God of Justice: Ritual Healing and Social Justice in the Central Himalayas

ISBN-13: 9780195335859 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 298 str.

William Sturman Sax

Opis

God of Justice deals with ritual healing in the Central Himalayas of north India, focusing on the cult of Bhairav, a local deity associated with the lowest castes, who are frequently victims of social injustice. When they are exploited or abused they often turn to Bhairav for justice, beseeching him to afflict their oppressors with disease and misfortune. In order to bring their suffering to an end, the oppressors must make amends with their victims and worship Bhairav together with them. 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. This highly readable book describes the author's own experiences in the field as well as ritual healing practices such as divination, sacrifice, and exorcism.

Recenzje

William S. Sax's latest book... exhibits the same rich ethnography and lively, argument-driven prose that characterized his earlier work... the book offers a wealth of ethnographic description and direct quotation, and it successfully places this content in relation to larger debates in the field and sax's own arguments about ritual, modernity, and personhood in South Asia... it is an excellent book for the classroom as well as a significant contribution to the literature on healing, caste, gender, and the culture and religion of Garhwal.

O autorze

William S. Sax Executive Director, South Asia Institute, and Head, Department of Anthropology, University of Heidelberg