This article examines representations of Hindu ūrdhvabāhu
ascetics in Western writings, through close readings of fiction and
non-fictional writings from the pre-colonial period to the present
times. These ūrdhvabāhu ascetics keep one or both of their arms
held perpetually aloft as part of their austerity. They thereby maim
themselves in the process. Most Western writers not only mock
this ascetic practice but also represent it as something evil. Yet
Western imagination manifests a strange preoccupation with it,
since Western writers return to this topic again and again. If this
type of Hindu austerity is indeed irrational and iniquitous, why do
Western writers frequently return to this topic? Why were
ūrdhvabāhu ascetics stereotyped as evil in pre-colonial and
colonial texts? Why is it chosen over other types of equally severe
Hindu austerities to represent the Indians’ need for Western
enlightenment? This article tries to suggest answers to these
questions