“Everybody Knows ‘She is Mataji:’” The Relationships of Jain Sadhvis as Instruments of Empowerment and Identity Formation

Both within and outside of South Asia, sadhvis are revered by Jain laypeople as paragons of the religion’s ascetic imperative. Yet while some might conceive of these renunciant women as unaffected by the nexus of relationships and interpersonal interactions that flourish in the worldly realm, conversations with these women indicate that living alongside others informs a large part of their own identities. In this thesis, I argue that the relationships that sadhvis form with laypeople and mytho-historical figures are crucial in constructing their perceptions of themselves as empowered women. These relationships serve as affirmations of the sadhvis’ agency and authority within their communities which in turn contributes to their satisfaction with their social positionality. Ultimately, I argue that the “selves” of these sadhvis are largely located in others. I primarily draw upon evidence gathered during my own ethnography of Jain ascetic women in Jaipur, India and in Iselin, New Jersey during the months of July 2015 and November 2015. Through listening to the sadhvis words, one learns how sadhvis acquire a sense of agency and satisfaction through their ability to exercise authority over the lives of laypeople. Additionally, I argue that the relationships that sadhvis form with mytho-historical figures provide the sadhvis with models for empowered womanhood and allow them to reinterpret tradition in order to suit their own narratives as religious women. While neither of these relationships are without opportunities for challenges to the sadhvis’ authority, they are mentioned by sadhvis as sources for constructing and reaffirming empowered selfhood. This study is in part an exercise in listening to the voices of collaborators as authoritative voices of their own experience, and resisting the urge to posit the practice of ethnography as an act of “reading” the supposed hidden thoughts and feelings of collaborators. Ultimately, this study demonstrates the importance of relationships as touchstones for religious and gendered identity among Jain ascetic women, and also posits a similar relationship between ethnographer and collaborator as essential to the practice of responsible ethnography.