GLOBAL GANESHA: MAPPING A DIVINE DIASPORA

In recent years, the semantic valences implied by terms like “diaspora,” “globalism,” and “transnationalism” have been innovatively extended by scholars across many disciplines. While their omnipresence may indicate a universal acceptance in academic discourse, the concepts have also been critiqued for the dyadic resonances they suggest between home and hostlands. My study seizes these conversations to discuss the beliefs and practices of Ganesha devotees in present times who subscribe to a broad range of religious identities. Often referred to as one of the most worshipped Hindu deities, the god Ganesha is easily recognizable because of his elephant’s head. With textual origins in numerous Sanskrit Purāṇas and the Yājñavalkya Smṛti (3rd to 5th centuries CE), Ganesha was swiftly able to transcend the boundaries of geography, religion, and even gender. As a result, by the end of the millennium, his worship was a ubiquitous feature of Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, and wide range of other Asian religious traditions. Although his global popularity experienced a brief decline between the 1400s and 1800s, it has experienced a resurgence since the 20th century, in tandem with the emergence of modern processes of globalization. This study draws upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork among numerous interlocutors in three field sites—the USA, India, and Thailand—to recognize that contemporary Ganesha worship comprises devotees who straddle multiple religious traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. As such, the global Ganesha can be interpreted as the center of an independent, divine diaspora, comprised of poly-religious individuals. This survey brings into relief two theoretical points that should be recognized as paramount to understanding contemporary forms of Hindu-influenced worship traditions: (1) Far from being marginal, globality is an innate and unexceptional aspect of the myriad histories concerning Hindu gods and (2) It dislodges India-centric paradigms that often dominate studies of such gods by introducing us to testimonies of diverse individuals including Thai Buddhists, American Jews, and Brazilian Catholics see devotion towards Ganesha as complementary to their other identities.