Kamat's Potpourri Kamat Research Database  
Kamat's PotpourriNew Contents
About the Kamats
Feedback
History of India
Women of India
Faces of India
Indian Mythologies
geographica indicaArts of India
Indian Music
Indian Culture
Indian Paintings
Dig Deep Browse by Tags
Site Map
Historical Timeline
Master Index
Research House of Pictures
Stamps of India
Picture Archive
Natives of India
Temples of India
Kamat Network
Blog Portal


(Keyword Search)

Hail to the Chief?: The politics and poetics of a Rajasthani 'child sacrifice'

Title:Hail to the Chief?: The politics and poetics of a Rajasthani 'child sacrifice'
Author:Snodgrass J.
Publication:Culture and Religion / Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Enumeration:vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 71-104, March 2004
Abstract:In this paper, I examine a birth ritual practised by a community of low-status entertainers from the Indian state of Rajasthan known as Bhats. On the birth of sons, but not daughters, Bhats offer gifts to the Hindu god Bhaironji, a pan-Indian boss of the underworld. Specifically, they sacrifice a goat, extract its stomach, slice it open so that it forms a gaping slit, and pass their wailing newborn through the dripping opening seven times. This ritual, which I interpret as a symbolic child sacrifice, would seem to exemplify 'Sanskritisation'--the low caste copying of elite life-styles--in the way Bhats imitate dominant Hindu ideals implicit to a kingly tradition of blood sacrifice. However, I contend that this feast is unique in the way that Bhats simultaneously mimic and appropriate, subvert and contest, as well as rework and combine ritual traditions associated with both kings and priests.

Source of Abstract: Provided by Publisher

Tools:

Kamat Reference Database

Kamat's Potpourri Research Database Abstracts

.

© 1995-2024 Kamat's Potpourri All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without prior permission. Some disclaimers apply.