Sai Baba passes away, govt to leave succession to Trust

Sai Baba passes away, govt to leave succession to Trust

Indian Express 

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Varun Gupta
 
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Fw: H-ASIA: "Yellow hordes" query - response

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 12:10 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: "Yellow hordes" query - response

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> Response re: 'yellow hordes' query
> ************************************************************************
> From: Nicholas Clifford <clifford@middlebury.edu>
>
> Following on to Ian Welch's posting:
>
> Of course there was a good deal of plain old fashioned racism at work,
> even
> when the term "Yellow Peril" was not used, and as Ian Welch points out,
> the
> US by no means had a corner on the market (think of the famous Fu Manchu,
> a
> British creation). The Australian travel writer Mary Gaunt is another
> example. Elizabeth Bird Bishop, in her book on the Yangtze Valley,
> dismissed
> the term "Yellow Peril," turning it into "Yellow Hope," though she looked
> ahead, rather wistfully, to a Christianized China. Yet the American Eliza
> Scidmore remarked, at the turn of the last century, that since Japan's
> crushing defeat of China in 1895, no one could any longer take seriously
> the
> "Yellow Peril" (presumably in her eyes, whatever else the Japanese were,
> yellow was not it). The British anthropologist E.B. Tylor never used the
> term (I think) but in 1871 wrote that "few would dispute that the
> following
> races are arranged rightly in order of culture: Australian, Tahitian,
> Aztec,
> Chinese, Italian" (no prize for guessing who comes out No. 1). And, of
> course, as Frank Dikötter has pointed out (The Discourse of Race in Modern
> China, Stanford University Press, 1992), Chinese intellectuals were
> themselves by no means immune to the temptations of race thinking.
>
> Both in Australia and the UK, as well as the US, there were those whose
> fear of the Chinese came less from their "yellowness" than from their
> observations that the Chinese would work harder, demand far less in the
> way of pay, accept a lower standard of living, etc., and thus do in the
> westerners through their admirable (if that's what they were) qualities.
> How much has this changed today? Earlier this year I heard a lecture by a
> visiting scholar from Beijing who remarked how utterly incomprehensible
> Chinese found the recent labor troubles in France, with their demands for
> shorter hours and an earlier retirement age; many Chinese today, he
> remarked, want to work harder and longer.
>
> There was a mention earlier in this thread of the famous German picture
> of the Archangel Michael (a German, presumably) rallying Europe against
> the Yellow Peril, though the Wikipedia article in which it appears says
> that the Kaiser's target was an expanding Japan. Is that right? I always
> thought it was the Boxers who were the villains here.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voelker_Europas.jpg
>
> Nicholas Clifford
> Middlebury College
> ******************************************************************
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Fw: H-ASIA: Sathya Sai Baba, a preliminary obituary

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 3:40 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: Sathya Sai Baba, a preliminary obituary

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> A preliminary obituary for Sathya Sai Baba, noted Indian holyman
>
> (x-post RISA-L)
> **********************************************************************
> Ed. note: Very few scholars who have worked in or on modern India will
> not be familiar with the career of Sathya Sai Baba who attracted a world-
> wide following of devotees, and who was one of the significant
> constituents of modern Hinduism in contemporary India. Professor Tulasi
> Srinivas of Emerson College, who has published studies of Sathya Sai Baba
> and his movement, postedd a brief obituary notice for the RISA-L list and
> has kindly agreed to permit cross-posting on H-ASIA. FFC
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: Tulasi Srinivas <Tulasi_Srinivas@emerson.edu>
>
>
> Redeeming Faith: Sacred Life, Moral Death and Institutional Change in the
> Global Sathya Sai Movement
> Tulasi Srinivas, Emerson College
>
> April 23, 2011.
>
> According to news reports Shri Sathya Sai Baba, godman, guru, mystic,
> saint, and charismatic religious leader (Srinivas 2008) "passed away" or
> "died" today at 7.40 am Indian Standard Time at the Sathya Sai Seva
> Institute for Higher Medical Sciences in his home town of Puttaparthi in
> rural Andhra Pradesh in South India. As a devotee said to me in sadness
> "on this day of faith and remembrance--Easter Sunday--Bhagawan left his
> body". According to devotees Shri Sathya Sai Baba known as Bhagawan
> (God) attained Samadhi at his chosen time. The reports on Indian NDTV
> state that Shri Sathya Sai Baba's body will lie in state at his 100 acre
> ashram called Parsanthi Nilayam (Abode of Supreme Peace) for the
> estimated one million devotees (this is a conservative number) that will
> be expected to pay their last respects for two days and then he will be
> given a state funeral on Wednesday. His body will be interred in the Sai
> Kulwant darshan hall at Prasanthi Nilayam thereafter.
>
> Shri Sai Baba was admitted to the SSSIHMS Hospital on March 28, 2011
> suffering from what was termed "breathing difficulties" by doctors. He
> had a pacemaker installed and until April 7, 2011 seemed to be
> progressing fairly well. Thousands of devotees poured into Puttaparthi
> upon hearing of his illness and camped outside the hospital. The hospital
> director Dr. Safaya gave daily medical bulletins circulated by the Sathya
> Sai Trust on their official website for his global devotional base. A
> specialist doctor and devotee from the University of Southern California
> School of Medicine flew into Puttaparthi to be part of the team of
> doctors taking care of Sai Baba. On April 7, 2011 reports suggested that
> Sai Baba's heart and kidneys were being affected and on April 8th Dr
> Michael Goldstein the Chairman, Sri Sathya Sai World Foundation, as well
> as the Chairman, Prashanthi Council – the international body that
> oversees the activities of Sri Sathya Sai Organisations worldwide—gave a
> talk to devotees on the Radio Sai network about Sai Baba's health in
> which he exhorted devotees to pray that Sai Baba "would decide to remain"
> with them, his earnest wish. Devotees were worried and saddened by the
> urn if events but hopd that "Swami would cure himself" as they believed
> he had done in 1963 when he suffered a series of strokes and stated he
> had taken on the illness of a devotee. But by April 18th, 2011 it was
> reported that Sai Baba had suffered "multiple organ failure". The Andhra
> Pradesh government and the Chief Minister Mr. Kiran Reddy deputed the
> minister of Major Industries Geetha Reddy to take charge of the site and
> to oversee "the medical treatment being administered to Baba by the Sai
> Seva Trust" as they also closed travel to Puttaparthi and drew in several
> thousand police units from across the state to prevent "untoward
> incidents". Doctors indicated in the daily bulletin on April 21st 2011
> that Sai Baba was in an "extremely critical condition" giving the
> government, devotees and national politicians time to prepare. Devotees
> across the world gathered in Sai temples and centers to pray for a
> miraculous recovery and devotees in Puttaparthi took out a procession and
> led a day long chanting and singing of bhajans (hymns) for his health.
>
> Shri Sathya Sai Baba's life was extraordinary by any description. Born
> Sathya Narayana Raju to a poor peasant family on November 2, 1926, he
> became a nationally recognized guru and mystic who counted leading Indian
> politicians, sports figures and media celebrities as well as the poorest
> among his devotees. In 1940, he declared himself an "avatar," or
> reincarnation, of another Hindu holy man called the Sai Baba of Shirdi, a
> town in the western Indian state of Maharashtra who had died in 1918. In
> the 1960s and after, riding a wave of popularity in the West he became a
> celebrated global guru, often providing solace through his twice daily
> darshan (sacred sighting) to the tens of thousands of devotees,
> interacting with them, magically manifesting healing vibhuti ( sacred
> ash) or talismen for those who sought his blessings. Devotees scrambled
> to get a good seat during darshan often waiting hours in long queues
> enacting "proxemic desire" (Srinivas 2010). His devotional base grew to
> an estimated 20 million in 160 countries around the world and they were
> predominantly middle class and professional. Sai Baba used his enormous
> influence to harness this human power to do seva (charitable works)
> including raising money for educational institutions, hospitals to treat
> the poor and drinking water to parched rural districts in and around his
> home town. He grew the Sai Movement into a transnational phenomenon
> allowing people to remain in the faith they were born into yet offering
> them hope and solace as his devotees through a strategic set of embedded
> practices, multivalent symbols and ambiguous performances.
>
> But he was also the eye of the storm as controversy swirled around him.
> Skeptics and non believers accused him of being a "mere magician" and
> using presdigitation of trinkets and conjuring acts to increase faith in
> him. He never denied the magic but rather claimed that the talismen
> produced were magical merely a pathway for his larger maya (divine magic)
> of devotional transformation to occur. In the 1970s a Commission to
> investigate Miracles and other Superstitions was set up by Dr. H
> Narasimaiah, the Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University to investigate
> Sathya Sai Baba. The BBC documentary Sai Baba: Godman or Con man detailed
> the so called "tricks" but this did not deter devotees and followers.
> More recently ex-devotees and former devotees have accused Sathya Sai
> Baba and the Sai Trust of more serious infractions including
> embezzlement, fraud and sexual abuse of young boys which they claimed
> culminated in the death of four young men within the ashram in 1996. A
> series of films and internet websites detail these allegations. But
> neither Sai Baba nor the Trust were ever convicted of any wrongdoing.
> Rather Sai Baba and his devotees, on his behalf, claimed that he was
> vilified in the public arena by disaffected devotees. The Anti Sai
> movement has been appropriately silent about the current happenings in
> the ashram.
>
> His passing has brought the problem of transition and rationalization of
> charisma to light. Devotees asked that video bulletins of Shri Sathya Sai
> Baba's health be transmitted so that they could "see" that he was being
> looked after. Sai Baba's health has been an issue since he broke his hip
> six years ago and was confined to a wheelchair and started giving darshan
> in a porte chair and car. The Trust including Sai Baba's nephew R.J.
> Ratnakar and other core devotees has been reported to be holding high
> level meetings about finances and continuation. The estimated worth of
> the trust is thought to be $ 8.9 billion and so a great deal is at stake.
> Devotees meanwhile discuss Sai Baba's prophecy that he would be reborn as
> "Prema Sai" (the sai of love) and wonder about his next birth as they
> mourn the passing of "this body". For them he is a divine poorna avatar
> (incarnation) of God and therefore "all pervading and all knowing" and an
> embodiment of divine love.
>
> My own ethnographic work on the transnational Sathya Sai Movement over
> nine years has led me to a valuable and cherished group of friends and
> informants both within and without the community, whose sense of loss
> and pain both today and over the years I have come to respect. It is to
> them and for them I write this today.
> [With reporting from NDTV, Times of India, The Hindu, News of the World,
> The BBC, The Economic Times and the Straits Times]
>
> Tulasi Srinivas is the author of _Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization
> and Religious Pluralism Through the Sathya Sai Movement_, New York:
> Columbia University press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-231-14932-7.
>
> Tulasi Srinivas, Ph.D.
>
> Assistant Professor, Anthropology
> Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies and
> Department of Communication Studies
> Emerson College
> Boston, MA
> email: Tulasi_Srinivas@emerson.edu
> Vice-President, New England and Maritime Association of the American
> Academy of Religion (NEMAAR)
> Book review editor: Journal of Asian and African Studies
> Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism Through the
> Sathya Sai Movement
> http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14932-7/winged-faith/reviews
>
> ******************************************************************
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Fw: H-ASIA: "Yellow hordes" query - response

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:33 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: "Yellow hordes" query - response

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> Further response re: 'yellow hordes' query
> **********************************************************************
> From: Ian Welch <ian.welch@anu.edu.au>
>
> Beware of parochialism. America was far from unique in its 19C responses
> to the Chinese and as other responses have noted the term 'Yellow Peril"
> was well known in Europe and elsewhere around the world.
>
> It is a mistake to assume that the Asian-American experience was either
> unique or special to the US.
>
> The American contribution to the prejudices of the times was the
> unpunished violence against Chinese, especially in the West Coast. I have
> mentioned this in earlier posts and a copy of a summary of anti-Chinese
> violence in North America was circulated. It is found in the Introduction
> of my new ANU online Murder on Flower Mountain database.
>
> The URL is https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/7273
>
> Ian Welch
> Canberra
> ******************************************************************
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> <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu>
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> <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message:
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Fw: H-ASIA: Idiosyncratic comments on "yellowness" (further comments-2)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:37 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: Idiosyncratic comments on "yellowness" (further comments-2)

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> Further comments (2) re: Idiosyncratic comments on "yellowness"
>
> **********************************************************************
> 1.)
> From: Yi-Li Wu <yiliwu2010@gmail.com>
>
> In response to Ted Bestor's posting, I have a personal anecdote about
> Chinese in southern states being coded as "white"...I was born in Virginia
> in the mid-1960s. The original birth certificate (yes, I can run for
> president) says that my parents are from "China" and that their race is
> "white." Interestingly, this racial designations are not on the version
> that is provided these days when I request a copy of my birth certificate
> (looks like things were computerized).
>
> Yi-Li Wu
> Albion College
> **********************************************************************
> 2.)
> From: David Schak <d.schak@griffith.edu.au>
>
> With reference to the publication cited by Ted Bestor, I might add that at
> the same time that one could be only white or black in the south, one
> could be only white or coloured in California. So while Chinese were
> 'white' in Mississippi, they were coloured in Oakland.
>
>
> Adjunct A/Prof. David C. Schak d.schak@griffith.edu.au
> International Business and Asian Studies
> Centre for Environment and Public Health
> Griffith University
> Nathan, Qld. Australia, 4111
> 617 3735-7576 (w); 3892-7339 (h)
> ******************************************************************
> To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to:
> <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu>
> For holidays or short absences send post to:
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>
>
>
>
> From yiliwu2010@gmail.com Sat Apr 23 18:08:08 2011
> Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2011 18:00:01 -0700
> ******************************************************************
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Fw: H-ASIA: "yellowness" (re: Michael Keevak's book announcement)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:36 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: "yellowness" (re: Michael Keevak's book announcement)

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> On 'yellowness' re: Michael Keevak's book announcement
> **********************************************************************
> From: Marcus Bingenheimer <m.bingenheimer@gmail.com>
>
> For those interested in the question of how the Chinese came to be
> regarded as yellow:
>
> Demel, Walter. 1992. "Wie die Chinesen gelb wurden - Ein Beitrag zur
> Frühgeschichte der Rassentheorien." Historische Zeitschrift 255 (Dec.
> 1992).
> is available on JSTOR.
>
> In his introduction Keevak mentions Demel's excellent essay as a "starting
> point" for his study.
>
> Regards,
>
> Marcus Bingenheimer
>
> --
> Dharma Drum Buddhist College (DDBC)
> No. 2-6 Xishihu, Jinshan 20842, New Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.
> http://mbingenheimer.net
>
> ******************************************************************
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Fw: H-ASIA: Japan?s nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:41 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: Japan?s nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> Japan's nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India
> **********************************************************************
> From: FUKUNAGA Masaaki <office@fukunaga.cc>
>
> Dear All,
>
> Nuclear accident at FUKUSHIMA, Japan is still a serious condition.
>
> This accident will also affect the negotiation of the Civil Nuclear
> Cooperation Agreement between Japan and India.
>
> People thought about the nuclear plants in India, is changing.
> Please find an article at web site of the South Asia Citizens Web
> (http://www.sacw.net).
>
> 'Japan's nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India'
> Thursday 31 March 2011
>
> http://www.sacw.net/article1994.html
>
>
> with regards,
>
> Prof. FUKUNAGA Masaaki, Ph.D.(Sociology, BHU)
> ___
> Assistant Director,
> The Center for South Asian Studies,
> Gifu Women's University
> ******************************************************************
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Fw: H-ASIA: Japan-occupied Philippines--seeking photographs

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:33 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: Japan-occupied Philippines--seeking photographs

> H-ASIA
> April 24, 2011
>
> Seeking photographs of Japan-occupied Philippines
> ***********************************************************************
> From: Satoshi Ara <satohiro82@yahoo.co.jp>
>
> I am Satoshi Ara, teaching here in Japan as a part-time
> faculty at several institutions. I now have a book
> project titled "Japanese Occupation of Leyte, Philippines,
> 1942-1945" with a focus of a collaboration issue of local
> elites with the Japanese authorities in Leyte,
> Philippines.
>
> I am now looking for pictures taken by local people in
> the said island or by the Japanese officers assigned to
> garrison in the locality.
>
> Most pictures I happened to find in the internet were
> mostly taken by the American Army soldiers who were in
> the island after its reoccupation of the Philippines in
> October 1944. It would be appreciated if someone could
> provide me with information of whereabouts of pictures
> taken during the occupation period prior to the arrival
> of the US forces.
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Satoshi Ara, Ph.D.
> Part-time Faculty,
> Fukushima University, Japan
> ******************************************************************
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