Sacred matters : material religion in South Asian traditions / edited by Tracy Pintchman and Corinne G. Dempsey.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pintchman, Tracy, editor.

Dempsey, Corinne G., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious articles--Southeast Asia.

Religious articles.

Southeast Asians--Material culture.

Southeast Asians.

Southeast Asia--Religious life and customs.

Southeast Asia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : SUNY Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Sacred Matters explores the lives of material objects in South Asian religions. Spanning a range of traditions including Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, and Christianity, the book demonstrates how sacred items influence and enliven the worlds of religious participants across South Asia and into the diaspora. Contributors examine a variety of objects to describe the ways sacred materials derive and confer meaning and efficacy, emerging from and giving shape to religious and nonreligious realms alike. Material forms of deity and divine power are considered along with commonplace ritual items, including images, clay pots, and camphor. The work also attends to materiality's complex role within the "materially suspicious" contexts of Islam, Theravada Buddhism, and Roman Catholicism. This engaging collection presents new frameworks for contemplating the ways in which historical, social, and sacred processes intertwine and collectively shape human and divine activity.

Contents:

The Production of External Eyes External Eyes in History ; Critique 1: Conservation ; Critique 2: Aesthetics ; Critique 3: Theology ; The External Eye in the Jain Devotional Gaze ; Concluding Observations ; Notes ; References ; Classical and Liturgical Sources ; Modern Sources ; 3. North Indian Materialities of Jesus; Introduction ; The Mission ; Jesus as Guru ; Jesus as Child ; The Ashram ; Jesus as Contemplative ; Jesus as Charismatic ; The Cathedral ; Jesus as Archetype ; Jesus as Hero ; Conclusion ; References

6. The Camphor Flame in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction Precious, Exotic, White, and Cool: The Career of a Raw Material ; The Uses of Camphor in Premodern South Asia ; Japanese Colonies, Celluloid, and Chemistry ; Conclusion: From Borneo to Tamil Nadu, via New Jersey ; Notes ; References ; 7. Metal Hands, Cotton Threads, and Color Flags: Materializing Islamic Devotion in South India ; Introduction ; Severed Heads Speak Out: Displaying Metal Hands and Heads in a Public Ritual ; Red and Yellow Sacred Threads: The Transmission of Islamic Knowledge and Ritual Practices

9. Letting Holy Water and Coconuts Speak for Themselves: Tamil Catholicism and the Work of Selva Raj

Notes:

Cover image: Shaligram stones at the Parashakthi Temple.

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438459448

1438459440

OCLC:

933524877