Abhimanyus in exile: Entanglements and bonds among migrant workers in Delhi

Ramaswami, Shankar (2024) Abhimanyus in exile: Entanglements and bonds among migrant workers in Delhi. In: Studies in religion and the everyday. Oxford Studies in Contemporary Indian Society . Oxford University Press, pp. 63-82. ISBN 9780198902805 (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter explores the life of religion—in epic imageries and Hindu–Muslim relations—among migrant workers in Delhi. Varmaji, a migrant from eastern Uttar Pradesh, invokes the image of the cakravyuh (circular maze), a military formation in the Mahabharata, to describe his experiences of tensions, duties, and attachments in the sphere of the family, but with modifications. Unlike in the epic, migrants are not alone in the cakravyuh and are not seeking escape. They find allies in one another, in their struggles within the city, amid domestic discord and the insularities and divisiveness of caste and religious identities. In empathetic dealings with his wife and relations of fellowship with his Muslim neighbours, one sees the weaving of integrative filaments in the social fabric, in which migrants forge fragile dwellings during their prolonged exile in the city

Item Type: Book Section
Keywords: Epics | Migrants | Religious identities | Neighbours | Mahabharata | Delhi
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Arts and Humanities > Religious studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
JGU School/Centre: Jindal Global Law School
Depositing User: Subhajit Bhattacharjee
Date Deposited: 29 Jul 2024 07:48
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2024 09:02
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso%2F9780198902782.003.00...
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/8177

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