Center for South Asia Lecture Series

Robert Linrothe tells how the Mughals and British both saw South Asia as exotic and developed certain fascinations. Yogis were believed to have magical powers and derived religious and political authority from asceticism. The political elites reacted to these renouncers with attraction, skepticism, unease and fear, and these responses surfaced in art. This talk will explore the stereotype of the Yogi in arts used by outsiders as well as in acts of self-expression by Yogis themselves.