Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment: Oral Narratives from the Central Himalayas - Hardcover

Malik, Aditya

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019932509X ISBN 13: 9780199325092

Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR, 2016

Synopsis

Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Central Himalayan region of Kumaon, Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment from the Central Himalayas explores ideas of justice by drawing 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 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.

About this title

Review

[an] insightful ethnography ... This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on possession and healing. (Smita Tewari Jassal, Contributions to Indian Sociology)

Like many books written over an extended period, Tales of Justice and Rituals of Divine Embodiment appears to have emerged into form through prior essays: five of the seven chapters are adapted and extended from other publications, and each chapter carries a separate bibliography. The book could be taught not just as a whole, but in selected chapters for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on such topics as South Asian religion, the anthropology of religion, the anthropology of justice, and phenomenological anthropology. (The Journal of Asian Studies)

...the book is fascinating, beautifully written, and offers a wealth of ethnographic material that would excite the envy of anthropologists, and engage South Asianists, folklorists, philosophers, Religious Studies scholars, historians, and general readers. (Anthropos)

Enriched by extensive detailed descriptions. The book is fascinating, beautifully written, and offers a wealth of ethnographic material that would excite the envy of anthropologists, and engage South Asianists, folklorists, philosophers, Religious Studies scholars, historians, and general readers. (Marcia S. Calkowski, Anthropos 112.2017)

Tales of Justice is a compelling, powerful and at times moving ethnographic study, which will provide food for thought to those interested in Eastern traditions of storytelling, in spirit possession and ecstasy, and in how such phenomena are woven into the texture of human life. (Valentin Gerlier, Temenos Academy Review)

[A] major and a highly welcome contribution to the study of oral traditions and religious practice in general, of South Asia in particular. (John Leavitt, Asian Ethnologist)

The enquiry is enlivened by Malik's literary narrative presentation. (Stéphane Arguillère, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies)

About the Author

Aditya Malik is Professor and Dean of the School of Historical Studies at Nalanda University.

About this edition

• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 019932509X
• ISBN 13: 9780199325092
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 318