most relevant period (1906-1935). The interest in Indian sadhus and their doings basically emerged starting with the mid-nineteenth century. Yet over the following decades accounts have changed in terms of focus. While nineteenth century authors were primarily concerned with the physical aspects of their work, texts written in the first decades of the twentieth century suggest that journalists and writers generally looked at the more surprising and entertaining side of fakirs’ actions. Finally, the paper suggests why Romanian press lost interest in Indian ascetics after the 1940s.

Author Biographies

Ayusman Chakraborty, Taki Government College, West Bengal, India

Ayusman Chakraborty, Assistant Professor of English (West Bengal Education Service), is currently posted at Taki Government College, Taki. For his doctoral degree, Dr Chakraborty researched on the life and works of the nineteenth century colonial writer-administrator Captain Philip Meadows Taylor. He was awarded Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in 2011 and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) in 2014, under the West Bengal State Fellowship Scheme. In 2013, he was awarded the Sir Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) Research Grant to research in the UK. He is interested in British Romanticism, Colonial History, Thuggee, early twentieth century Bengali literature, and nineteenth century British expatriate literature on India. He has written one book chapter, twenty-one research articles and three book reviews till now. These have been published in various national and international journals.

Dana Radler, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Faculty of Economic International Relations, Department of Modern Languages & Business Communication

Dana Radler completed her PhD with a thesis on Memory and Fiction in John McGahern's Works in 2015, focusing on a prominent contemporary Irish writer. Her current research topics combine memory, gender and culture in fiction as articulated components of modern societies, and occasionally aspects related to ESP practice. She has published articles in academic journals in Sweden, Poland, Turkey, India and Romania. In 2018, she was co-editor of a thematic issue of the Synergy journal (Romania), including ten contributions focusing on the theme East and West within Interdisciplinary Frames. Her first co-edited volume, entitled Panaït Istrati. Littérature et société. Panait Istrati. Literature and society, came out in 2021. At present, she is Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication at the Faculty of International Business & Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies.

References

A dormit în sicriu [He slept in the coffin]. (1928, 8 January). Unirea poporului, nr.2..6.

A spiritist duo, turning-table or the fakir holding hope [Un duet spiritist, masa învârtitoare sau fakirul cu speranță]. (1893, 24 Feb). Moftul român [Romanian Whim] nr.9.1.

Un miracol de voință, fakirii [Miraculous will: fakirs]. (1932, 17 August). Ilustrațiunea română [Romanian Illustration], no.34.4.

Bordaș, L. (2005). Memoriile orientale ale lui Johann Martin Honigberger: posteritate istorică și actualitate ficțională. Acta Musei Porolissensis, XXVII. 507-532.

Cederberg, A. (2017). Journeys in the Kali Yuga: A Pilgrimage from Esoteric India to Pagan Europe. Rochester: Destiny Books.

Chakraborty, A. (2021). Awkward one-armed babas: Ṻrdhvabāhu Hindu Ascetics in Western Imagination. Essence & Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies, 1(1). 150 – 169. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from http://journalofcritique.com/articledetail.php?id=60.

Dalal, R. (2014). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. New Delhi: Penguin Books.

Ein indischer Richter, Babu Prankumar Ghose. (1912, 16 February). Neues Wiener Journal, no.6579.7.

Enterré vivant pendant 120 heures. (1927, 17 December). Excelsior, no.6214.7.

Fakir To Khas Auferstehung (1929, 20 August). (Neuigkeits) Welt Blatt.5.

Fakirul din Epi [The Fakir in Epi]. (1938, 5 June). Ecoul [ Echo ], nr.1729.5.

Fakirul si puricii [Fakir and fleas]. (1942, 1 February). Unirea poporului [People’s Union], 1 Feb.1942.7.

Fakirs’ breathing. (1906, 6 June). Medicina populara [Popular medicine], no.32.3.

Fünf Tage in Grab (1927, 10 December). Marburger Zeitung, no.279.2.

Gerein, J. (1999). The Bogey-men of Hinduism: British Representations of Hindu Holy Men in Literature of the Raj, 1880 – 1930 (unpublished master’s thesis). University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https://ourspace.uregina.ca/bitstream/handle/10294/12735/ MQ45323.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed =y.

Honigberger, J. M. (1851). Früchte aus dem Morgenlande. Wien: Gerold.

Honigberber, J. M. (1852). Thirty Five Years in the East. London: H. Baillière.

Indische Fakire und Ihre Kunststüke. (1912, 21 April). Neues Wiener Journal, no.6579.9.

Lăzăreanu, B. (1935, 20 June) Fakirii din Cirenaica [Fakirs from Cirenaica ], Adevărul [Truth], no.15772.1.

Mauzooruddin Ahmad, H. (1937, 10 March). Arta vrajitoreasca a fachirilor [The magical art of fakirs]. Realitatea ilustrată [Illustrated Reality], nr. 529.16-17.

Mallinson, J. (2011). Hatha Yoga. In K. A. Jacobsen (Ed.), Brill Encyclopaedia of Hinduism: Vol. 3 . 770 – 781. Leiden: Brill.

Minunile fachirilor [The wonders of fakirs]. (1912, 15 April). Gazeta Transilvaniei [Transylvania’s Gazette], nr.84.3.

Nichter, L. S., Morgan, R. F., & Nichter, M. A. (1983). The Impact of Indian Methods for Total Nasal Reconstruction. Clinics in Plastic Surgery, 10(4), 635 – 647. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/16834770_The_Impact_of_Indian_Methods_for_Total_Nasal_Reconstruction.

Osborne, W.G. (1840). Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh. London: Henry Colburn.

Ottokar F. (1928 March). Fakire und Ihre Wunder. Wiener Magazin, no.3.42-53.

Polo, M. (2016). The Travels (N. Cliff, Tans.). London: Penguin Books. (Original work published ca. 1300)

Pop, I. (2019). A Short Illustrated History of the Romanians. Bucharest: Litera Publishing House.

Raman, R., Raman, A., & Manohar, P. R. (2014). The Arsenic and Mercury-containing Tanjore pills used in treating Snake Bites in the 18th century Madras Presidency. Current Science, 106(12), 1759 – 1763. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24103017.

Said, Edward. (2001). Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. New Delhi: Penguin Books.

Shah, K.H. (2007). The Jain Concept of Sallekhana: A Loss or a Gain? National Seminar on BIO-ETHICS – 24th and 25th Jan. 2007, 50 – 54. Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https://www.vpmthane.org /Publications/Bio-Ethics/Kokila%20H.%20Shah%201.pdf.

Stoker, B. (1997). Dracula. N. Auerbach and D. J. Skal (Eds.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Târgul hoților, “Chore Hat” [Thieves market, “Chore Hat”]. (1936, 13 May). Realitatea ilustrată [Illustrated Reality] no.486.11-12.

Tigers (Varia). (1902, 7 April). Tribuna [Tribune], no.66.7.

Un vrăjitor indian în Ardeal: fachirul care joacă pe cuie ascuțite [An Indian wizard in Transylvania: fakir dancing on sharp spikes] (1926, 4 April). Unirea poporului [People’s Union], nr.14-15.8.

Walker, B. (2019). Asceticism. In Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism in Two Volumes: Volume 1 A-L (pp. 78 – 80). London: Routledge.

Wenner S. (1928). A magyar színészet válsága Háborús és háború utáni színészetünk a kritika és az események tükrében, Szeged: Endrényi Lajos Nyomda- És Hírlapkiadó Vállalat R.-T.

Yalamanchili, H., Sclafani, A.P., Schaefer, S.D., & Presti, P. (2008). The Path of Nasal Reconstruction: From Ancient India to the Present. Facial Plastic Surgery, 24(1), 3 – 10. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2007. 1021457.

Zalozieki-Sass, R. (1928, December). Tieropfer im 20 Jahrhundert. Wiener Magazin.38.

Zubrzycki, J. (2018). Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns: A Magical History of India. New Delhi: Picador India.

Downloads

Published

2022-05-15

How to Cite

Chakraborty, A., & Radler, D. (2022). Representations of Indian ascetics: from Johann Martin Honigberger’s memoir to early twentieth century Romanian newspapers and journals. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 5(2), 38–56. https://doi.org/10.35824/sjrs.v5i2.23881