Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India
Indian indigenous societies are especially known for their elaborate rituals, which offer an excellent chance for studying religion as practice. However, few detailed ethnographic works exist on the ritual practices of these societies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Jharkhand, India this book offers insights into contemporary, previously not described rituals of the Santal, one of the largest indigenous societies of Central India. Its focus lies on culturally specific notions of place as articulated and created during these rituals.

In three chapters the book discusses how the Santal "make place" on different local, regional and global levels through their rituals: They reaffirm their ancestral roots in their land during large sacrificial rituals. They offer sacrifices to the dangerous deities of the forest in exchange for rain. And they claim their region to be a "Santal region" through large festivals celebrated in sacred groves, which they link to national and global discourses of indigeneity and environmentalism.

Through an analysis of the rituals of a specific society, this book addresses broader issues. It presents an example of how to study religion as a practical activity. It portrays culture-specific perceptions of the environment. And last, the book underlines the potential that lies in choosing place as a lens to study social phenomena in context.

1127118871
Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India
Indian indigenous societies are especially known for their elaborate rituals, which offer an excellent chance for studying religion as practice. However, few detailed ethnographic works exist on the ritual practices of these societies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Jharkhand, India this book offers insights into contemporary, previously not described rituals of the Santal, one of the largest indigenous societies of Central India. Its focus lies on culturally specific notions of place as articulated and created during these rituals.

In three chapters the book discusses how the Santal "make place" on different local, regional and global levels through their rituals: They reaffirm their ancestral roots in their land during large sacrificial rituals. They offer sacrifices to the dangerous deities of the forest in exchange for rain. And they claim their region to be a "Santal region" through large festivals celebrated in sacred groves, which they link to national and global discourses of indigeneity and environmentalism.

Through an analysis of the rituals of a specific society, this book addresses broader issues. It presents an example of how to study religion as a practical activity. It portrays culture-specific perceptions of the environment. And last, the book underlines the potential that lies in choosing place as a lens to study social phenomena in context.

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Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India

Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India

by Lea Schulte-Droesch
Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India
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Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India

Making Place through Ritual: Land, Environment and Region among the Santal of Central India

by Lea Schulte-Droesch

Overview

Indian indigenous societies are especially known for their elaborate rituals, which offer an excellent chance for studying religion as practice. However, few detailed ethnographic works exist on the ritual practices of these societies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Jharkhand, India this book offers insights into contemporary, previously not described rituals of the Santal, one of the largest indigenous societies of Central India. Its focus lies on culturally specific notions of place as articulated and created during these rituals.

In three chapters the book discusses how the Santal "make place" on different local, regional and global levels through their rituals: They reaffirm their ancestral roots in their land during large sacrificial rituals. They offer sacrifices to the dangerous deities of the forest in exchange for rain. And they claim their region to be a "Santal region" through large festivals celebrated in sacred groves, which they link to national and global discourses of indigeneity and environmentalism.

Through an analysis of the rituals of a specific society, this book addresses broader issues. It presents an example of how to study religion as a practical activity. It portrays culture-specific perceptions of the environment. And last, the book underlines the potential that lies in choosing place as a lens to study social phenomena in context.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9783110539738
Publisher: De Gruyter
Publication date: 09/10/2018
Series: Religion and Society , #75
Pages: 390
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Lea Schulte-Droesch, Freudenstadt.

Lea Schulte-Droesch, Freudenstadt, Germany.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Note on Transliteration and Usage xiii

List of Abbreviations xv

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Making Place 1

1.2 The Santal in their Social and Regional Context 8

1.3 The Santal in Existing Literature 45

1.4 Fieldwork Situation and Methodology 50

2 Theoretical Approach 66

2.1 Place 66

2.2 Ritual 79

3 The Connections between Land and Social Structure 97

3.1 Cornerstones of Santal Social Classification 98

3.2 Performing Relatedness through Ritual 125

3.3 Conclusion: Spatially Enacting and Transforming the Social 175

4 Perceptions of the Environment 180

4.1 The Different Ritual Hunts 181

4.2 Rice Cultivation, the Ancestors and the Importance of Rain 227

4.3 Buru bongo - The Ritual of the Local Mountain God 236

4.4 Conclusion: Santal Perceptions of the Environment and the Distinction between Forest and Fields 252

5 Fields of Contestation: Region, Politics and Identity 259

5.1 Flower Festivals, Politics and the Recent Emergence of Regional Sacred Groves (disom jaher) 261

5.2 The Struggle for the "True Tradition": The All India Sarna Dhorom Movement 288

5.3 The Historical Context of the Increase in Cultural Politics 310

5.4 Conclusion: Santal Claims to the Region, to a "Political Place" and to "Nature" 314

6 Conclusion 317

6.1 The Holism of Place 317

6.2 Clarifying the Relationship between Place and Ritual 324

Appendix

References 331

Internet Sources without Named Author 348

Index 349

Glossary 362

List of Photos 370

List of Maps 373

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