Hinglaj Devi : identity, change, and solidification at a Hindu temple in Pakistan / Jurgen Schaflechner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schaflechner, Jurgen, 1981- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages--Pakistan--Hinglaj.

Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Hinglaj Devi (Temple : Hinglaj, Pakistan).

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white)

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Summary:

The shrine of the Goddess Hinglaj is located in the desert of Balochistan, Pakistan, about 215 kilometers west of the city of Karachi. Notwithstanding its ancient Hindu and Muslim history, the establishment of an annual festival at Hinglaj took place only recently, 'invented' in the mid-1980s. Only after the construction of the Makran Coastal Highway (MCH), a road that now, coincidentally, connects the formerly distant desert shrine with urban Pakistan, was the increasingly confident minority Hindu community able to claim Hinglaj as their main religious centre, a site for undisturbed religious performance and expression. This work describes the dynamics that emerged after this dislocation, examining the political and cultural influences at work at the Hinglaj temple, and tracks this remote desert shrine's rapid ascent to its current status as the most influential Hindu pilgrimage site in Pakistan.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

Acknowledgments

Conventions for transliteration, transcription and sources

Introduction

The struggle over truth

Hinglaj in perspective

Historical Representations and recent changes

(Un)necessary hardships in "getting there"

Change and perseverance

Solidifying Hinglaj: Striving for a uniform tradition

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2017.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-085054-X

0-19-085055-8

0-19-085053-1