Encountering the Goddess in the Indian Himalaya

On the Contribution of Ethnographic Film to the Study of Religion

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3268741
AutoresArik Moran (0000-0002-3451-2050, University of Haifa, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume12
Fascículo11
Páginas1021
Data de publicação2021-11-19
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel12111021
OpenAlexW3215642974
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas16

This paper examines the benefits of ethnographic film for the study of religion. It argues that the exploration of gaps between colloquial descriptions of divinities and their practical manifestation in ritual is instructive of the way religious categories are conceptualized. The argument is developed through an analysis of selected scenes from the documentary AVATARA, a meditation on goddess worship (Śaktism) among the Khas ethnic majority of the Hindu Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh, India). Centering on embodiments of the goddess in spirit possession séances, it points to a fundamental difference between the popular depiction of the deity as a virgin-child (kanyā) who visits followers in their dreams and her actual manifestation as a menacing mother (mātā) during ritual activities. These ostensibly incongruent images are ultimately bridged by the anthropologically informed edition of the material caught on camera, illustrating the added advantage of documentary filmmaking for approximating religious experiences

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Depiction · Ethnic group · Ethnography · Filmmaking · Hinduism · Linguistics · Literature · Meditation · Sociology · Theology · Visual anthropology · Worship · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · South Asian Cinema and Culture · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies