Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia
Selva J. Raj, William P. Harman
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.
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Contents
Introduction The Deal with DeitiesWays Vows Work in South Asia
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1 |
The Vow A Short Story
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15 |
Negotiating Relationships with the Goddess
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25 |
Shared Vows Shared Space and Shared Deities Vow Rituals among Tamil Catholics in South India
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43 |
Religious Vows at the Shrine of Shahul Hamid
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65 |
In the Company of Pirs Making Vows Receiving Favors at Bangladeshi Sufi Shrines
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87 |
Bara Buddhist Vows at Kataragama
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107 |
Performing Vows in Diasporic Contexts Tamil Hindus Temples and Goddesses in Germany
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129 |
Negotiating Karma Merit and Liberation Vowtaking in the Jain Tradition
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187 |
Vows in the Sikh Tradition
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201 |
When Vows Fail to Deliver What They Promise The Case of Shyamavati
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219 |
Two Critiques of Womens Vows
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235 |
Toward a Typology of South Asian Lay Vows
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249 |
Glossary
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257 |
Contributors
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269 |
Appendix
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273 |
Other editions - View all
Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia Selva J. Raj,William P. Harman Limited preview - 2012 |
Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia Selva J. Raj,William P. Harman No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Adi Granth anushthan Arya Samaj ascetic ayambil fast Bangladesh baras bhakti Buddhist caste Catholic chapter Christian context culture dargah Delhi devotees divine Edirisinghe festival Figure fire-walking goddess Guru healing Hindu Women Hinduism human husband hymns Islamic Jain Jainism Jinas John de Britto Kanda Kumara karma Kartik vrat Kataragama kavati Khalsa Khalsa Sikh lay vows Mahashivaratri Mahatyagi Mariyamman McGee mendicants Miran Yati Muslim Nagore nerccai rituals Obeyesekere offering one's Oriyur participants pativrata perform person pilgrimage pilgrims popular practice prayer promise puja Rahit Ramanandi recitation religion religious renunciant rites sacred sadhus saint Samayapuram Sami Dandapani Sarji Shah Jalal Shahul Hamid Shiva shrine of St Shyamavati Sikh Sikh tradition Singh social South Asian south India specific spiritual Sri Lankan Sri Lankan Tamils stories supernatural take vows Tamil Nadu Tatya temple term Tevaram Tyagi Updhan Uvari Vairagis village votaries vow rituals vow-taking vows taken vrata worship ziyarat