| Popis: |
The politic construction of archives is central to the argument of this book. Chapter 2 traces the complex relation between the śāstrik vratas, which are the formalistic ‘Hindu’ rituals sanctioned by the scriptures composed in Sanskrit and performed with the aid of the Brahman priests, and the laukika bratas which are the customary rituals performed by men and/or women without the aid of Brahman priests and the Sanskrit texts. It reveals that the number of śāstrik vratas continues to increase through the ages garnished by the substratum of non-Brahmanical laukika rituals with attention to the notions of vrātya (the liminal other). This chapter identifies and analyses the ideological impulse propelling this commerce in terms of the pre-modern Brahmanical politics of the Purāṇas and the modern excavation of the laukika realm to define the nation in colonial context with implications for the divine feminine. |
