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In Western Himalaya, local gods are seen to rule as kings, communicating with their subjects through their human oracles. They remain central in modern society, and
In the Valley of the Kauravas explores how the power of the local gods and oracles remains by examining the myths, legends, rituals, and folklore of the region.
Sommario
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Divine Kingdoms in South and Southeast Asia
- 3: The King's Three Bodies
- 4: The Realm: Land and People
- 5: The Ballad of Jariyan
- 6: The Minister and the Army
- 7: A Treaty of Honor: Folklore and Practical Reason in Western Himalayan Pastoralism
- 8: The Ally
- 9: The Enemy
- Appendices
Info autore
William S. Sax was born in a small town in eastern Washington State, studied in Seattle, Wisconsin, and India, and earned his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1987. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand (where he lived for eleven years), and Germany, where he has been Professor of Anthropology at Heidelberg University's South Asia Institute since 2000. Altogether he has spent about fifteen years in India, and produced three monographs, seven volumes of collected essays, and dozens of articles on theater, healing, ritual, mental health, spirit possession, and psychiatry in South Asia.
Riassunto
The isolated valleys of Rawain in the Western Himalaya are ruled by local gods who control the weather, provide justice, and regularly travel through their territories to mark their borders and to ward off incursions by rival gods. These, identified with Karna and Duryodhana from the great Indian epic Mahabharata, are regarded as divine kings whom local persons serve as priests, ministers, patrons, soldiers, and servants. Each divine king has an oracle, who is regularly summoned, enters into a trance, and speaks with the god's voice, appointing and dismissing officers, confiscating property, levying fines, and ratifying the decisions of councils of elders. The gods hear civil and sometimes criminal cases and, through their oracles, enforce their judgments through fines and penalties, or by compelling disputants to reach a compromise.
In the Valley of the Kauravas seeks to describe how this system functions by closely examining the myths, legends, rituals, and folklore associated with it, and above all by providing a detailed ethnographic description of its day-to-day workings. It contextualizes this system by comparing it with 'divine kingship' throughout history, in both South and Southeast Asia, and seeks to embed this historical and ethnographic analysis in a theoretical discussion of the nature, goals, and limits of anthropological knowledge of 'multiple worlds'.
The chapters of the book are organized in terms of the 'seven limbs' of the classical Indian kingdom as described by the political philosopher Kautilya: king, land and people, minister, army, treasury, ally, and enemy.
Testo aggiuntivo
A wonderfully written, superbly detailed, and analytically captivating ethnography that explores the Divine Kingdoms of the Western Himalaya, where local gods rule the people. It is particularly committed to showing how this system, and the world of which it is part, is made real for its people through a range of discursive and performative means, how it is maintained in everyday life, and how some aspects of it also change with the passage of time and circumstances. The fruit of many decades of study, the narrative blends thick descriptions of numerous events, an intimate personal voice, and helpful insights, all wrapped in comprehensive theory that makes sense of it all. This engaging book is a highly welcomed and particularly seasoned contribution to the ethnographic study of the Western Himalaya.
