Holy Birthdays and the Sharing of Streets in Two Neighborhoods of Old Pune, Maharashtra

The multi-religious geography of urban streets in India is shaped by the constant negotiation of religious difference in everyday life. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022, this article examines three religious processions commemorating Sikh, Jain, and Ambedkarite events that take place in the neighborhoods of Somvār Peṭh and Rāstā Peṭh in the city of Pune on the same calendar day, but at different times. Focusing on how these processions occupy, traverse, and temporarily transform shared streets, the article analyzes how religious communities claim public space through material practices, bodily presence, and sensory regimes, while simultaneously navigating political regulation and instrumentalization. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s theory of rhythmanalysis, the study shows how biological, social, and religious rhythms structure the timing, scale, and form of these events, enabling a fragile coexistence in a densely multi-religious urban environment. The article argues that attention to rhythm offers a productive analytical lens for understanding everyday religion in the city, revealing how power, identity, and belonging are negotiated through temporal coordination, embodied adjustment, and contingent forms of sharing public space.