Dealing with Deities

The Ritual Vow in South Asia

Häftad, Engelska, 2007

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Explores the practice of taking ritual vows in South Asia, a lay tradition prevalent in the region's religions.Drawing on original field research, Dealing with Deities explores the practice of taking ritual vows in the lives of ordinary religious practitioners in South Asia. The cornerstone of lay religious activity, vow rituals are adopted by Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs who wish to commit themselves to ritually enacted relationships with sacred figures in order to gain earthly boons and spiritual merit. The contributors to this volume offer a fascinating look at the varieties and complexities of vows and also focus on a unique characteristic of this vow-taking culture, that of resorting to deities and shrines of other religions in defiance of institutional directives and religious boundaries. Richly illustrated, the book explores the creativity of South Asian devotees and their deeply felt convictions that what they require, they can achieve faithfully-and independently-by dealing directly with deities.Contributors include Martin Baumann, Louis E. Fenech, Sunil Goonasekera, William P. Harman, Shankarrao Kharat, M. Whitney Kelting, Ramdas Lamb, Jack E. Llewellyn, Vasudha Narayanan, Karen Pechilis, Tracy Pintchman, Selva J. Raj, Pashaura Singh, and Sufia Uddin.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2007-01-01
Mått152 x 229 x 18 mm
Vikt417 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor288
FörlagState University of New York Press
ISBN9780791467084

Tillhör följande kategorier

Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion
Koranen inom Filosofi och religion

Selva J. Raj (1952–2008) was Chair and Stanley S. Kresge Professor of Religious Studies at Albion College. He is the coeditor (with Corinne G. Dempsey) of Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions; Popular Christianity in India: Riting between the Lines; and Sacred Play: Ritual Levity and Humor in South Asian Religions, all published by SUNY Press. William P. Harman is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Maps and IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsSites Associated with Rituals Vow1. Introduction: The Deal with Deities—Ways Vows Work in South AsiaSelva J. Raj and William P. Harman2. "The Vow": A Short StoryShankarrao Kharat I. Getting What You Want 3. Negotiating Relationships with the GoddessWilliam P. Harman4. Shared Vows, Shared Space, and Shared Deities: Vow Rituals among Tamil Catholics in South India Selva J. Raj5. Religious Vows at the Shrine of Shahul HamidVasudha Narayanan6. In the Company of Pirs: Making Vows, Receiving Favors at Bangladeshi Sufi Shrines Sufia Uddin7. Bara: Buddhist Vows at KataragamaSunil Goonasekera 8. Performing Vows in Diasporic Contexts: Tamil Hindus, Temples, and Goddesses in GermanyMartin Baumann II. Getting What You Need 9. Singing a Vow: Devoting Oneself to Shiva through SongKaren Pechilis 10. Monastic Vows and the Ramananda SampradayRamdas Lamb11. Negotiating Karma, Merit, and Liberation: Vow-taking in the Jain TraditionM. Whitney Kelting12. Vows in the Sikh Tradition Louis E. Fenech and Pashaura Singh III. Getting Nothing At All 13. When Vows Fail to Deliver What They Promise: The Case of Shyamavati Tracy Pintchman14. Two Critiques of Women's VowsJack E. Llewellyn IV. Conclusion: Some Promising Possibilities 15. Toward a Typology of South Asian Lay VowsSelva J. Raj and William P. HarmanGlossaryContributorsAppendix: Essays Arranged According to TraditionIndex

"The volume offers an excellent variety of traditions, topics, and methods in the consideration of religious vows. It is particularly notable that some essays include considerations of vows undertaken by devotees of one religion to a person or deity associated with another. This feature reflects the complexities of the ritual lives of many South Asians too often overlooked in other treatments." — Peter Gottschalk, author of Beyond Hindu and Muslim: Multiple Identity in Narratives from Village India"A splendid volume that will be read by scholars and assigned in classes on South Asian religions." — Rachel Fell McDermott, coeditor of Encountering Kāliī: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West