cultural perspectives on Indian women,
particularly the belief that women’s
procreative capacities should be
channeled through the safe, confining
bounds of marriage. Married women,
as wives and mothers, are auspicious,
life-giving, and life-sustaining because
their creative power has been regulat-
ed under male control. Unmarried
women remain a source of danger,
particularly to the family’s prestige,
since the quickest way to ruin a family’s
good name is through the corruption of
its women.
Godman
Colloquial name for a particular type of
charismatic Hindu ascetic. As religious
figures, godmen are generally character-
ized by a high-profile presence, by their
ability to attract attention and support
from the larger Indian society, and by
their claims to advanced spiritual
attainments. They sometimes claim to
possess magic powers—such as the
ability to heal, read minds, foretell the
future, or to influence future events—
which are exhibited to prove the god-
man’s spiritual attainments. Godmen
often come from outside the established
ascetic orders and may have never even
taken formal ascetic initiation. They are
able to flourish in the Indian religious
“free market,” which recognizes and
rewards religious charisma. Godmen
typically dwell in their own ashrams
rather than one belonging to an order.
Although most of them acknowledge a
guruor religious preceptor, their suc-
cess stems more from their personal
qualities than the strength of their spiri-
tual lineage. In recent years a number of
these godmen have cultivated large
numbers of foreign disciples, which can
bring both wealth and enhanced pres-
tige. One contemporary example of
such a godman is Sathya Sai Baba,
whose ashram is in Puttaparthiin the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh. For
an example of one person’s encounters
with a variety of these figures, see Peter
Ludwig Brent, Godmen of India, 1972.
Gods, World of the
The earliest reference to the transmigra-
tion of souls is found in both the
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (6.2) and
the Chandogya Upanishad(5.10). These
texts make a qualitative distinction
between two different paths. The path to
the world of the gods ultimately led to
the sun, and the person traveling it did
not return again, whereas the path to
the world of the fathersled to the
moon, and the person traveling it was
eventually reborn on earth. The leitmo-
tiv of the Upanishadsis the need for
individual spiritual realization, which is
the key to getting on the path to the
world of the gods. Those who gain this
realization attain the final and ultimate
end, whereas those who simply do good
deeds will return to earth, although their
good deeds will give them karmic bene-
fits. See also karma.Godse, Nathuram
(1912–1948) Hindu nationalist figure
who is most famous as the assassin of
Mohandas Gandhi. Godse was a devoted
follower of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,
whose articulation of Hindu national-
ism equated Hindu identity and Indian
patriotism. Savarkar and his followers
saw the partition of India in 1947 as the
“vivisection” of Mother India, dividing
her into India and Pakistan. Like many
of Savarkar’s followers, Godse was
enraged by Gandhi’s post-partition
efforts to protect Indian Muslims and to
influence the Indian government’s policy
toward Pakistan, particularly his hunger
strike to force the Indian government to
transfer to Pakistan a large sum of
money that had been promised. Filled
with the conviction that Gandhi had to
be stopped, Godse intercepted Gandhi
on the way to a prayer meeting, touched
his feet as a sign of respect, and then
shot him three times. Godse was tried
and executed for his action and is some-
times cited as a martyr by the most
ardent contemporary nationalists.Godse, Nathuram