The Righteous Demon: A Study of Bali

Maggie Helwig was a freelance writer and Professor of Pre-Industrial Arts, UPRPU, Peterborough, Ontario.

Clifford Hospital’s The Righteous Demon is the first of two volumes intended to deal with “negative” figures in Hindu religious writings — in this case, the asura Bali (the second volume will deal with the raksasa Ravana). As the author points out, however, the intriguing fact about Bali is that he is by no means always seen in a negative light — indeed, in most late versions of the myth, he is almost heroic.

Hospital takes what he terms a “semi-structuralist” approach, isolating “phases” in the development of the myth and considering the various treatments within each phase as they relate to their sociocultural mileux; on the whole, his divisions are cogent and convincing. He brings out a number of interesting aspects of the uses of the Bali myth in various periods, concentrating in particular on the “tension between different foci of significance — dharma, bhakti, and prosperity.”

However, one might wish he had pursued this in more depth, rather than simply indicating conflicts and passing on. The ambiguities of dharma in Hindu thought, in particular, are of some importance and are treated here only very briefly, while the question of the origin of the Onam festival is discussed at what is probably a disproportionate length.

The Righteous Demon is designed to be accessible to undergraduates and less experienced scholars as well as the more experienced; obviously, it is not a book that will attract a wide popular audience, but it should be of interest to those working in the field of Hindu religious studies.