Bus-Stop Sami: Transient Temples in Urban South India

Making Informal Sacred Geographies: Spiritual Presence, Sensual Engagement, and Wayside Shrines in Urban India

“…Visiting sacred sites allows them to escape airless homes and multiple service demands by family members while not compromising their respectability (Rao, 2003; Osterberg, 2018). Shrines attract major investments when rich businesspeople or politicians attribute their success to divine support and their aura seems remarkably unaffected by gossip about illicit activities such as money laundering, political maneuvering, land grabbing, and attempts to marginalize another religious community (Kent, 2018; Larios, 2018). Successful shrines may be formalized and managed by neighborhood associations or a temple trust, especially if they attract a regular flow of income (Kalpagam, 2006; Larios & Voix, 2018), but they can also vanish if they are left unattended, overrun by formal development projects, or destroyed during a storm (Kent, 2018; Srinivas, 2016).…”

“…When asked about the significance of such places, worshippers give formulaic responses, saying that the sites are old and powerful, the result of a deity’s self-manifestation. The phenomenon is not unique to Bhopal and a series of recent publications on small shrines demonstrates that the minor rituals at small sites is indeed part of what one might call a mainstream urban Hindu tradition (Eck, 1983; Haberman, 2013; Haskett, 2018; Kent, 2018; Owens, 1995; Sekine, 2006). Hindu deities seek residence in the world and do so by magically appearing at certain sites.…”

“…My engagement with this informal religious geography started in Bhopal, where I conducted long-term fieldwork on urban temples, 1 and in this text I complement my own observations with examples from the literature located in Mumbai, Goa, and Varanasi (Bharne, 2013; Heng, 2016, 2019; Kent, 2018; Larios, 2018; Osterberg, 2018). Together, these examples help excavate a habitual orientation that sustains the minor sacred sites that dot urban spaces across India, but which can also be found along highways or in the countryside.…”