‘To be happy’: Ritual, play, and leisure in the Bengali Dharmarāj pūjā

Korom, Frank J.

doi:10.1007/s11407-999-0001-4

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Adya for example, as the consort of Dharma has its origin in the Buddhist deity Tara who was worshipped in Nalanda, the famous 5 th -century Buddhist monastery of eastern India (Sarkar, 1917). In the ritualistic process of worship, it is observed that the throne of the deity is customarily placed under a Bo tree (similar to the throne of Lord Buddha) and clay horses and elephants (Picture 7) are among the offerings to the deity by the devotees (Korom, 1999). These are actually the sacrificial objects deeply connected with the magico-religious paradigm of Tantric Buddhism.…”

Section: Ritual Belief Systems and Deities Of Agrarian Communities In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Buddhism in Agrarian Society of Rural Bengal: Perspectives of Belief Systems with a Focus on Ritual and Deities

Chakrabarty,

Biswas

2023

sjebs

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Buddhism was the State Religion of Bengal at least for more than four hundred years between mid of 8th century and 12th century during the Pala reign in Bengal. In the 2011 Indian census, the percentage of Buddhists in West Bengal was 0.31% while in Bangladesh less than 1% of the total population is now a follower of Buddhism. Most of the Buddhists were converted to Islam during the Sultanate rule in Bengal while Hinduism silently took over many of their shrines and deities. This paper is an attempt to revisit the cultural landscape of early Buddhism in Bengal along with a focus on the elements of Buddhist culture in folk life applying cultural geographical methodologies and examining the presence of Buddhist rituals and deities in agrarian society in sublime form. A literature review was followed by extensive fieldwork during festivities of the shrines of Hindu deities having a connection with early Buddhism of Bengal. Along with participant observation during ritualistic practices, interviews, and focus group discussion methods have been applied involving stakeholders to obtain qualitative data for analysis. The results reveal the various manifestations of the interplay between the process of universalization and parochialization in the dynamism of the evolving belief system of an apparently Non-Buddhist folk society of the present day, the root of the culture of which was exclusively Buddhist.

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Section: Ritual Belief Systems and Deities Of Agrarian Communities In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Buddhism in Agrarian Society of Rural Bengal: Perspectives of Belief Systems with a Focus on Ritual and Deities

Chakrabarty,

Biswas

2023

sjebs

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“…Lastly, the use of canes, dance, incense, flower plucking at sunrise, sacrificial fire pits, and invoking the hosts of deities in the text also find their modern counterparts in Goalpara (cf. Korom, 1999).…”

Section: Textuality and The Study Of Dharmar Ajmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 For a general overview of the phenomenon in Birbhum (see De, 1392BS;Mitra, 1972;Ghos : , 1976.1: 315-322). For a description of the rituals in Goalpara (see Korom, 1999). 4 The word textuality has taken on two distinct senses in anthropological literature; the first deals with the postmodern concern for representation in ethnographic writing, while the second defines the term in a sociolinguistic fashion.…”

Section: Totally Born Of One Body 3 the Beauty Of His Figure Split mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bengali Dharmar?j In Text And Context: Some Parallels

Korom

2004

J Indian Philos

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Snake Charmers on Parade

Lorea

2018

Asian Med.

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Festivals have often been described as ritual occasions in which members of a community get together and overcome internal divisions and conflicts. The festival of Jhāṃpān (or Jhāpān Melā) provides a different definition of festivals as mirrors of social dramas and hierarchical divisions.The Ojhās of Bengal are low-class rural healers specializing in curing snakebites. The Bedes (or Bedias) are tribal snake catchers who extract venom and sell it to private clinics. Both groups perform snake charming, a popular entertainment as well as a ritual practice, during particular religious festivals, such as the Jhāṃpān.The diffusion and government support of Western medicine and education have seriously compromised the indigenous knowledge of these groups and attacked it as irrational superstition. Some of the most popular Jhāṃpān celebrations have been coercively stopped, and yet the festival is still celebrated in several districts and practitioners have developed strategic narratives to protect their knowledge.This article analyzes the changing role of snake specialists in Bengali rural society through a historical and contextual study of the Jhāṃpān. The decline of this festival mirrors the crisis of the transmission of indigenous knowledge, which can be understood only by considering the intersections between healing, ritual, and entertainment.

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‘To be happy’: Ritual, play, and leisure in the Bengali Dharmarāj pūjā

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Buddhism in Agrarian Society of Rural Bengal: Perspectives of Belief Systems with a Focus on Ritual and Deities

Buddhism in Agrarian Society of Rural Bengal: Perspectives of Belief Systems with a Focus on Ritual and Deities

The Bengali Dharmar?j In Text And Context: Some Parallels

Snake Charmers on Parade

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