J. L. Cassaniti
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501707995
- eISBN:
- 9781501714177
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501707995.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
Remembering the Present examines the contemporary meanings, practices, and purposes of mindfulness in the countries of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (Burma), which together make up a large part of ...
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Remembering the Present examines the contemporary meanings, practices, and purposes of mindfulness in the countries of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (Burma), which together make up a large part of what is known as the “Pali imaginaire” that spawned today’s global mindfulness movement. Drawing from the experiences of over 600 monks, psychiatrists, students, and villagers in the Buddhist monasteries, hospitals, markets, and homes in the region, Remembering the Present shows how an attention to memory informs how people live today, and how mindfulness, as understood through its Buddhist Pāli-language term of sati, is intimately tied to local constructions of time, affect, power, emotion, and selfhood. With a focus on lived experience and the practical matters of people for whom mindfulness is a central part of everyday life, the book offers an engaged ethnographic investigation of what it means to ‘remember the present’ in the meditative practices, interpersonal worlds, and psychiatric hospitals for people in a region strongly influenced by Buddhist thought. The book will speak to an increasingly global network of psychological scientists, anthropologists, Buddhist studies scholars, and religious practitioners interested in contemporary Buddhist thought and the cultural phenomenology of religious experience.Less
Remembering the Present examines the contemporary meanings, practices, and purposes of mindfulness in the countries of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (Burma), which together make up a large part of what is known as the “Pali imaginaire” that spawned today’s global mindfulness movement. Drawing from the experiences of over 600 monks, psychiatrists, students, and villagers in the Buddhist monasteries, hospitals, markets, and homes in the region, Remembering the Present shows how an attention to memory informs how people live today, and how mindfulness, as understood through its Buddhist Pāli-language term of sati, is intimately tied to local constructions of time, affect, power, emotion, and selfhood. With a focus on lived experience and the practical matters of people for whom mindfulness is a central part of everyday life, the book offers an engaged ethnographic investigation of what it means to ‘remember the present’ in the meditative practices, interpersonal worlds, and psychiatric hospitals for people in a region strongly influenced by Buddhist thought. The book will speak to an increasingly global network of psychological scientists, anthropologists, Buddhist studies scholars, and religious practitioners interested in contemporary Buddhist thought and the cultural phenomenology of religious experience.
Vasudha Narayanan
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195145380
- eISBN:
- 9780199849963
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195145380.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter discusses the lives and messages of two popular female gurus, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and Karunamayi Ma, who is also known as Sri Sri Sri Vijayes Wari Devi. They are both portrayed as ...
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This chapter discusses the lives and messages of two popular female gurus, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and Karunamayi Ma, who is also known as Sri Sri Sri Vijayes Wari Devi. They are both portrayed as deriving their teaching from Hindu sources but being ecletic in their teaching. Kali is predominant in Ma Jaya's worship but she also worships other Hindu deities and it is important to note that her first vision was that of Christ. Karunamayi Ma speaks constantly about the equality of religions. She does not frequently evoke the names of Christ or Mary in her talks like Ma Jaya, but is forthright about her view of other religions.Less
This chapter discusses the lives and messages of two popular female gurus, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and Karunamayi Ma, who is also known as Sri Sri Sri Vijayes Wari Devi. They are both portrayed as deriving their teaching from Hindu sources but being ecletic in their teaching. Kali is predominant in Ma Jaya's worship but she also worships other Hindu deities and it is important to note that her first vision was that of Christ. Karunamayi Ma speaks constantly about the equality of religions. She does not frequently evoke the names of Christ or Mary in her talks like Ma Jaya, but is forthright about her view of other religions.
Chitra Sinha
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198078944
- eISBN:
- 9780199081479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078944.003.0010
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
The chapter focuses on the role of discourse and communicative action in the advancement of gender rights over several centuries, the second chapter concentrates on social, political, and legal ...
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The chapter focuses on the role of discourse and communicative action in the advancement of gender rights over several centuries, the second chapter concentrates on social, political, and legal factors that led to substantive reform efforts in the Hindu law during the twentieth century. It explores the lack of debate on women’s rights in pre-colonial India dominated by religious discourse and the transformation during the colonial era brought about by the emergence of alternate discourses including orientalist perspective, the views of social reformers, and the rise of feminist consciousness. The chapter also dwells upon the crystallization of Brahmanic patriarchy and the challenge provided by the early debates beginning in the 18th century till the codification of Hindu law in the 1950s.Less
The chapter focuses on the role of discourse and communicative action in the advancement of gender rights over several centuries, the second chapter concentrates on social, political, and legal factors that led to substantive reform efforts in the Hindu law during the twentieth century. It explores the lack of debate on women’s rights in pre-colonial India dominated by religious discourse and the transformation during the colonial era brought about by the emergence of alternate discourses including orientalist perspective, the views of social reformers, and the rise of feminist consciousness. The chapter also dwells upon the crystallization of Brahmanic patriarchy and the challenge provided by the early debates beginning in the 18th century till the codification of Hindu law in the 1950s.
Magnus T. Bernhardsson
Paul Collins and Charles Tripp (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780197266076
- eISBN:
- 9780191851469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266076.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
As Director of Antiquities in the nascent Iraq, Gertrude Bell was instrumental in laying the groundwork for all archaeological work in the country, including formulating antiquities legislation. ...
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As Director of Antiquities in the nascent Iraq, Gertrude Bell was instrumental in laying the groundwork for all archaeological work in the country, including formulating antiquities legislation. After several years of work and some intense political negotiations, Bell’s law was finally passed in 1924. Bell’s legislation is a hybrid which demonstrates her multiple loyalties – protecting both Iraqi heritage and the interests of foreign archaeologists and institutions. This element is most obvious in controversial Articles relating to the division of finds, where the law does allow, under certain conditions, for archaeological artefacts to leave the country.Less
As Director of Antiquities in the nascent Iraq, Gertrude Bell was instrumental in laying the groundwork for all archaeological work in the country, including formulating antiquities legislation. After several years of work and some intense political negotiations, Bell’s law was finally passed in 1924. Bell’s legislation is a hybrid which demonstrates her multiple loyalties – protecting both Iraqi heritage and the interests of foreign archaeologists and institutions. This element is most obvious in controversial Articles relating to the division of finds, where the law does allow, under certain conditions, for archaeological artefacts to leave the country.
J. L. Cassaniti
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501707995
- eISBN:
- 9781501714177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501707995.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter introduces the landscape of mindfulness practices in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, where people overwhelmingly follow the kind of Theravāda Buddhism from which the modern ...
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This chapter introduces the landscape of mindfulness practices in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, where people overwhelmingly follow the kind of Theravāda Buddhism from which the modern mindfulness movement emerged. The chapter begins with a question: what kind of mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions are and could be used in a Thai psychiatric hospital, as part of a broader Buddhist cultural environment? It answers this question by introducing the methodological and theoretical project of Remembering the Present, including an overview of the interview and survey-based ethnographic research into sati with over 600 psychiatrists, monks, students, and villagers in Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. It also previews some of the central findings of the book, in relation to what the author calls the TAPES of mindfulness: the ways that people frame mindfulness culturally around issues of Temporality, Affect, Power, Ethics, and Selfhood.Less
This chapter introduces the landscape of mindfulness practices in the regions of South and Southeast Asia, where people overwhelmingly follow the kind of Theravāda Buddhism from which the modern mindfulness movement emerged. The chapter begins with a question: what kind of mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions are and could be used in a Thai psychiatric hospital, as part of a broader Buddhist cultural environment? It answers this question by introducing the methodological and theoretical project of Remembering the Present, including an overview of the interview and survey-based ethnographic research into sati with over 600 psychiatrists, monks, students, and villagers in Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. It also previews some of the central findings of the book, in relation to what the author calls the TAPES of mindfulness: the ways that people frame mindfulness culturally around issues of Temporality, Affect, Power, Ethics, and Selfhood.
Adeed Dawisha
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691169156
- eISBN:
- 9781400880829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169156.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Arab nationalism. Throughout his numerous writings on Arab nationalism, Sati‘ al-Husri—the foremost theoretician of Arab nationalism—never lost sight ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of Arab nationalism. Throughout his numerous writings on Arab nationalism, Sati‘ al-Husri—the foremost theoretician of Arab nationalism—never lost sight of the ultimate goal of the ideology he so vigorously propagated, namely the political unity of the Arabic-speaking people. He wrote that the happiest of nations were the ones in which political and national boundaries were fused into one another. In another one of his writings, Husri says that he is constantly asked how was it that the Arabs lost the 1948–1949 war over Palestine when they were seven states and Israel was only one? His answer is unequivocal: the Arabs lost the war precisely because they were seven states. Thus, to avoid losing future wars, the Arabs had to unite into one Arab state.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Arab nationalism. Throughout his numerous writings on Arab nationalism, Sati‘ al-Husri—the foremost theoretician of Arab nationalism—never lost sight of the ultimate goal of the ideology he so vigorously propagated, namely the political unity of the Arabic-speaking people. He wrote that the happiest of nations were the ones in which political and national boundaries were fused into one another. In another one of his writings, Husri says that he is constantly asked how was it that the Arabs lost the 1948–1949 war over Palestine when they were seven states and Israel was only one? His answer is unequivocal: the Arabs lost the war precisely because they were seven states. Thus, to avoid losing future wars, the Arabs had to unite into one Arab state.
Adeed Dawisha
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691169156
- eISBN:
- 9781400880829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169156.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter discusses Sati‘ al-Husri’s theory of Arab nationalism. In the development of the concept of Arab nationalism, there is little doubt that Husri—both as a thinker and educator—takes pride ...
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This chapter discusses Sati‘ al-Husri’s theory of Arab nationalism. In the development of the concept of Arab nationalism, there is little doubt that Husri—both as a thinker and educator—takes pride of place. Like other twentieth-century nationalisms, Arab nationalism, as formulated by Husri, was based on the intellectual tenets of European ideas on the subject. This statement, admittedly, would have been assailed mercilessly by Arab nationalists during the peak of the Arab nationalist movement in the 1950s and 1960s. These nationalists held jealously to the notion that their nationalism was intellectually “authentic.” By the end of the century, however, few would contest the statement’s historical validity. Indeed, with the decline of Arab nationalism and the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, nationalism was being increasingly depicted unkindly as one of the failed imported Western solutions.Less
This chapter discusses Sati‘ al-Husri’s theory of Arab nationalism. In the development of the concept of Arab nationalism, there is little doubt that Husri—both as a thinker and educator—takes pride of place. Like other twentieth-century nationalisms, Arab nationalism, as formulated by Husri, was based on the intellectual tenets of European ideas on the subject. This statement, admittedly, would have been assailed mercilessly by Arab nationalists during the peak of the Arab nationalist movement in the 1950s and 1960s. These nationalists held jealously to the notion that their nationalism was intellectually “authentic.” By the end of the century, however, few would contest the statement’s historical validity. Indeed, with the decline of Arab nationalism and the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, nationalism was being increasingly depicted unkindly as one of the failed imported Western solutions.
Adeed Dawisha
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691169156
- eISBN:
- 9781400880829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691169156.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter looks at a growing number of voices in the three most important Arab domains of the time—Iraq, Greater Syria, and Egypt—who were declaring themselves to be Arabs, sometimes in ...
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This chapter looks at a growing number of voices in the three most important Arab domains of the time—Iraq, Greater Syria, and Egypt—who were declaring themselves to be Arabs, sometimes in conjunction with, at other times to the exclusion of, other identities. Beyond the claims of historical validity, Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s was one of only four countries with a measure of independence, at least in matters of domestic policy. It was in Iraq that the intellectual headquarters of Arab nationalism resided in the person of Sati‘ al-Husri, whose ideas were eliciting a receptive echo among the country’s political elites. Indeed, Husri and other Arab nationalists, many of whom were his disciples, set out to make Iraq the beacon from which Arab nationalist ideas would spread to the rest of the Arab world. The chapter also studies the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.Less
This chapter looks at a growing number of voices in the three most important Arab domains of the time—Iraq, Greater Syria, and Egypt—who were declaring themselves to be Arabs, sometimes in conjunction with, at other times to the exclusion of, other identities. Beyond the claims of historical validity, Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s was one of only four countries with a measure of independence, at least in matters of domestic policy. It was in Iraq that the intellectual headquarters of Arab nationalism resided in the person of Sati‘ al-Husri, whose ideas were eliciting a receptive echo among the country’s political elites. Indeed, Husri and other Arab nationalists, many of whom were his disciples, set out to make Iraq the beacon from which Arab nationalist ideas would spread to the rest of the Arab world. The chapter also studies the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.
Jaya Tyagi
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199451821
- eISBN:
- 9780199084593
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199451821.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The conclusion shows how women are identified with their bodies in religious traditions; however, women negotiate the boundaries that are defined for them, constantly pushing them. In this endeavour, ...
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The conclusion shows how women are identified with their bodies in religious traditions; however, women negotiate the boundaries that are defined for them, constantly pushing them. In this endeavour, in polygynous societies, they compete amongst themselves and attempt to take up devout roles in order to gain more leverage. However, this can have dire social consequences as they end up underlining rites that are male centric; the role of the living husband becomes critical in these rites and, thus, auspiciousness is associated with the husband and children. If they come to harm, then the onus is on women. The consequence of this ideology culminates in the institution of Sati in later times, indicating how women can use negative agency, obliterating their bodies, when there is no other way of expressing themselves.Less
The conclusion shows how women are identified with their bodies in religious traditions; however, women negotiate the boundaries that are defined for them, constantly pushing them. In this endeavour, in polygynous societies, they compete amongst themselves and attempt to take up devout roles in order to gain more leverage. However, this can have dire social consequences as they end up underlining rites that are male centric; the role of the living husband becomes critical in these rites and, thus, auspiciousness is associated with the husband and children. If they come to harm, then the onus is on women. The consequence of this ideology culminates in the institution of Sati in later times, indicating how women can use negative agency, obliterating their bodies, when there is no other way of expressing themselves.
Jürgen Schaflechner
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190850524
- eISBN:
- 9780190850555
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190850524.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter presents three distinct strains of the Goddess’s history, corresponding to the three main historical discourses shaping the current representations of Hinglaj and the ritual journeys ...
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This chapter presents three distinct strains of the Goddess’s history, corresponding to the three main historical discourses shaping the current representations of Hinglaj and the ritual journeys relating to her. The first surveys the various mentions of Hinglaj Devi in ancient Sanskrit sources, including her link to the myth of the Goddess Sati. The second demonstrates how Hinglaj rose to her role as an important caste and clan Goddess for contemporary South Asian Hindus. The third provides a glimpse into how the shrine’s Zikri-Muslim history has transformed the Goddess into a representative of communal understanding between Muslims and Hindus in today’s Sindh. Laid over this approach is an overview of the recent infrastructural and other developments at and around the shrine and their effect on these historical narratives, including the recent emergence of the Lasi-Lohana caste as a new and powerful actor in the process of writing and rewriting the history of Hinglaj.Less
This chapter presents three distinct strains of the Goddess’s history, corresponding to the three main historical discourses shaping the current representations of Hinglaj and the ritual journeys relating to her. The first surveys the various mentions of Hinglaj Devi in ancient Sanskrit sources, including her link to the myth of the Goddess Sati. The second demonstrates how Hinglaj rose to her role as an important caste and clan Goddess for contemporary South Asian Hindus. The third provides a glimpse into how the shrine’s Zikri-Muslim history has transformed the Goddess into a representative of communal understanding between Muslims and Hindus in today’s Sindh. Laid over this approach is an overview of the recent infrastructural and other developments at and around the shrine and their effect on these historical narratives, including the recent emergence of the Lasi-Lohana caste as a new and powerful actor in the process of writing and rewriting the history of Hinglaj.
Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199341160
- eISBN:
- 9780190844561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199341160.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 4 focuses on the first two of three key phases in the development of the Svasthānīvratakathā textual-narrative tradition in which select stories culled from the Sanskrit Purāna corpus were ...
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Chapter 4 focuses on the first two of three key phases in the development of the Svasthānīvratakathā textual-narrative tradition in which select stories culled from the Sanskrit Purāna corpus were woven into the “original” fabric of the Svasthānī narrative. The beginning of the text’s Purānicization, or transformation from local vrat kathā to authoritative Purāna text, occurred between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It is during this period that the Svasthānīvratakathā domesticated the Shiva-Satī Devī-Daksha Prajāpati narrative cycle and the Madhu-Kaitabha creation story. These narratives expanded the geographical, temporal, and ideological parameters of the Svasthānī tradition in a manner that articulated and reinforced Nepal’s emergent identity as a united Hindu kingdom.Less
Chapter 4 focuses on the first two of three key phases in the development of the Svasthānīvratakathā textual-narrative tradition in which select stories culled from the Sanskrit Purāna corpus were woven into the “original” fabric of the Svasthānī narrative. The beginning of the text’s Purānicization, or transformation from local vrat kathā to authoritative Purāna text, occurred between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It is during this period that the Svasthānīvratakathā domesticated the Shiva-Satī Devī-Daksha Prajāpati narrative cycle and the Madhu-Kaitabha creation story. These narratives expanded the geographical, temporal, and ideological parameters of the Svasthānī tradition in a manner that articulated and reinforced Nepal’s emergent identity as a united Hindu kingdom.
