Agenda

12 Mag 2026 15:00

“Ganja-eater!” Illicit Servings among Bāuls and Fakirs in Bangladesh and India

online

Keith E. Cantú
Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Harvard Divinity School

“Ganja-eater!” Illicit Servings among Bāuls and Fakirs in Bangladesh and India
Tuesday 12 May 2026, 3.00pm – 4.00pm CET Online
For online participation please register at this link

Abstract: This lecture analyzes the illicitness of physical “servings” (Bangla sevā, from Sanskrit) that lead to "accomplishment" or "special power" (siddhi). These servings are regularly used to cultivate aesthetic and mystical “moods” (bhāva) among esoteric practitioners who identify as Bāul, Fakir/Fakirāni, Sādhu/Sādhikā, or Sufi in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Utilizing a combination of ethnographic, aural, and textual sources, the lecture presents a broader overview of this idea of "servings," which refers not only to meals, fruits, snacks, drinks like water and tea, and betel nut (pān), but also more specifically to a special ritual mixture of cannabis and tobacco-like leaf—sometimes with hashish (caras) added—known either as a serving of siddhi (siddhi sevā) or serving of tobacco (tāmak sevā). This lecture analyzes the processes that inform how the dominant view of cannabis as an illicit substance in the two Bengals obscures and overrides artistic and practitioner perspectives on its intended usage as a spiritual “serving.” It also aims to demonstrate how taking these perspectives seriously can shed light on the wider Indological importance of sevā as a practice and its overlooked intersection with the category of mysticism more broadly.

For information please contact the Center for the Study of Lived Religion cslr@unive.it

Organizzatore

Department of Asian and North African Studies (Piera Talin); Center for the Study of Lived Religion

Allegati

Poster 675 KB

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