Ferrari & Dähnhardt/Soulless Matter, 8. In Search of the Sadhu’s Stone

Sadhus in the North Indian state of Rajasthan, in which I conducted extensive field research with Hindu sadhus from the Shaiva (Dashanami and Nath) and Vaishnava (Ramananda/Tyagi) renouncer traditions, associate naturally occurring substances like metals, minerals, and gems with power and immortality and use them in their everyday ritual/healing practices. In my experience, preferring naturopathic—or, in Indian terms, Ayurvedic—methods over allopathic methods, sadhus, men and women, commonly wear stones, gems, and metals on their bodies as an efficacious means to heal, cure, and prevent ailments from poor digestion to anaemia.

The essay is divided into two parts. Part 1 analyzes what I have characterized as the sadhus’ “rhetoric of renunciation,” the stories (kahani) and songs (bhajan) that they perform about the earth, its properties, and humans’ responsibility to the planet. In addition, this section explores sadhus’ ideas about ecological sustainability in a consumer-based economy through means of their performances. Part 2 examines the sadhus’ use and classification of metals, minerals, and gems, the deities associated with these substances, the problems they are thought to cure and/or prevent, and the sadhus’ personal experiences of illness that catalyzed their knowledge and use of metals, minerals, and gems. In sum, this essay contributes new research to academic studies of sannyas in South Asia and shows that sadhus draw on indigenous knowledge about minerals, metals, and gems in their practices both to address and redress the deleterious effects that Rajasthan’s mining industry is wreaking on the earth in a rapidly changing, postindustrial India.