Swami Svadhu Analysis

The key to understanding Narayan’s intent behind this book lies in the subtitle itself. By using the word ‘narrative’ instead of ‘lore’ or ‘tales’, Narayan at once emphasizes the inherent dynamism within this book and subtly hints at her own research interests as that of a cultural anthropologist and ethnographer. While the latter refers to a body of traditions and knowledge held by a particular group, typically passed around by word of mouth; the former is defined as the practice or art of telling stories.

Therefore, Narayan stresses on the performative aspect of folk tradition and attempts to locate this performance art within her quest to gain a deeper understanding of the Hindu renunciatory tradition and deconstructing the charismatic Indian sādhu. Central to this theme then is the ‘star’ performer of this book, the topsy-turvy, eccentric yet altruistic sādhu who’s not ‘svadhu’ (selfish) - Swami Prakashananda, better known as Swamiji. Narayan’s role in this book oscillates between that of a translator (of the various narratives that were enacted and reenacted) and transcriber. The tedious task of documenting over seventy different narratives was made possible through a tape recorder which remained Narayan’s faithful companion throughout the long hours that she spent attentively seated on …show more content…
Now, a performance is a dialogue between the performer and his/her audience, who are just as important. Here, Narayan ropes in the concept of ‘oral literary criticism’, something which I found very fascinating. To sum up, the concept says that since folk narratives are performed to audiences, it is important to take into account the interpretations that various members of the audience embrace from such and such performances. To understand Swamiji’s impact on his audience, Narayan interviewed a wide range of people who’d visit the ashram, both the regulars as well as the