Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala
Embodying the Goddess-clan
Published on 13. August 2020
Book
Hardback
308 pages
978-90-04-43899-6 (ISBN)
Description
In previous studies of South Asian Tantric ritual, scholars tend to focus on one region or context. For the first time, Tantra, Ritual Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala: Embodying the Goddess-clan offers a comparative approach to Tantric mediumship as observed in two locales: Navadurga rituals in Bhaktapur, Nepal, and Teyya??am in North Kerala. In this book, Matthew Martin advances a new theory of ritual, which spotlights the way dancer-mediums embody medieval goddess-clans and ancestor deities, through offerings of food and sacrifice, that synchronize their denizens with the land in spiralling web-like ritual networks. Uniquely interdisciplinary in style, this study synthesizes cultural history, ethnography, and theory to explore the continuities - historical, societal, and political - that characterize these ritual traditions across the subcontinent.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
608 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-43899-6 (9789004438996)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Matthew Martin, D.Phil. (2019), University of Oxford, is an independent scholar of religion, ritual, and society in South Asia.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Style, Format, and Interview Transcriptions
Introduction: Methodology and Context
?1?Folk Sakta Performances: Sovereignty, Goddesses, and Macro-Clans
?2?Teyya??am and Navadurga Compared: The Research Process
?3?Methodological Orientations
?4?Fieldwork Locations & Informant Introductions
?5?Contextual Background
Part 1
1 Introducing the Southern Case Study-Teyya??am, Northern Malabar, Kerala
?1?Ancestors, Land, and Divinities (Teyyam) in Northern Kerala
?2?Lineages, Clans, and Ritual Kinship
?3?Blood Sacrifices, Offerings, and Swords
?4?Cosmology, Metaphysics, and Textual History
?5?Caste Identities, Politics, and Performance in North Malabar
2 Introducing the Northern Case Study-Navadurga, Bhaktapur, Nepal
?1?Hindu-Buddhist Tantra in Newar Society: The Case of Bhaktapur
?2?Bhaktapur City: Blood Symbols, Goddess-Clan, Space, and Society
?3?Monsoon, Power, and the Goddess-Clan: Banmala Dancer-Mediums during the Ritual Cycle
?4?Blood Sacrifice, Mohani, and the Navadurga Cycle
?5?Cosmology, Tantric Texts, and Newar Hinduism in Bhaktapur
?6?Politics and Caste Structures in Bhaktapur
Part 2
3 Dancer-Medium Communities and Ritual Kinship
?1?Introduction
?2?Dancer-Medium Communities: Teyya??am and Navadurga
?3?Teyya??am
?4?Navadurga
?5?Conclusion
4 History and Assimilation in Tantric Cosmology
?1?Introduction
?2?Teyya??am
?3?Navadurga
?4?Conclusion
5 Sacrifice, Earth Cycles, and Self-Reflexive Affect
?1?Introduction
?2?Teyya??am
?3?Navadurga
?4?Conclusion
6 Politics, Ritual Performance, and Caste
?1?Introduction
?2?Marxist-Influenced Politics and Ritual Performance in Postcolonial South Asia
?3?Teyya??am
?4?Navadurga
?5?Conclusion
Conclusion
?1?Teyya??am and Navadurga Compared: Revisited
?2?Dancer-Medium Communities and Ritual Kinship
?3?History and Metaphysical Underlays of Folk Sakta Ritual
?4?Blood Sacrifice and Self-Reflexive Affect
?5?Politics and Caste Structure
Glossary of Key Terms
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Style, Format, and Interview Transcriptions
Introduction: Methodology and Context
?1?Folk Sakta Performances: Sovereignty, Goddesses, and Macro-Clans
?2?Teyya??am and Navadurga Compared: The Research Process
?3?Methodological Orientations
?4?Fieldwork Locations & Informant Introductions
?5?Contextual Background
Part 1
1 Introducing the Southern Case Study-Teyya??am, Northern Malabar, Kerala
?1?Ancestors, Land, and Divinities (Teyyam) in Northern Kerala
?2?Lineages, Clans, and Ritual Kinship
?3?Blood Sacrifices, Offerings, and Swords
?4?Cosmology, Metaphysics, and Textual History
?5?Caste Identities, Politics, and Performance in North Malabar
2 Introducing the Northern Case Study-Navadurga, Bhaktapur, Nepal
?1?Hindu-Buddhist Tantra in Newar Society: The Case of Bhaktapur
?2?Bhaktapur City: Blood Symbols, Goddess-Clan, Space, and Society
?3?Monsoon, Power, and the Goddess-Clan: Banmala Dancer-Mediums during the Ritual Cycle
?4?Blood Sacrifice, Mohani, and the Navadurga Cycle
?5?Cosmology, Tantric Texts, and Newar Hinduism in Bhaktapur
?6?Politics and Caste Structures in Bhaktapur
Part 2
3 Dancer-Medium Communities and Ritual Kinship
?1?Introduction
?2?Dancer-Medium Communities: Teyya??am and Navadurga
?3?Teyya??am
?4?Navadurga
?5?Conclusion
4 History and Assimilation in Tantric Cosmology
?1?Introduction
?2?Teyya??am
?3?Navadurga
?4?Conclusion
5 Sacrifice, Earth Cycles, and Self-Reflexive Affect
?1?Introduction
?2?Teyya??am
?3?Navadurga
?4?Conclusion
6 Politics, Ritual Performance, and Caste
?1?Introduction
?2?Marxist-Influenced Politics and Ritual Performance in Postcolonial South Asia
?3?Teyya??am
?4?Navadurga
?5?Conclusion
Conclusion
?1?Teyya??am and Navadurga Compared: Revisited
?2?Dancer-Medium Communities and Ritual Kinship
?3?History and Metaphysical Underlays of Folk Sakta Ritual
?4?Blood Sacrifice and Self-Reflexive Affect
?5?Politics and Caste Structure
Glossary of Key Terms
Bibliography
Index