Getting into the Field

After completing my doctoral studies in anthropology, I decided to look for a new field of research outside of Israel. At the same time, Hagar, my partner Adva’s twin sister, was debating what to do in her Master’s studies. She wanted to continue in Indian studies, but did not know which direction to go. I suggested that she choose a thesis based on fieldwork in India instead of concentrating on analyzing texts in Sanskrit. After convincing her, I realized that this could also be an opportunity for me to do fieldwork in India. It would also be a great experience for Adva, who had traveled to India several times and was just looking for a reason to return. So in 2013 Adva, Hagar, and I set out for India to study Mahasu. After returning to Israel, Hagar went on to obtain a doctorate in Indian studies, focusing on medieval Yoga, and I returned to the field of research at least once each year, sometimes more. This book is the result of this fieldwork, which ended in 2019. The following year I was unable to return to India due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since India was temporarily closed to me, I took the opportunity to comprehensively set down the story of Mahasu and his followers, which resulted in this book.

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To get to Mahasu’s domain, we flew from Israel to Delhi, from where we took an overnight bus to Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh. From Shimla we took another bus east to Jubbal, a fairly large village on the Shimla-Rohru road.

The first trip from Shimla to Jubbal was challenging. The road was unpaved, uneven, and rough. It was also narrow in places, making two-way traffic nearly impossible.