ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to demonstrate the quintessential role that oral storytelling plays within a newly emergent religious community after the death of its charismatic founder. It argues that narratives function as part of the “routinization” process that keeps the charisma of the departed leader alive in the hearts and minds of his admirers who continue the founder’s mission on Earth. Such narratives are not merely mundane tales, but rather hagiographical stories that focus on the miraculous powers of the late charismatic leader. In his absence, such mystical tales act to “re-enchant” his admirers who were earlier disenchanted by the vagaries of modernity, which originally drew them to the charismatic figure from Sri Lanka who is at the center of this chapter.
