La possession en Asie du Sud

La possession en Asie du Sud PDF Author: Jackie Assayag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Spirit possession
Languages : fr
Pages : 0

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Book Description
En Asie du Sud, la possession par des divinités ou des esprits, entendue comme cette présence étrangère à soi en soi, n'a guère été prise en compte dans la réflexion générale s'intéressant à ce type de manifestation. Dans le sous-continent lui-même, son étude s'est focalisée sur les zones géographiques périphériques et concentrée majoritairement sur les « tribus ». De plus, nombre d'interprétations l'ont réduite à une catégorie autonome, perdant de vue qu'il s'agit de l'une de ces interactions parmi tant d'autres, à la croisée des idiosyncrasies et des symboles partagés, par lesquelles les acteurs mettent en forme leur monde. En articulant leur réflexion sur la parole, le corps et le territoire, les quinze auteurs de ce volume ont voulu restituer la multiplicité des significations et la variété de ses liens avec toute une série de pratiques sociales et d'institutions, de discours et d'émotions. La possession, comme trajectoire de vie, perception des espaces propres aux dieux et aux hommes et représentation de la société, y compris dans ses dimensions identitaires et politiques, est à la fois mode de pensée et d'action. Ainsi apparaît-elle, par excellence, comme un « travail de la culture » qui lie intimement perception individuelle, modèle cognitif et société.

La possession en Asie du Sud

La possession en Asie du Sud PDF Author: Jackie Assayag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Spirit possession
Languages : fr
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
En Asie du Sud, la possession par des divinités ou des esprits, entendue comme cette présence étrangère à soi en soi, n'a guère été prise en compte dans la réflexion générale s'intéressant à ce type de manifestation. Dans le sous-continent lui-même, son étude s'est focalisée sur les zones géographiques périphériques et concentrée majoritairement sur les « tribus ». De plus, nombre d'interprétations l'ont réduite à une catégorie autonome, perdant de vue qu'il s'agit de l'une de ces interactions parmi tant d'autres, à la croisée des idiosyncrasies et des symboles partagés, par lesquelles les acteurs mettent en forme leur monde. En articulant leur réflexion sur la parole, le corps et le territoire, les quinze auteurs de ce volume ont voulu restituer la multiplicité des significations et la variété de ses liens avec toute une série de pratiques sociales et d'institutions, de discours et d'émotions. La possession, comme trajectoire de vie, perception des espaces propres aux dieux et aux hommes et représentation de la société, y compris dans ses dimensions identitaires et politiques, est à la fois mode de pensée et d'action. Ainsi apparaît-elle, par excellence, comme un « travail de la culture » qui lie intimement perception individuelle, modèle cognitif et société.

Spirit Possession

Spirit Possession PDF Author: Éva Pócs
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633864143
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 556

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Book Description
Possession, a seemingly irrational phenomenon, has posed challenges to generations of scholars rooted in Western notions of body-soul dualism, self and personhood, and a whole set of presuppositions inherited from Christian models of possession that was “good” or “bad.” The authors of the essays in this book present a new and more promising approach. They conceive spirit possession as a form of communication, of expressivity, of culturally defined behavior that should be understood in the context of local, vernacular theories and empiric reflections. With the aim of reformulating the comparative anthropology of spirit possession, the editors have opened corridors between previously separate areas of research. Together, anthropologists and historians working on several historical periods and in different European, African, South American, and Asian cultural areas attempt to redefine the very concept of possession, freeing it from the Western notion of the self and more clearly delineating it from related matters such as witchcraft, devotion, or mysticism. The book also provides an overview of new research directions, including novel methods of participant observation and approaches to spirit possession as indigenous historiography

Of Death and Birth

Of Death and Birth PDF Author: Barbara Schuler
Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
ISBN: 9783447058445
Category : Folk religion
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
Scholars of popular Hindu religion in India have always been fascinated by oral texts and rituals, but surprisingly only few attempts have as yet been made to analyse the relationship between rituals and texts systematically. This book contributes to the filling of this gap. Focusing on the dynamics of a local (non-Brahmanical) ritual, its modular organisation and inner logic, the interaction between narrative text and ritual, and the significance of the local versus translocal nature of the text in the ritual context, the study provides a broad range of issues for comparison. It demonstrates that examining texts in their context helps to understand better the complexity of religious traditions and the way in which ritual and text are programmatically employed. The author offers a vivid description of a hitherto unnoticed ritual system, along with the first translation of a text called the Icakkiyamman-Katai (IK). Composed in the Tamil language, the IK represents a substantially longer and embellished form of a core versio which probably goes as far back as the seventh century C.E. Unlike the classical source, this text has been incorporated into a living tradition, and is being constantly refashioned. A range of text versions have been encapsulated in the form of a conspectus, which will shed light on the text's variability or fixity and will add to our knowledge of bardic creativity. Includes a film by the author on DVD.

Lines in Water

Lines in Water PDF Author: Eliza F. Kent
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815652259
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
When asked to distinguish between different faiths, Mughal prince Dara Shikoh is said to have replied, “How do you draw a line in water?” Inspired by this question, the essays in this volume illustrate how ordinary people in South Asia and the diaspora negotiate their religious identities and encounters in creative, complex, and diverse ways. Taking the approach that narratives “from below” provide the richest insight into the dynamics of religious pluralism, the authors examine life histories, oral traditions, cartographic practices, pilgrimage rites, and devotional music and songs. Drawing on both ethnographic and historical data, they illuminate how, like lines in water, religious boundaries are dynamic, fluid, flexible, and permeable rather than permanently fixed, frozen, and inviolable. A distinct feature of the volume is its proposition of a fresh and innovative typology of boundary dynamics. Boundaries may be attractive or porous, firmly drawn or transcended. Attractive boundaries invite confluence while affirming the differences between self and other, whereas permeable boundaries facilitate exchanges that create new identities and in turn form new lines. Although people may recognize the significance of religious borders, they can choose to transcend them. Throughout this volume, the authors highlight the fascinating range of South Asian religious and cultural traditions.

Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment

Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment PDF Author: Aditya Malik
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019932509X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Central Himalayan region of Kumaon, Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment draws on oral and written narratives, stories, testimonies, and rituals told and performed in relation to the "God of Justice," Goludev, and other regional deities. The book seeks to answer several questions: How is the concept of justice defined in South Asia? Why do devotees seek out Goludev for the resolution of matters of justice instead of using the secular courts? What are the sociological and political consequences of situating divine justice within a secular, democratic, modern context? Moreover, how do human beings locate themselves within the indeterminateness and struggles of their everyday existence? What is the place of language and ritual in creating intimacy and self? How is justice linked to intimacy, truth, and being human? The stories and narratives in this book revolve around Goludev's own story and deeds, as well as hundreds of petitions (manauti) written on paper that devotees hang on his temple walls, and rituals (jagar) that involve spirit possession and the embodiment of the deity through designated mediums. The jagars are powerful, extraordinary experiences, mesmerizing because of their intensity but also because of what they imply in terms of how we conceptualize being human with the seemingly limitless potential to shift, alter, and transform ourselves through language and ritual practice. The petitions, though silent and absent of the singing, drumming, and choreography that accompany jagars, are equally powerful because of their candid and intimate testimony to the aspirations, breakdowns, struggles, and breakthroughs that circumscribe human existence.

Sins and Sinners

Sins and Sinners PDF Author: Phyllis Granoff
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004229469
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
Sins and Sinners: Asian Perspectives brings together essays by leading scholars of Asian religions to explore the diversity of beliefs about sin and its remedies.

'Yogini' in South Asia

'Yogini' in South Asia PDF Author: István Keul
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135045828
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
In different stages in the history of South Asian religions, the term yoginī has been used in various contexts to designate various things: a female adept of yoga, a female tantric practitioner, a sorceress, a woman dedicated to a deity, or a certain category of female deities. This book brings together recent interdisciplinary perspectives on the medieval South Asian cults of the Yoginis, such as textual-philological, historical, art historical, indological, anthropological, ritual and terminological. The book discusses the medieval yoginī cult, as illustrated in early Śaiva tantric texts, and their representations in South Asian temple iconography. It looks at the roles and hypostases of yoginīs in contemporary religious traditions, as well as the transformations of yoginī-related ritual practices. In addition, this book systematizes the multiple meanings, and proposes definitions of the concept and models for integrating the semantic fields of ‘yoginī.’ Highlighting the importance of research from complementary disciplines for the exploration of complex themes in South Asian studies, this book is of interest to scholars of South Asian Studies and Religious Studies.

The Modern Anthropology of India

The Modern Anthropology of India PDF Author: Peter Berger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134061188
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
The Modern Anthropology of India is an accessible textbook providing a critical overview of the ethnographic work done in India since 1947. It assesses the history of research in each region and serves as a practical and comprehensive guide to the main themes dealt with by ethnographers. It highlights key analytical concepts and paradigms that came to be of relevance in particular regions in the recent history of research in India, and which possibly gained a pan-Indian or even trans-Indian significance. Structured according to the states of the Indian union, contributors raise several key questions, including: What themes were ethnographers interested in? What are the significant ethnographic contributions? How are peoples, communities and cultural areas represented? How has the ethnographic research in the area developed? Filling a significant gap in the literature, the book is an invaluable resource to students and researchers in the field of Indian anthropology/ethnography, regional anthropology and postcolonial studies. It is also of interest to students of South Asian studies in general as it provides an extensive and critical overview of regionally based ethnographic activity undertaken in India.

The Secret Life of Another Indian Nationalism

The Secret Life of Another Indian Nationalism PDF Author: Shail Mayaram
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108832571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
It highlights shifts over two centuries as the geopolitical context has transitioned from the Pax Britannica to the Pax Americana.

Awakening a Living World on a Kūṭiyāṭṭam Stage

Awakening a Living World on a Kūṭiyāṭṭam Stage PDF Author: Einat Bar-On Cohen
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438496931
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Kūṭiyāṭṭam, an ancient form of Sanskrit theater from Kerala, was traditionally performed only in temples by members of two temple assistant castes. Today, however, it has spread to other castes and to venues outside temples. It is a fantastically complex, sophisticated, layered performance, toiling at amassing and perfecting ways of materializing a world where gods, demons, and mythical heroes live, bringing the audience into these other realities. Taking an anthropological approach, Awakening a Living World on a Kūṭiyāṭṭam Stage explores how Kūṭiyāṭṭam uses cultural dynamics, gleaned from temple ritual and theater, to remove the distinctions between mundane reality and the mediaeval plays being performed on stage. The unique features of Kūṭiyāṭṭam—makeup masks, enthralling drumming, delivering words in mudrā gestures, a shimmering lamp, male and female actors—all intertwine to animate stories from the great Indian eposes. Analyzing the cultural dynamics at work in Kūṭiyāṭṭam foregrounds a symbolic anthropology in which representation and symbols are shunned, while endless repetitions fill the stage with reverberating somatic intensities of profound depth. Thus, a new kind of living reality emerges that includes the protagonists of the play—gods, demons, humans, animals, and objects—together with the artist, the audience, and beyond.