[INDOLOGY] Religious Literature with Political Purposes

George Hart glhart at berkeley.edu
Tue Jul 7 17:46:40 UTC 2015


Might I gently suggest that words like “tribal” and “tribal cults” should be avoided. Like “untouchable” and the n-word, these words have long been used to marginalize, demean, and patronize various ethnic groups—and they are so nebulous that they have no real meaning (for me, at least). “Indigenous” might be a good substitute. Words like “tribal” and “tribal cult” in my opinion serve to obscure the fact that the groups they are applied to are comprised of human beings whose cultures are quite as complex and sophisticated as the Brahmanical culture to which they are contrasted.

I am also bothered by the use of the term “Sanskritization,” It is, in my opinion, a simplification of a very complex series of processes and interactions and is, in the end, quite misleading. In most areas, India has a cellular culture. Many different groups with varied identities, histories, practices, social views, etc. exist side by side, interacting with each other in complex ways. People may get status by eating more meat, less meat, or no meat at all, and the same goes for many other practices, beliefs and customs. It is perhaps useful to point out that in a place like Tamil Nadu, about 25% of the people are Dalits (3% are Brahmins). They have their own social hierarchies, no doubt, but they are not driven by “Sanskritization.” Nor, for the most part, are the great majority of the rest of the people, all of whom are considered “Sudras” by the Brahmins. George Hart

> On Jul 7, 2015, at 5:38 AM, Artur Karp <karp at UW.EDU.PL> wrote:
> 
> > two poles: one "sanskritisation", the other "tribalisation".
> 
> The question is: who functions in the role of priests at Kamakhya Devi?
> 
> Priests of local tribal cults?
> 
> If not, I would rather see there not "tribalization", but rather "controlled Sanskritization" of tribal cultural elements, undertaken not by the tribals, but by the local representatives of Sanskritic culture. Motivated, as you have noticed, by the political need to communicate on one hand with the local population, on the other - with the broader network of sub-continental cult/pilgrimage centers. 
> 
> Artur K.
> 
> 2015-07-07 12:20 GMT+02:00 Paolo Eugenio Rosati <paoloe.rosati at gmail.com <mailto:paoloe.rosati at gmail.com>>:
> I complitely agree.
> But why "we" talk about "sanskritisation" phenomena if a goddess and her devotional cult are dominated by tribal elements? I would like to describe this goddesses as "tribalised", maybe because they represent a manipulation of the "mainstream" Hindu Devi, to whom are overimposed tribal elements.
>  
> If the sanskritisation (or brahmanisation) process can be described as a vertical axis where are different degrees of sanskritisation; maybe we could describe this axis with two poles: one "sanskritisation", the other "tribalisation"... obviously the dialectic between cultures bring to hybrid phenomenon, but in my opinion the Hindu-Assamese culture is widely dominated by tribal traditions, and this probably depend by ancient politic needs.
>  
> Best,
> Paolo
>  
> P.S.: Maybe someone has a pdf copy of Kunal Chakrabarti "Religious Processes: The Puranas and the Making of a Regional Tradition" (2001).
>  
> 
> On 7 July 2015 at 11:25, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl <mailto:karp at uw.edu.pl>> wrote:
> Dear Paolo,
> 
> > So that are we sure that Kamahya is a sanskritised goddess? Or should we consider the reverse process? Doesn't seem that were the Hindus to emulate the tribal-men incorporating tribal worship elements?
> 
> To my mind, both. 
> 
> A perfect example of a dialogic situation, whatever the motivation behind the move to set up a new, structurally enriched place of worship and a newly conceived object of veneration. 
> 
> Best, 
> 
> Artur
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> -- 
> Paolo E. Rosati
> Oriental Archaeologist
> PhD candidate in Civilisations of Asia & Africa
> Section: South Asian Studies
> Dep. Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO)
> 'Sapienza' University of Rome
> paoloe.rosati at uniroma1.it <mailto:paoloe.rosati at uniroma1.it>
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