Living through mantras: mantras among contemporary Hindu ascetics

Mantras are fundamental in the life of Hindu ascetics since they mark the time of their daily activities, concern several aspects of their spiritual routine and of their interaction with lay people. Using an ethnographic perspective and taking into consideration different settings, this paper is going to investigate mantras as living and lived formulas able to transform and empower those ascetics who own them. It will look at the rituality of the use of mantras as part of sādhus' daily routine to sanctify and purify their body and actions, as well as at the use of mantras as part of sādhus' personal sādhanā (spiritual discipline), which involves both the dīkṣā mantra (the mantra received during the initiation that will always accompany the life of an ascetic) and those mantras used in specific time according to specific spiritual practice. This will lead to deal with the topic of ‘access to mantras', i.e. the
transmission of mantras that, in ascetic communities, occurs among suitable people.
Eventually, it will look at the practice of mantras to engage with third party, which means mantras used as source of exchange with the lay society and as powerful tool through which sādhus' role in society is justified and reiterated.
Thanks to these different contexts in which sādhus employ mantras, the paper will investigate how mantras shape ascetic identities and authority in contemporary India.