9780739111734

Encompassing a Fractal World presents a groundbreaking, innovative paradigm which opens up new perspectives for understanding and analyzing Hindu life and culture. This book is an interdisciplinary comparative work which attempts to 'connect the dots', moving beyond isolated local village-based studies in order to bridge the gulf between anthropology and Hindu studies.

Gil Daryn is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

List of Figures

xi

List of Photographs

xiii

A Number of Preliminary Notes

xvii

Acknowledgments

xix

1 An Overview

1

(26)

Introduction

1

(1)

From Geometrical Monstrosities to Hindu Cosmology

2

(6)

General Outline of the Book

8

(4)

A High-Caste Village in Central Nepal

12

(4)

Unpredictability and Fieldwork in Thamghar

16

(5)

Notes

21

(6)

Part I: Man: Understanding Mistrust

2 Himalayan Uncertainties

27

(26)

Introduction

27

(3)

The Consequence of Misappropriation

30

(10)

House, Rice, and Self

40

(6)

A Number of Concluding Remarks

46

(3)

Notes

49

(4)

3 Encompassing the Ambivalent Female Core

53

(38)

Introduction

53

(3)

Women in Flux

56

(11)

Multiple Perspectives and Perceptual Resolution

67

(4)

Matrimonial Encompassment

71

(6)

Endnote: From the Dialectics of Images to a Vicious Cycle

77

(5)

Notes

82

(9)

Part II: Cosmos: From Image to Cosmology

4 On Hindu Divine Sexuality and Marriage

91

(20)

Introduction

91

(1)

Ascetic Divine Sex

92

(4)

Procreating Immortality

96

(6)

Birth into Agony or "The Nemesis of Reproduction"

102

(4)

Conclusion

106

(1)

Notes

106

(5)

5 The Jagya—Ethnography

111

(30)

Introduction

111

(6)

Jagya Launu—The Construction of the Jagya

117

(11)

Hom

128

(4)

Final Rites

132

(3)

Notes

135

(6)

6 The Jagya an Analysis

141

(44)

Introduction

141

(6)

Initial Performances

147

(4)

Orchestrating a Micro-Macrocosmic Matrimony

151

(15)

Incorporating Divine Sakti

166

(4)

On Ritual Efficacy

170

(7)

A Concluding Remark

177

(1)

Notes

178

(7)

Part III: Rice: From Must to Trust—an Ontogeny of Rice

7 An Agricultural Jagya

185

(36)

Introduction

185

(9)

Fashioning a Jagya of Rice

194

(7)

The Kunya: A Fireless Hom in Bhume's Procreative Temple of Rice

201

(8)

Another Encompassment

209

(4)

From the Vedic Fire Altar to the Hindu Temple via Vegetal Connections

213

(3)

Endnote

216

(1)

Notes

217

(4)

8 The "World Upside-Down" or a Himalayan Inversion of Hierarchy and Trust

221

(16)

Introduction

221

(1)

Dai Halnu

222

(6)

Analysis

228

(5)

Playing with Images: Illusion of Demons and Trust

233

(2)

Conclusion

235

(1)

Notes

236

(1)

9 Conclusion

237

(8)

Notes

243

(2)

Appendix A: A Personal Note

245

(6)

Finding a Home in the Himalayas

245

(4)

Note

249

(2)

Appendix B: Glossary

251

(12)

Bibliography

263

(20)

Index

283

(14)

About the Author

297

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Encompassing a Fractal World The Energetic Female Core in Myth and Everyday Life

0739111736

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