Formal Pūjās and Stavan Repertoires

While daily puja is a locus for ritual improvization, the formal pujas are where ritual orthopraxy is circumscribed by shared understandings of the mandal's expertise and authority in the realm of Jain worship. The particular performances of the hymns in the various contexts within the formal pujas articulate the ways the singing collective women interpret both the hymns and the purpose of the formal pujas. Performance choices arise out of the content of the hymn, the context (or fit) of the hymn within the performance, and the desire to make critiques of a particular conflict. When singing collective women perform the formal pujas, they reestablish themselves as the puja experts, and explicitly name themselves as the knowers of formal puja hymn and worship repertoires.

Ancient Near East History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy