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Religions
Other literature type . Article . 2018 . Peer-reviewed
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Religions
Article . 2018
Data sources: DOAJ-Articles
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The Invisible Path of Karma in a Himalayan Purificatory Rite

Authors: Moran, Arik;

The Invisible Path of Karma in a Himalayan Purificatory Rite

Abstract

Indic rites of purification aim to negate the law of karma by removing the residues of malignant past actions from their patrons. This principle is exemplified in the Kahika Mela, a rarely studied religious festival of the West Himalayan highlands (Himachal Pradesh, India), wherein a ritual specialist assumes karmic residues from large publics and then sacrificed to their presiding deity. British officials who had ‘discovered’ this purificatory rite at the turn of the twentieth century interpreted it as a variant of the universal ‘scapegoat’ rituals that were then being popularized by James Frazer and found it loosely connected to ancient Tantric practises. The However, observing a recent performance of the ritual significantly complicated this view. This paper proposes a novel reading of the Kahika Mela through the prism of karmic transference. Tracing the path of karmas from participants to ritual specialist and beyond, it delineates the logic behind the rite, revealing that the culminating act of human sacrifice is, in fact, secondary to the mysterious force that impels its acceptance.

Related Organizations
Subjects by Vocabulary

Microsoft Academic Graph classification: Rite History media_common.quotation_subject Tantra Ancient history Scapegoat Reading (process) Karma media_common Human sacrifice

Library of Congress Subject Headings: lcsh:BL1-2790 lcsh:Religions. Mythology. Rationalism

Keywords

human sacrifice, Kullu, BL1-2790, Khas, Himachal Pradesh; human sacrifice; karma; Khas; Kullu; Nar; ritual; scapegoat; shaktism; Tantra, shaktism, scapegoat, Religions. Mythology. Rationalism, Himachal Pradesh, Religious studies, ritual, Nar, Tantra, karma

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Emerson, Herbert William. 1933. Death Ceremonies of the Hill Rajas. In History of the Panjab Hill States. Edited by Jean-Philippe Vogel and John Hutchison. Lahore: Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, Appendix VII; pp. viii-ix. First published 1920.

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Frazer, James George. 1922. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. First published 1890. Available online: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough (accessed on 4 March 2018). [OpenAIRE]

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    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
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citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
1
Average
Average
Average
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