Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982) is generally regarded as the most important Hindu woman saint of the twentieth century. Venerated alternately as a guru and as an incarnation of God on earth, Ma had hundreds of thousands of devotees. Through the creation of a religious movement and a vast network of ashrams - unprecedented for a woman - Ma presented herself as an authority figure in a society where female gurus were not often recognized. Because of her widespread influence, Ma is one of the rare Hindu saints whose cult has outlived her. Today, her tomb is a place of veneration, and she is venerated by those who knew her and by those too young to have known her.

Orianne Aymard has performed extensive fieldwork among Ma's current devotees. In this book, she examines what happens to a cult after the death of its leader. Does it decline, stagnate, or grow? Or is it rather transformed into something else entirely? Aymard's work sheds new light not only on Hindu sainthood - and particularly female Hindu sainthood - but on the nature of charismatic religious leadership and devotion.

Orianne Aymard's profile page

Orianne Aymard is Visiting Scholar at South Asia Institute, Columbia University; Research Associate at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University; Research Affiliate at Centre d'etudes et de recherche sur l'Inde at the Université du Québec à Montréal.