Sherpas Through Their Rituals

by Sherry B. Ortner

• ISBN13: 9780521292160
• ISBN10: 0521292166
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1978-04-14
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Sherpas of the Himalayas practice Tibetan Buddhism, a variety of Mahayana Buddhism. This is a general interpretation of Sherpa culture through examining the relationship between the Sherpas' Buddhism and other aspects of their society, and a theoretical contribution to the study of ritual and religious symbolism. In analysing the symbols of Sherpa rituals, professor Ortner leads us toward the discovery of conflict, contradiction, and stress in the wider social and cultural world. Following a general ethnographic sketch, each chapter opens with a brief description of a ritual. The ritual is then dissected, and its symbolic elements are used as guides in the exploration of problematic structures, relationships, and ideas of the culture. The author uses these rituals to illuminate the interconnections between religious ideology, social structure and experience. Professor Ortner analysis of the rituals reveals both the Buddhist pull toward exaggerating the isolation of individuals, and the secular pull that attempts to overcome isolation and to reproduce the conditions for social community.

Author Biography

Sherry B. Ortner is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction: some notes on ritual

2. The surface contours of the Sherpa world

3. Nyungne: problems of marriage, family and asceticism

4. Hospitality: problems of exchange, status and authority

5. Exorcisms: problems of wealth, pollution and reincarnation

6. Offering rituals: problems of religion, anger and social cooperation

7. Conclusions: Buddhism and society

Notes

Bibliography

Index.