LEADER 03638nam 2200505 a 450 001 9910454318703321 005 20210107025509.0 010 $a9786611980665 010 $a1-281-98066-8 010 $a0-19-971467-3 010 $a1-4356-9786-3 035 $a(CKB)1000000000721283 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH24086941 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3052977 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000721283 100 $a20080909d2008 fy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 200 10$aGod of justice$b[electronic resource] $eritual healing and social justice in the central Himalayas /$fWilliam S. Sax 210 $aOxford $cOxford University Press$d2008 215 $a1 online resource (304 p. )$cill 311 $a0-19-533585-6 327 $a1. 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 modernity 330 8 $aBased on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork, this text offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of cursing, black magic, and ritual healing in the Central Himalayas of North India.$bGod 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. 606 $aSpiritual healing$xHinduism 606 $aSocial justice$xReligious aspects$xHinduism 606 $aHealing$zIndia$zGarhwal (Region)$xFolklore 606 $aHinduism$zIndia$zGarhwal (Region)$xRituals 606 $aReligion$2ukslc 608 $aElectronic books.$2lcsh 615 0$aSpiritual healing$xHinduism. 615 0$aSocial justice$xReligious aspects$xHinduism. 615 0$aHealing$xFolklore. 615 0$aHinduism$xRituals. 615 7$aReligion. 676 $a294.55 700 $aSax$b William Sturman$f1957-$0907321 801 0$bStDuBDS 801 1$bStDuBDS 801 2$bStDuBDSZ 801 2$bUkPrAHLS 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910454318703321 996 $aGod of justice$92472206 997 $aUNINA