1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461565603321

Autore

Gerke Barbara <1966->

Titolo

Long lives and untimely deaths [[electronic resource] ] : life-span concepts and longevity practices among Tibetans in the Darjeeling Hills, India / / by Barbara Gerke

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Boston, : Brill, c2012

ISBN

1-283-39586-X

9786613395863

90-04-21748-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (386 p.)

Collana

Brill's Tibetan studies library, , 1568-6183 ; ; v. 27

Disciplina

305.895/4105414

Soggetti

Tibetans - India - Darjeeling (District) - Social conditions

Tibetans - India - Darjeeling (District) - Religion

Longevity - India - Darjeeling (District)

Life span, Productive - India - Darjeeling (District)

Old age - India - Darjeeling (District)

Electronic books.

Darjeeling (India : District) Religious life and customs

Darjeeling (India : District) Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Ethnographic settings and analytical frameworks -- pt. 2. The field site and Tibetan areas of knowledge -- pt. 3. The life-span and life-forces in Tibetan medical contexts -- pt. 4. The life-span in astrological and divinatory context -- pt. 5. Tibetan Buddhist long-life empowerments.

Sommario/riassunto

Longevity and long-life practices have been a pan-Tibetan concern for a very long time, but have hardly been studied by anthropologists. This book presents ethnographic accounts and textual material demonstrating how Tibetans in the Darjeeling Hills, India, view the life-span and map out certain life-forces in various areas of knowledge. These life-forces follow daily, monthly, and annual cycles. Divinations and astrological calculations are widely but varyingly used by Tibetans



to assess the strength of life-forces and forecast difficult periods in their lives. Loss, exhaustion, or periodic weaknesses of life-forces are treated medically or through Tibetan Buddhist practices and rituals. In all these events, temporality and agency are deeply interlinked in the ways in which Tibetans enhance their vitality, prolong their life-spans, and avoid ‘untimely deaths.’