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Religion, Migration and Wealth Creation in the Swaminarayan Movement
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By Rohit Barot
From 'The Transnational Family, New European Frontiers and Global Networks', Berg 2003
Although changes in the traditional nuclear forms of family are widespread
in modern European societies, they are not necessarily universal
or unilinear. In contrast to narratives on fragmentation and breakdown
typically associated with modern family living, this chapter seeks to show
how Indians retain an ideology of family in the context of migration in
their adopted homes in the diaspora, increasingly forming transnational
and globalized networks. One of the key factors that this chapter attempts
to highlight is that the family cannot be treated in isolation from other
social and cultural institutions.
To explain the relative stability and the persistence of the South Asian
family as an institution, it is necessary to examine the family in relation
to two different levels of community formation. Although they may
conflate in practice, social community based on caste or jati can be
distinguished from a religious and sectarian community. Both at the level
of caste or jati and at the level of shared faith, group formation is corporate
and exerts considerable influence on those who, through their family, are
embedded in a community of multiple affiliations.
As the traditional nuclear family has given way to a whole range of
different family forms from single parent to gay and lesbian families in
European societies, it is useful to outline briefly the meaning that Indians
attach to the word 'family'. In Indian languages that derive from Sanskrit,
the words kutumb and parivar refer to an extended family consisting of
a three-generation residential unit or a joint family typically consisting
of a man, his wife and married sons. A nuclear family may be formed by
a husband, wife and children sharing a common residence. The most
important part of kutumb and parivar is the universe of kinship and affinity
that gives a more corporate expression to a caste or jati collectivity. The embodiment of such a social community in a religious organization creates
long-lasting social ties. It is the relationship or sabandh or rishta through
which families create a community which, due to a shared belief system,
leads to both a social and a religious community. This type of group
formation is the focus of this chapter.
Such caste and jati-based religious groups described here belong to
the Swaminarayan movement. The caste and sectarian groups within this
movement have become a part of the social structure of the Gujarat state
and of Gujarati communities in their diasporic destinations including those
in the UK (Barot 1980). To explain the way in which religious organization
has made an impact on both migration and settlement it is necessary
to trace the origin of these groups and their transformation into a movement
consisting of a number of sectarian communities. The formation of
the Swaminarayan sect and its gradual formation into different communities
indicate a complex process that marks a social change that is typical
of the colonial and post-colonial period. Changes in stratification open
up venues for mobility. They also create unease between groups struggling
for better opportunities and higher status.
The tension generated in this process shows that evolving stratification
systems are in flux and that contested and contradictory expectations are
likely to develop in the family, between men and women and between
different generations. The distance between parents, children and grandchildren
is marked by tension as cultural differences grow between
the primary and secondary generations who are experiencing less conventional
Indian socialization. When such cultural differences manifest
themselves within the family, they can create a communication hiatus and
misunderstanding. Such changes can create solidarity for the achievement
of goals but they can also create tensions that threaten the unity of the
family. Needless to say, most Swaminarayan families contain elements
of unity and division over a period of time.
To highlight the significance of social cohesion and divisions in the
Swaminarayan movement, it is important to situate its genesis in historical
changes. This perspective shows that the initial Swaminarayan community
is going through a process of segmentation and change that is common
for a transnational religious movement. The migration of individuals and
families within the Swaminarayan movement to East and Central Africa,
the UK, the US and Canada and their economic success is conceptually
related to divisions within the movement.
In terms of this argument, this exposition illustrates that the families
in the Swaminarayan movement have deployed their socio-cultural and
economic resources to better the quality of their life in Britain where they have settled on a permanent basis. The interface of tradition and modernity
is something that these families face as a critical challenge in relation to
maintaining their religion, language and culture in their adopted country.
This chapter focuses on the diffusion and segmentation process and
assesses the impact of modernity and transnationalism on the formation
of different Swaminarayan groups. Changes in gender and inter-generational
relations are highlighted.
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The Historical Origin of the Movement
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Mogul Empire declined
as Europeans competed for power and influence in India. From the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the British emerged as the dominant
power and introduced elements of Westernization to India, creating social
change that brought tradition and modernity into a dynamic interrelationship
(Srinivas 1966). One particular consequence was the movement
of population. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Indians
were on the move in the British Empire – a movement that created Indian
communities in many parts of the world (Tinker 1974, 1976, 1977, Clarke,
Peach and Vertovec 1990).
The economic and political turmoil involved in India's transition from
Mogul to British rule created uncertainties and insecurities, providing the
backdrop for the development of the Swaminarayan movement. The
Vaishnavite tradition of devotional worship, bhakti, had already emerged
as a dominant religion amongst Gujarati Hindu merchant groups in
Western India. Within this tradition, the Pushtimarg of Vallabhacharya
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was a well-established sect (Barz 1976). Sociologists and anthropologists
often associate the rise of a religious movement with a charismatic leader
(Eisenstadt 1968). Hindu tradition is rich with stories of leaders with
special qualities that appeal to followers, leading them to take whatever
course of action may be prescribed. A traditional belief is that divine
beings such as Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayan, or Krishna, a main
character in Mahabharat, appear in human form when religious values
decline. In the endless struggle between good and evil, it is their mission
to restore moral values.
The founder of the Swaminarayan movement, Sahajananda Swami, is
often viewed in this way. Scholars such as Williams (1882) have suggested
that the Swaminarayan movement developed as a puritanical reaction to
moral decline associated with the practices of the Pushtimarg leaders. It
is most likely is that people from a wide range of castes were attracted to Sahajananda Swami's puritanical charisma. However, nineteenth-century
socio-economic changes created a whole set of new opportunities for
groups at the lower end of the caste scale. Their success as landlords,
farmers and merchants created social conditions under which they wanted
to undergo what the Indian social anthropologist Srinivas (1966: 1–45)
describes as 'sanskritization'. Srinivas identified this change as having
an ideological element combined with political mobilisation and economic
success. In this process, the aspiring lower caste groups emulated the
behaviour of Brahmins or other dominant groups. As in other parts of
India, in their desire to conform with the dominant groups and their
ideology, many lower groups embraced the Swaminarayan movement,
which initially ignored ascribed differences between individuals and
families from different caste groups.
Sahajananda Swami, a Brahmin from Utter Pradesh, arrived in Gujarat
in 1800 (Fuchs 1965, Dave 1974). According to tradition, he completed
his ascetic spiritual journeys and began building up a following in Gujarat.
Many middle-ranking and lower-ranking groups joined Sahajananda
Swami to receive salvation as well as to improve their ritual and social
status in local communities.
The sect and its organization expanded rapidly throughout Gujarat.
Before his death in 1830, Sahajananda Swami declared that he was the
supreme Swaminarayan, the highest deity for his supporters. By then his
following had crystallized into a distinctive organization with jurisdiction
divided into northern and southern regions at Ahmedabad and Vadtal
respectively (Williams 1984). Sahajananda Swami adopted the sons of
his two brothers and appointed them as hereditary heads, the acharya of
the two regional seats. The acharya headed both the lay members as well
as the male renouncers who preached salvation and took little interest in
the material affairs of the sect. However, the accumulation of assets and
their management, or mismanagement, as some were to allege, created
differences resulting in disputes and court cases involving litigation about
particular acharyas. In addition, according to the primary tradition of the
sect, since Sahjanand Swami had declared himself to be the supreme
Swaminarayan, it was this divinity who was the source of ultimate salvation.
A number of leading renouncers began to claim that they also possessed
divine charisma and were equally capable of granting final salvation.
When these differences surfaced in public, the factions that broke away
from the two main seats formed separate sectarian organizations. A unitary
sect changed into multiple sects. For the purpose of distinguishing the
original sect of Sahajananda Swami, it is useful to identify it as the primary
sect and to distinguish the schismatic sects as secondary organizations.
Those who follow the primary Swaminarayan sect of Sahajananda Swami view all the breakaway organizations as heretical or vimukh, an expression
which literally means 'against the source'. They argue that members of
the heretical organizations do not follow the sectarian precepts as laid
down by Sahjanand Swami and therefore cannot legitimately use the
designation Swaminarayan. However, the sects that have come into
existence since their separation from the main body refuse to accept this
and offer their own grounds for self-legitimation. The perception of
differences between the primary sect and secondary organizations is sharp
and forms an important part of sectarian self-consciousness.
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The identity
of each sectarian group has become a highly contested issue.
Segmentation has given rise to a number of different Swaminarayan
sects all of which are now represented in Britain. Opposition to the
Ahmedabad acharya led to three splits: the Shree Swaminarayan Siddhanta
Sajivan Mandal based in Maningar near Ahmedabad, the cult of Abji Bapa
based in Kutch, and a dissident acharya who was excluded from hereditary
succession and established his own independent seat at in Saurashtra.
The acharya Vadtal also experienced splintering. Swami Yagnapurushdasji
separated from the jurisdiction of the acharya in 1906 to establish
Shree Akshar Purshottam Sanstha. The affiliation of women to a Swaminarayan
sect was usually through the family. Women were expected to
live within the sectarian jurisdiction as a consequence of desertion or
widowhood. They pursued a path of ascetic devotion and were known as
sankhyayoginis. When a layman within Shree Akshar Purshottam Sanstha
recruited and initiated women as renouncers, his views were opposed by
the established sects. He thus broke away and established the Yogi Divine
Society concerned with the spiritual welfare of women. The society further
divided along gender lines: Gunatit Jyot was established for women
renouncers and the Anoopam Mission was set up to initiate men.
Several renouncers from the Vadtal seat of the primary sect have also
branched out on their own. Using the model of traditional Hindu schools
called gurukul, they have established their own independent schools for
children from Swaminarayan and non-Swaminarayan Hindu families.
Although they do not formally identify themselves as a sect, as they have
not established their own separate forms of worship and temples, they
have a loyal band of followers. They accept the supremacy of Swaminarayan
in the tradition of the primary sect.
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Migration and Transformation of the Swaminarayan Sect
Sanskritization is frequently linked to changes in the socio-economic
positions of groups as demonstrated in Indian anthropological literature. Land ownership, prosperity through cash crops, and the development of
trade were sources of wealth creation for established groups. By the midnineteenth
century, Gujarati merchants had created trading links with the
Gulf and the East African coast, mainly in Zanzibar (Pearson 1976).
Besides the seasonal migration of merchants within the Indian Ocean
region, male heads of families who found themselves facing poverty and
marginality often chose to leave their rural communities for urban
settlements like Ahmedabad and Bombay from where they migrated to
other areas of the British Empire, particularly East Africa.
Gujaratis who settled in the Indo-Pacific zone from Fiji to East and
Central Africa played an important part in the development of colonial
economies. Their prosperity supported religious causes and sectarian
institutions. In Saurashtra, a renouncer explained to me that the wealth
that the East African Gujaratis created went into supporting the sect
and building prestigious and magnificent temples in Gujarat and in East
Africa. Settlement in East Africa played a vital part in the transnational
consolidation of the Swaminarayan movement. As East Africa's Gujarati
shopkeepers, buyers of primary produce and wholesalers proliferated and
prospered, they formed temple-based sectarian communities. It could be
argued that migration and the socio-economic advancement it created was
a necessary condition for the elaborate and complex development of
Swaminarayan sects within both East Africa and India. This argument is
not economic reductionism but rather highlights the fact that economic
advancement was necessary for the followers of the Swaminarayan to
invest their resources in the religious sphere. The dynamic connection
between economic and religious goals has intertwined serving to consolidate
both the social and economic organization of sects within the
movement.
The story of East African Indian migration to Britain is sufficiently
well known in the literature to require no detailed amplification (O'Brien
1972, Tandon 1973, Mamdani 1973, Humphry and Ward 1974, Twaddle
1975, Kuepper, Lackey and Swinerton 1975). However, the framework
that takes into account facts of colonization and decolonization and the
status of East African Asians as British citizens is crucial for grasping
their further migration to the UK. In addition, some of the salient features
of colonial stratification show that minorities like Indians were insufficiently
integrated into wider British society to legitimate their claims for
moral citizenship although they had legal citizenship.
Although the Indians were a part of a colonial three-tiered black, brown
and white racial pyramid in which they faced severe racial discrimination
at the hands of British colonial officials, they tended to identify more with the dominant white rulers than with the Africans. The colonial
stratification and the kind of separation it created between groups failed
to provide a basis for multi-ethnic communities to develop in independent
Africa (Morris 1968, Dotson and Dotson 1968, Ghai and Ghai 1970).
Decolonization in the 1960s created uncertain conditions for Indians who
saw that they were going to be unable to protect their privileges based
on the colonial social structure. Political changes and the policy of
Africanization that gave greater prominence to African aspirations
adversely affected Indians. Many began leaving East Africa and followers
of Swaminarayan sects came to Britain from this period onwards. As
migrants they were not isolated individuals who had decided to settle in
the UK. They departed from East Africa as families, relatives and friends
with common settlement objectives. Their vision was not merely personal
settlement but the settlement of their kin and the re-establishment of their
religious organization, only this time in the UK. It should be noted that
these families did not see themselves as victims of xenophobia, racism
or exclusion in East Africa or the UK. Such a simplistic victim's perspective
masks the kind of energy and human resources which families utilise to
improve their social and material conditions in an unwelcoming environment.
They were intent on turning adverse conditions to their advantage.
In contrast to the single male migration of the 1950s from India and
Pakistan, the East African Asian migration generally tended to be family
migration. The politics of decolonization demanded that the families leave
together, as was particularly the case with the expulsion of the Asians
from Uganda in 1972–4. When Swaminarayan families came to Britain
in the 1960s and 1970s, a shortage of housing compelled many to live in
lodging houses either singly or with other families in the short term. They
did not desire public sector housing, even if it had been possible. It would
have made it almost impossible for them to recreate their residential
sectarian communities. Although private sector housing was never free
from discriminatory practices and market constraints, members of various
sects were able to recreate quite rapidly residential communities familiar
to them from their time in India and East Africa (Modood 1997).
For example the Leva Kanbi Patels of Kutch, with whom the author
spent two years in London in the 1970s, lived in their own Swaminarayan
neighbourhood. This pattern applies not only to other caste and sectarian
communities but also to other Indian groups such as Sikhs who live in
close-knit communities ensuring daily face-to-face contact. The lodging
house and the system of tenants, which were typical of the early years of
settlement, have nearly disappeared and most families now own their own
homes.
When they first came to Britain, members of a sect would set up a small
Swaminarayan shrine for personal and collective worship. In time,
they moved from worshipping in a small room to a terraced house and
finally to a large hall or an old church building converted into a temple.
Construction of a proper temple in the traditional Indian style is the final
step in the consolidation of such religious communities. From the late
1980s, the movement for the construction of temples has gathered pace
in Swaminarayan sects. The followers of the primary Swaminarayan sect
of Tejendraprasadji funded and supported the construction of a sikharbandhi
mandir, a temple with traditional domes in Willsden in 1989. This was
an important expression of their sectarian identity in spatial terms. In the
1990s, the followers of Shree Akshar Purshottam Sanstha brought about
the most effective and successful mobilization of resources for the
construction of a magnificent marble Swaminarayan temple in traditional
style in the Neasden district of London. The followers of transnational
links embracing Europe, Africa and North America formed a vital factor
in creating the resources for this temple, which is one of the most impressive
and imposing Hindu temples in the Western hemisphere. The fact that
the followers as well as the wider British society view this temple as a Hindu
temple (as distinct from a temple of a particular Hindu sect) has important
implications for identification and identity.
Census data on the ethnic minority population in Britain only provide
statistical information about individuals born in each of the Commonwealth
countries. Information about the number of people and the size
of a religious community is a matter of informed guesswork. Knott and
Toon (1981–4) estimate that there were 307,000 Hindus out of about
840,000 Indians living in Britain in the mid-1980s. Based on the British
survey of ethnic minorities, Modood (1997) estimates that there may be
nearly 325,000 to 350,000 Hindus living in Britain, the majority of whom
are probably Gujarati Hindus. Fifty thousand men, women and children
in the Swaminarayan movement is a realistic guess. In the US, Williams
(1984) estimates there are 10,000 families or 35,000 people in the Shree
Akshar Purshottam Sanstha and 10,000 in the Ahmedabad-based primary
Swaminarayan sect. It is possible that there are more than a million Hindus
belonging to this dynamic movement in Gujarat in India, the UK and the
US.
As Indian migration has spread geographically, the Swaminarayan
movement has expanded since the mid-1970s both in the UK as well as
in the US.
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There are at least 15 or 16 Swaminarayan temples representing
different sects within the movement. Now there are also extensions in
Sweden and Portugal where small numbers of Gujarati Hindus have settled permanently. It is worth noting that now there are more than a
million Indian Americans living in the US (Migration News 2000 and
Williams 1988). Swaminarayan sects have consciously become globalised
by setting up web pages on the Internet and providing up-to-date information
for their transnational followers.
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Migration and Economic MobilityThe economic and social backgrounds of the followers are varied and
their work histories are complex. As migrants, only a small number of
businessmen and women and middle-class professionals such as doctors,
pharmacists and chartered accountants were successful in recreating their
Indian or East African class position in Britain. In their initial entry into
the labour market, most had to set aside their white-collar or professional
aspirations and accept manual jobs as a temporary stepping stone to selfemployment
or a profession. This meant going through a short-term
process of proletarianization. Members of the family usually pooled their
resources enabling the family to maximize its savings over the years. After
investing in a residential property, they usually tried to move out of manual
work into self-employment, concentrating on small-scale business enterprises
to become self-reliant. This transition to self-employment accorded
them a different class position and better material prospects. However,
such a transition was by no means universally inevitable as large numbers
of men and women had to continue with manual or white-collar salaried
employment (Modood 1997). It was common for Gujarati families to
suffer exclusion and marginality in the labour market.
One example of a successful upward ascent was the Leva Kanbi Patels,
who trace their origin to the Kutch part of Gujarat, and the Patels who
come from the Charottar district in central Gujarat. These caste groups
belong to different sectarian groups within the Swaminarayan movement
(Barot 1987). The Leva Kanbi Patels achieved prosperity through cooperation
and hard work based on their traditional occupation in building work
and carpentry. They transferred these traditional skills to East Africa and
entered the construction world as manual labourers. Gradually they were
able to run their own construction firms and in time became successful
entrepreneurs – a mark of success that was reflected in further consolidation
of their sect, Shree Swaminarayan Siddhanta Sajivan Mandal.
Not surprisingly, after their arrival in Britain, they started working on
construction sites. Some were enterprising enough to establish small
family firms that specialized in repair work in their own neighbourhoods. A family that I have renamed the Varsani brothers started out as a modest
enterprise jointly operated by several brothers. They were highly experienced
builders in East Africa before entering the construction industry
in Britain in the 1960s. Their poor command of English and their
unfamiliarity with construction work in Britain put them at a disadvantage
at the outset but they were keen workers and quick to learn new skills.
Many were able to use their contacts with the foreman on site to recruit
fellow sect members and nurture them until they had acquired the skills
and levels of performance that British construction work demanded.
Besides their paid work for big companies, the brothers also bought and
repaired properties. Once they had accumulated enough capital, they
started buying derelict, run-down properties to refurbish and sell in north
London's booming property market. They made good profits and established
themselves as a large firm by the 1980s. Further success enabled
them to move out of the local residential domestic property market and
they began to tender for contracts to renovate high-rise apartments and
hotels throughout London. When I met the brothers ten years after my
initial fieldwork, they confirmed that their business was a multi-millionpound
enterprise. The story of their success was a matter of great pride
for the entire community, which benefited from their generous donations
for various projects of a religious nature. The Varsani brothers are
noteworthy but by no means unique. Numerous Gujarati families have
become successful in trade, commerce and industry and many are in the
Swaminarayan movement.
The Charottar Patels in London also provide a remarkable example of
a community that has been able to find a successful niche in shopkeeping,
as recently documented by Patel and Rutten (1999) in their study of this
community in Gujarat and London. Besides owning retail businesses and
corner shops selling newspapers, confectionery, tobacco and groceries,
the Patels have also moved into a wide range of well-paid professions.
Gujarati Lohana Hindus have also followed a similar pattern throughout
north London. Both communities have had close links with Shree Akshar
Purshottam Sanstha and their contributions to the temple community have
remained a vital part of the prosperity of the transnational sectarian
movement.
According to Sikshapatri, a text that Sahajanand Swami compiled to
regulate the conduct of his followers, each member of the sect should
contribute either a tenth or a twentieth (dasmo-vismobhag) of his or
her income to the sect. The ability to contribute a large amount of cash
is both meritorious and prestigious and offers salvation of the highest
kind. The above-cited examples and press coverage given to individual entrepreneurs
5
creates the image of Indians as successful and wealthy
people. However it needs to be stressed that not everyone is well off. Semiskilled
and unskilled men and women have suffered from long-term
unemployment and disadvantage, especially in less prosperous towns in
the north-west of England. Donations by wealthy Indians to their sects
act as a symbolic leveller in economically divided communities. While
perpetuating the value the community places on entrepreneurial success,
they ease social tension that is inherent in a process of economic advance
in which all do not participate equally. Making money and spending it
on religious and social organizations is regarded as a virtue.
With respect to the entry of Indian women in the labour market, the
traditional stereotype that Indian women stay at home and bring up
children bears little or no relation to reality. Women in all the Indian
communities known to the author have some rural or urban work experience.
Leva Kanbi Patel women often worked on farms doing arduous
manual work in their villages and East African Asian women played a
decisive role in running small shops, an experience that they have
successfully redeployed in Britain, however unacknowledged it may be.
Most importantly, Indian women brought up in the UK have entered a
wide range of professional sectors of the labour market. Indian women
are still homemakers but they are also active partners in increasing family
income, often ensuring that their children receive an education at expensive
private schools.
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Settlement, Social Conservation and Change
Migration and economic change are key factors in the successful settlement
of Swaminarayan sects in Britain. Somewhat paradoxically the
dynamic of the movement is lodged in conservation of many Indian social
values, which must be shared amongst family and community members
for the movement to flourish. This section examines the tensions embedded
in a religious movement premised on geographical mobility and
economic success, which must retain a core of social values that can be
traced back to rural Gujarat.
Members of the sects recognize the positive value of their migration
outside India but they continually stress the hard work and group endeavour
that allowed them to reach their current economic position. For
example the Leva Kanbi Patels trace their origins back to Kutch and their
work as kadiya builders. To reinforce their awareness of their origins and
the long struggle to their current position in British society, most sects organize special visits to the headquarters of their sect and their own towns
and villages in Gujarat. These trips are organized like Hindu pilgrimages
to sacred places. The visitors are afforded the opportunity to renew their
ties with relatives and to establish their own social presence in their local
communities of origin in India. In pursuing such interests, members of
the Shree Swaminarayan Siddhanta Sajivan Mandal deposit large amounts
of money in banks in their villages to buy land and to build modern,
comfortable houses. They also send donations for various village projects
like the construction of clinics and schools. Continuity and change mark
the kind of institutional organizational framework that the followers of
the Swaminarayan sects have created in Britain. In establishing their
communities and temples, they have achieved their aim to preserve and
sustain their identities as Hindus of the Swaminarayan movement. Their
keen commitment to religious salvation is not merely a sectarian matter.
It is also partly a consequence of their adaptation to life in Britain. Living
in Britain has both positive and negative sides. Although they have new
economic opportunities and a better life in Britain, it has also exposed
them to social tensions. Unavoidably, many British cultural practices clash
with their traditional perspectives.
While South Asians in Britain may face personal and institutional
racism imposed on them by the wider society, they also have to contend
with internal strains within the movement, and even within families.
Growing class differences between Swaminarayan sects constitute a focus
for strongly held views as to which sect is the most legitimate expression
of the divinity of Swaminarayan. Those who are born and brought up in
Britain and have been exposed to a more egalitarian cultural ethic may
find that they no longer share the norms of hierarchical esteem embodied
in the family and the community. Traditional gender inequality in some
Indian castes and sects can be a source of deep unease, especially for
young Indian women educated to expect equality but having to cope with
strict patrilineal codes of behaviour. The pattern of gender segregation
that is traditionally prescribed has come under increasing pressure to give
way to more egalitarian norms. Intergenerational tensions erupt when
youth defy patrilineal decision making over their education and occupational
careers. Higher education for the community's youth tends to be
guided towards 'respectable professions'. The unwillingness of young
men and women to accept their family traditions of business or work may
create serious dislocations between generations.
Generational differences also emerge with regard to the clash of
traditional non-egalitarian and youth's egalitarian gender norms. The
possibility of acute conflict cannot be avoided on vital issues such as who one should or should not marry. The tradition of endogamy is a source of
deep anxiety and tension, especially for young women who come under
great pressure to preserve the status quo. In extreme circumstances of
inter-generational gender conflict not only does violence lurk in the
background but in rare cases a family may even murder a disobedient
daughter in order to save its honour. Although Gujarati Hindus are less
likely to resort to extreme forms of violence, the author recollects one
instance in which a brother killed his sister in a Gujarati Hindu family as
she was meeting a boy from outside the community. More recently, The
Times
6
reported the murder of a 19-year-old Muslim girl, Rukhsana.
Although she was married, she had a lover who had made her pregnant.
The family had suffered such a degree of dishonour in Derby that her
brother and her mother killed her and were subsequently jailed for life,
clearly illustrating the passion with which some communities regard
virginity, sexuality and honour.
Generally, intergenerational conflicts lead to a gradual transformation
of traditional norms to accommodate the emergence of less traditional
practices or outright rejection of less democratic and authoritarian
conventions. In dealing with these intractable issues much is at stake and
families and communities feel compelled to minimize alienation that can
undermine the family and the community.
The conservation of traditional social values is also challenged by a
growing lack of awareness of one's cultural heritage. Pocock (1976)
highlighted the problems of sustaining the literary and linguistic inheritance
of the movement. The extent to which a knowledge of Gujarati is a
necessary precondition for understanding salvation is a moot issue in all
Swaminarayan sects. Translating main religious texts into English is an
adaptive response to the need of British-born followers and English as
the main language of communication among the young is tacitly accepted.
However, leaders stress the importance of Gujarati and organize classes
that operate with varying degrees of effectiveness (Logan 1989). Looking
at sects like the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, leaders
believe that transition into English is not necessarily going to result in
diminished commitment to the Swaminarayan.
In view of the strong pressures to conform to traditional social values
and resulting intergenerational dislocation and alienation, some young
men and women may see breaking away from their caste and sectarian
communities to lead their own individual lives as an attractive option.
During my fieldwork, there was one example of total breakdown in the
relationship between a father and his son. The father's violence towards
the son eventually brought about intervention by the social services and removal of the child from his home and his eventual unwillingness to
associate with his family and the sectarian community. However, it ought
to be emphasized that such instances are infrequent. At the same time, it
is also equally important to recognize that they occur in circumstances
of stress that spark or exacerbate discontinuity between a person, his
family and his community.
Youth rebellion and individualist paths are tempered by the external
force of racism, and especially the climate of intimidation, harassment
and violence that the young face and that causes them to develop a
community-based defensive posture. For example, adverse social and
political conditions in the East End of London have transformed the
youth into a highly militant and political segment of the local Bengali
community (Carey and Shukur 1985). Articulated in different ways and
to different degrees, the expression of such a political sentiment is increasingly
common among the young.
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Conclusion
The economic and social history of the Swaminarayan movement and
its geographical dispersal over four continents has necessarily been
schematic. I have attempted to demonstrate how economic change and
social continuity have been accommodated in the movement. The movement
has been characterized through time by segmentation on the basis
of charismatic patriarchal leadership. It has often thrived in the face of
political hostility. Currently the movement faces generational and gender
tensions that may challenge the patriarchal leadership of the community
and the family. There are still, however, hostile external forces acting
on the movement and that provide a counterbalancing need for unity. In
this way, the Swaminarayan movement remains intact and flourishes,
challenging modernist sociological theory, which conceptualizes social
change as a unilineal transition from holistic communities to more
particularized communities to self-centred optimizing individuals.
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