Rethinking the Spectacle’ of Faith

Mahashivaratri at Isha reveals an enduring Indian truth: spirituality here has rarely been private

- VIKRAM SAMPATH

Every year, as Mahashivaratri approaches, an ancient rhythm returns across India. Temples remain open throughout the day, bells ring past midnight, devotees fast, chant and meditate, and millions keep vigil until dawn. From the Himalayan shrines of Kedarnath to the temple towns of Tamil Nadu, the night of Shiva has long been marked by wakefulness, prayer and celebration.

Yet, in recent years, the most widely discussed Mahashivaratri celebration has not been in a temple town but at the Isha Yoga Centre near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Its scale, performances and global livestreams have drawn enormous audiences.

At the same time, they have also drawn a familiar wave of scepticism a lot of it, motivated or uninformed. Critics dismiss the event as spectacle masquerading as spirituality, suggesting that lighting, music and celebrity appearances somehow dilute religious authenticity. The charge rests on an unspoken assumption: that genuine spirituality must be austere, visually restrained and silent.

Collective celebration, technological amplification or visible enthusiasm appear, in this view, to compromise the sacred.

But Indian religious history suggests precisely the opposite. I say this not as a historian but also a recent observer. I attended this year's Mahashivaratri celebrations at Isha and arrived with the professional scepticism that years of archival research tend to instil in one, making them a misanthrope. Historians are trained to distrust spectacle.

Yet, what unfolded through the night was difficult to dismiss so simplistically.