Hindu Christian faqir : modern monks, global Christianity, and Indian sainthood

Abstract

This title compares two colonial Indian saints from Punjab, the neo-Vedantin Hindu Rama Tirtha (1873-1906) and the Christian convert Sundar Singh (1889-1929). Challenging ideas of the invention of modern Hinduism, the transparent translation of Christianity, and the construction of saints by devotees, the study focuses on the long-standing, shared religious idioms that both men creatively drew on to appeal to their transnational audiences and to pursue particular and plural models of religious perfection.