03751nam 22005414a 450 991082003010332120200520144314.097866119806651-281-98066-80-19-971467-31-4356-9786-3(CKB)1000000000721283(StDuBDS)AH24086941(MiAaPQ)EBC3052977(OCoLC)212893727(FINmELB)ELB166001(EXLCZ)99100000000072128320080303d2009 uy 0engur|||||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierGod of justice ritual healing and social justice in the central Himalayas /William S. SaxNew York Oxford University Press20091 online resource (304 p. )ill0-19-533585-6 1. Introduction: Fieldwork Among the Harijans; 2. God of Justice; 3. Landscape, Memory, and Ritual; 4. Oracles, Gurus, and Distributed Agency; 5. Rituals of Family Unity; 6. Families and their ghosts; 7. Sending the God Back; 8. Postscript: Ritual healing and modernityBased on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork, this text offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of cursing, black magic, and ritual healing in the Central Himalayas of North India.God of Justice deals with ritual healing in the Central Himalayas of north India. It focuses on the cult of Bhairav, a local deity who is associated with the lowest castes, the so-called Dalits, who are frequently victims of social injustice. When powerless people are exploited or abused and have nowhere else to go, they often turn to Bhairav for justice, and he afflicts their oppressors with disease and misfortune. In order to end their suffering, they must make amends with their former victims and worship Bhairav with bloody sacrifices. Many acts of perceived injustice occur within the family, so that much of the book focuses on the tension between the high moral value placed on family unity on the one hand, and the inevitable conflicts within it on the other. Such conflicts can lead to ghost possession, cursing, and other forms of black magic, all of which are vividly described. This highly readable book includes a personal account of the author's own experiences in the field as well as fascinating descriptions of blood sacrifice, possession, exorcism and cursing. Sax begins with a straightforward description of his fieldwork and goes on to describe the god Bhairav and his relationship to the weak and powerless. Subsequent chapters deal with the lives of local oracles and healers; the main rituals of the cult and the dramatic Himalayan landscape in which they are embedded; the moral, ritual, and therapeutic centrality of the family; the importance of ghosts and exorcism; and practices of cursing and counter-cursing. The final chapter examines the problematic relationship between ritual healing and modernity.Bhairava (Hindu deity)CultIndiaGarhwal (Region)Spiritual healingHinduismSocial justiceReligious aspectsHinduismHealingIndiaGarhwal (Region)FolkloreHinduismIndiaGarhwal (Region)RitualsBhairava (Hindu deity)CultSpiritual healingHinduism.Social justiceReligious aspectsHinduism.HealingHinduismRituals.294.5/5Sax William Sturman1957-1667395MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910820030103321God of justice4027177UNINA