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The God Market
Meera Nanda

Contrary to classical theories of secularisation, there is no automatic decline of religiosity with scientific and economic development, says Meera Nanda in The God Market ( www.randomhouse.co.in). However, a difference in India is the moving of the ritualistic aspects from the privacy of the home and family to the public sphere, the domain of pride and prejudice, politics and profits. “There is a new, una pologetic, and open embracing of religiosity in India today… It seems fair to say economic prosperity is bringing with it a new ‘rush hour of the gods’…” She postulates that temple schemes such as ‘the golden cars, the wedding re-enactment, and the placing of the diamond crown’ have been hugely popular because they provide the better-offs with new opportunities to distinguish themselves from the less fortunate through more splendid expression of devotion. Gods, rather than getting retired as the secularisation theory expected, are getting remade. Then there are the ‘new gurus,’ the modern acharyas, ‘who are practically CEOs of huge business empires.’

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