Shaligram: Sacred Stones, Ritual Practices, and the Politics of Mobility in Nepal (Dissertation) (original) (raw)
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Review of Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas
HIMALAYA, 2023
Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas offers readers a unique and immersive experience for readers. It is designed to provide the same level of care and attention to shaligrams as is typically observed by a dedicated shaligram practitioner, thus enabling readers to gain a deeper understanding of these sacred objects and the people who revere them. The book skillfully demonstrates that the ritual practices around shaligrams transcend nationality, caste, and religion because people from three different religions (Hindu, Bon, and Buddhist) undertake pilgrimages to obtain shaligrams. Walters’ scholarship has opened new doors to the anthropology of religion and material relations. The book is a valuable source for scholars and students of South Asian religions, Himalayan area studies, and pilgrimage studies, as well as anyone interested in challenging the boundaries of what one thinks religion is.
Cornerstones: Shaligrams as Kin
Journal of Religion, 2022
Shaligrams are the sacred fossil ammonites of the Himalayas. Viewed primarily as manifestations of Hindu gods, these aniconic deities are obtained by pilgrimage to Himalayan Nepal and are then brought home, to families and communities all over South Asia and the diaspora, to become both deity and kin. Shaligrams also act as conversants, if inanimate ones, during the course of ritual and everyday talk. Therefore, the semiotic separation of bodies and persons in Shaligram religious practice, discussed here in relation to Tulsi Vivah (the marriage of Tulsi and Shaligram) festivals and in daily puja and darshan rituals, reimagines individuals as represented by but distinct from their physical forms. This practice then links language and ritual objects with broader understandings of human and divine personhood in South Asia as it is conceptualized both within and between physical bodies.
Chapter 6: Turning to Stone - The Shaligram Mythic Complex
Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas, 2020
Shaligram origin stories are as variable as the stones themselves. Whether formed by the vajra-kita (thunderbolt worm) whose stone-carving capabilities continue to link religious creation stories with ammonite paleontology or by any number of curses levied at Vishnu for betraying the chastity of the goddess Tulsi, the mountain and river birth of a Shaligram is always preceded by a complex narrative of time, place, and personhood. The core conceptualization of bodies as landscapes, however, remains constant. The birth-death-rebirth processes of the landscape then becomes metonymic for the karmic birth-death-rebirth cycle shared by humans, their deities, and their Shaligrams.
Etched in Stone: Shaligrams as Object-Texts
Journal of Material Religion, 2024
Shaligrams are the sacred fossil ammonites of the Himalayas. Viewed primarily as manifestations of Hindu gods, Shaligrams are obtained by pilgrimage to Himalayan Nepal and are then brought home to families and communities all over South Asia and the Diaspora as household deities. But Shaligrams also contain a variety of natural characteristics that are read and interpreted through long-standing oral traditions that use these features to both determine which specific deity is manifest within the stone and to link each Shaligram with a body of religious stories and local folklore. Therefore, the semiotic interpretation of Shaligrams instantiates ritual practices by which each stone becomes both an object and a text; able to be read by those fluent in its symbolic language. This practice then blurs the line between categories of object and archive; where fossils become literal texts and stones become storytellers.
Aniconic Worship in the Kathmandu Valley: A Brief Typology
2007
Introduction Though wide-ranging and in-depth studies have been conducted about many religious rit ual pmcticcs and siles inlhe Kathmandu Valley. there is a relative paucity of information about those ubiquitous and fascinati ng shrines which house aniconic representations of divinities. For the purposes of this study. the term 'aniconic'-lilcrally, 'without icon' OT 'without imagc'refcrs to ;my object or area that is venerated in the manner of a deity. but does nOI represent the deity by means of anlhropomoll>hized physical resemblance. In other words. any slOnc which has no [.Ice or body carved into il but is itsetf revered as a ho ly object. any niche in a wall which is worshipcd. :my natural boulder or rocky e(tifice which is regarded as a sacred emanation. sel foriginated or not. of ;1 d ivinity or mul tiple divinities: all o f these fall under the category ·;lI1icol1ic.· This swdy's relevance lies not only in the fac t th:l t there has been littl...
Enshrining Space: Shrines, Public Space and Hinduization among the Kulung of Nepal
What can the notion of “shrine,” especially “wayside shrine,” tell us about a society? A wayside shrine could be defined as an edifice including a material representation of powers, which is built in a public space and open to all. Such a definition leads us to focus on three main notions associated with it. First of all, that of material representation and its complex association with the presence of powers. Secondly, the notion of public space and how it emerges in relation with the state. And, finally, that of ritual unit and the question of what a ritual unit implies, besides the participation of its members in ritual activity. Describing the emergence of these types of shrines among the Kulung Rai, a so-called tribal society of the Nepalese Himalayas, will lead us to discuss some major changes that have occurred in this society over the last hundred and fifty years and that can be regarded as a Hinduization process coming “from below.”
The homogeneity and unity of the whole ritual activity of the Buddhist rNyingmapa populations of Sikkim and Nepal could be found in the pervasiveness of the geometrical crossed threads constructions that we can see as ornaments for dough effigies, animals skulls or isolated in space, inside rNyingmapa's domestic as well as tantric monastic rituals. They can be pure ornamental figures to bring luck and chase bad influences away, or complex constructions with different meanings to lure the demons. One of the paradoxes of these crossed threads constructions is that they can be both container and contents: they can shelter or incorporate momentarily the demonic beings, which are summoned in order to be deceived and destroyed. The aim of this paper is to re-approach rituals with crossed threads called mdos in literary or nam mkha', zor, glud, yas (and eventually, many other local appellations) in Tibetan and non-Tibetan ritual and folk practices. We base our analysis on new and ancient research in Nepal and in Sikkim and we add a comparative perspective, opposing some Sikkimese and less known Nepalese Tamang examples of such rituals with mdos and nam mkha': a divinatory ritual in Sikkim and a ritual for ancestors in Nepal.
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (forthcoming)
What does it mean to see a river, a tree, or a mountain as divine? Perhaps no scholar of Hinduism has explored this question as thoroughly as David Haberman. His previous books have focused on a sacred river (River of Love in an Age of Pollution, 2006) and on sacred trees (People Trees, 2013). His latest book, Loving Stones, focuses on the worship of Mount Govardhan, a sacred hill in northern India associated with the life of Krishna. Haberman vividly brings to life the relationship that many devotees have with Mount Govardhan-an intimately personal, loving relationship in which the physical mountain is seen not merely as a symbol or abode of Krishna but as Krishna himself. Haberman's goal is not simply to document the worship of Mount Govardhan but to render it meaningful to readers who might otherwise find it 'impossible' (to quote the subtitle) to imagine bathing, dressing, or conversing with stones. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the history, geography, and mythology of Mount Govardhan and the surrounding landscape of Braj, the mythical land of Krishna's youth. It also introduces the Puṣṭi Mārg and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, the two Hindu traditions on which Haberman's study is primarily based. Chapter 2 discusses anthropological method. Haberman identifies his primary audience as Americans for whom stone worship represents a case of 'radical difference' (45). He recommends a 'playful' approach to the study of cultural difference, which involves surrendering ourselves to 'the potentially enlightening disorientation' (60) that comes from recognizing that our own sense of reality is socially constructed and that 'other ways of seeing and being are just as valid (or invalid) as our own' (63). Chapter 3 includes a brief consideration of sacred mountains across the world and a detailed consideration of the theology behind the worship of Mount Govardhan. Chapter 4 documents the practice of parikrama, or circumambulation of the sacred hill. The chapter also describes the public worship of Mount Govardhan stones at temples and shrines along this circuit. Chapter 5 then steps back to consider the history of 'idolatry' as an interpretive category. Haberman begins with Judeo-Christian sources but goes on to show how critiques of idolatry also influenced the thinking of scientists, philosophers, and early scholars of anthropology and comparative religion, as well as colonial-era Hindu reformers. Haberman also discusses Eliade's idea of 'symbolic representation' (182), which he finds lacking; he suggests that in traditions such as Hinduism, the language of 'embodiment' is more appropriate. Chapter 6 focuses on the private worship of Govardhan stones in home shrines. Haberman coins the phrase 'intentional anthropomorphism' to refer to the conscious attribution of human characteristics to these stones for the sake of developing a devotional bond. The practice involves decorating a stone with eyes, clothing, and adornments-here the color photographs in the book are especially welcome-and treating the stone as Krishna himself. Haberman surveys historical and contemporary critiques of anthropomorphism, and he argues that anthropomorphism is not necessarily anthropocentric. Chapter 7 asks: 'Just what has been lost in the moves of modernity? What kind of stones might be useful for paving the road to a return to vibrant enchantment?' (227) Haberman suggests that reverence towards specific aspects of nature can sometimes lead to 'a more universal ethic of wider environmental care' (241), and he provides examples of environmental activism among contemporary devotees of Mount Govardhan. As one informant remarks: "The central point of the Govardhan story is the realization of divine presence in all of nature" (242).