Renouncing Expectations: Single Baul Women Renouncers and the Value of Being a Wife

Baul renouncers of West Bengal and Bangladesh pose a number of challenges to South Asian paradigms of renunciation where one expects to see an individual severing ties for a life characterized by celibacy, itinerancy, and worldly detachments. Bauls follow none of these accepted notions of renunciation, yet they use terms like sannyasi, tyagi and bairagi to describe themselves as renouncers. 1 In stark contrast to more standard expectations of celibacy, the hallmark of Baul renunciation is ritual sexual practices, and Bauls who become renouncers are expected to do so as a couple. Furthermore, renunciation does not necessarily indicate a dramatic transformation from householder status to solitary ascetic, as is encouraged by many other renunciant traditions, and Bauls frequently maintain their ties with family and community. Although many Bauls travel to perform Baul songs or to beg for alms, their lives are not necessarily defined by itinerancy as many remain householders or reside long term in ashrams. Further confounding the meaning of this act is the fact that renunciation is not upheld as a necessary step on the Baul path at all; Bauls maintain they can reach the same goals whether remaining within or stepping outside householder roles. Yet despite these ambiguities around the practices and expectations of Baul renunciation, it is not uncommon for Bauls to take a formal rite of renunciation with a guru after which many uphold such vows as to have no more children or to live off alms (see also Hanssen, this volume). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.