reincarnated Hindu saints

[Anna A. Slaczka]

Dear Tim,

The first thing that comes to my mind is the South Indian guru Satya Sai Baba who, apart from being seen as an avatar, is also considered an incarnation of the Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Hope this helps,

Anna Slaczka.


Dr. Anna A. Slaczka
Curator of Indian Art
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Netherlands

--- On Fri, 11/6/09, Ulrich T. Kragh <utkragh at HUM.KU.DK> wrote:

> From: Ulrich T. Kragh <utkragh at HUM.KU.DK>
> Subject: reincarnated Hindu saints
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Date: Friday, November 6, 2009, 1:40 PM
> In Mahayana Buddhism, and
> particularly in Tibetan Buddhism, there is the common belief
> that earlier saints can be reincarnated, or - avoiding the
> samsarically loaded word "reincarnated - literally
> 'emanated' (nirmita/nirmitaka/nirmika), in the form of later
> holy men and women. I am here not referring to the notion
> that a saint may be an embodiment of a deity, like the Hindu
> notion of avatAra, which also is included in the Buddhist
> notion of nirmita. Rather, I am thinking of cases where a
> concrete person is said to be a reincarnation of a former
> concrete person. For example, the fifteenth-century Tibetan
> female saint Samding Dorje Phagmo Chokyi Dronma was said to
> be a reincarnation of the Indian female saint LaksmIMkarA. 
>  
> My question: are there any comparable cases in Hinduism? If
> yes, it would be nice with a bibliographical reference.
>  
> With best regards,
> Tim
>  
> Dr. Ulrich Timme Kragh
> Assistant Professor
> Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies
> Geumgang University, Dae-myeong Ri, Sang-wol Myeon
> Nonsan-si, Chungnam 320-931, Republic of Korea
> Tel. +82-41-731 3618
>