Miracle as Modern Conundrum in South Asian Religious Traditions

by Dempsey, Corinne G.; Raj, Selva J.

• ISBN13: 9780791476338
• ISBN10: 0791476332
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-06
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

"Claims of the miraculous are foundational to faith and skepticism, making and breaking religious careers and movements in their wake. Drawing on a variety of South Asian religious traditions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity - this book revolves around the theme of conundrum, demonstrating how miracles offer divine proof, tenacious embarrassment, and, in many cases, both. The contributors explore not only how modern miracles are conundrums themselves, but also how they make conundrums out of assumed divides between scientific and supernatural realms, modernity and tradition, the West and the rest, and ethnographer and native."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Divine Proof or Tenacious Embarrassment? The Wonders of the Modern Miraculous	p. 1
Miracles and Modern Ambivalence
The Neo-Vedanta Miracle	p. 23
Miraculous Health and Medical Itineration among Satnamis and Christians in Late Colonial Chhattisgarh	p. 39
Kataragama and the Tsunami: The Adbhuta, Ascarya, and the Pratiharya	p. 57
Making and Breaking Shrine Reputations
Showing Miracles in Rajasthan: Proof and Grace	p. 85
A Miracle (or Two) in Tiruchirapalli	p. 105
The Science of the Miraculous at an Upstate New York Temple	p. 119
Managing the Establishment: Miracles and Popular Expression
An Ethnographic Encounter with the Wondrous in a South Indian Catholic Shrine	p. 141
The 'Deep Secret' and Dangers of Karamat: Miraculous Acts, Revelation, and Secrecy in a South Indian Sufi Tradition	p. 167
Media of Miracles, Miracle of Media: Clairvoyants and Commercials on South Asian Television in the Diaspora	p. 187
Contributors	p. 211
Index	p. 215
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