Textual Embodiment: Ritual Praxis and Scriptural Hermeneutics in Hindu Traditions
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 6
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue will explore the relationship between textual authority, embodied practice, and devotional experience in Hindu traditions, with particular emphasis on Vaiṣṇavism and its bhakti–yoga paradigms. In Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava contexts especially, sacred texts such as the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Caitanya Caritāmṛta are not only read and interpreted, but are also sung, danced, dramatized, and enacted in festivals, kīrtans, and pilgrimages. Through devotional practices like nāma-saṅkīrtana, arcana (ritual worship), and scripturally guided pilgrimage, textual hermeneutics become inseparable from the performative and affective dimensions of bhakti. These traditions offer a distinctive form of “textual embodiment”, where scripture simultaneously serves as theological authority, performative script, contemplative guide, and communal memory.
We invite contributions that combine close textual analysis with ethnographic or historical attention to ritual and contemplative practice, showing how interpretive communities—monastic orders, guru lineages, reform movements, and diasporic congregations—negotiate canonical authority in relation to vernacular commentary, oral performance, and evolving devotional contexts. Of particular interest are studies that trace how scriptural interpretation gives rise to ritual innovation, shapes bhakti esthetics, or reconfigures the relationship between devotion (bhakti), discipline (yoga), and revelation (śruti–smṛti) across different historical and cultural settings.
This Special Issue is interdisciplinary, drawing on methods from Indology, anthropology, performance studies, and sound studies. It will include perspectives on contemporary adaptations—such as online kīrtans, digital pilgrimage, and transnational Vaiṣṇava networks—to highlight the ongoing vitality of Hindu textual traditions.
By bringing together philology, philosophy, and embodied devotion, this Special Issue aims to clarify how textual embodiment and devotional performance continue to animate Hindu practice, with Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism serving both as case study and comparative lens.
We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor Esme Zheng (esme.zheng@mdpi.com) of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Ferdinando Sardella
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- bhakti
- yoga
- Vaiṣṇavism
- Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism
- Hinduism
- lived religion
- ritual studies
- embodiment
- hermeneutics
- text and practice
- pilgrimage
- Kīrtana
- performance
- theology
- Indian philosophy
- transnational Hinduism
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