Shrines of Goa

Iconographic Formation and Popular Appeal

Bibliographic Data

ID2634844
AuthorsAlexander Henn (Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume18
Issue18
Publication date2018-07-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1960-6060 • E-ISSN: 1960-6060
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/samaj.4533
OpenAlexW2884336633
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited20

Religious shrines in Goa (India), both Hindu and Catholic, are marked by notable differences. Shrines in temples and churches are distinguished from wayside shrines by their formalized iconography and elite patronization. Shrines are further differentiated by modalities of their representation and iconography. Formalized shrines fulfill particular representational (symbolic) functions that reflect local social hierarchies. Emergent Hindu and iconic Catholic shrines stand out through peculiar material and embodied characteristics of their iconography and enjoy wide demotic appeal. Although decisive for the role the shrines play in society, their inherent representational, semiotic, and practical distinctions and differentiations are usually not reflected in the concept of the “shrine.” Eventually, the article, therefore, takes issue with this concept itself arguing that it is rather elusive and obscures more than it brings to light

Aesthetics · Appeal · Art · Art history · Elite · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Hinduism · Iconography · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Semiotics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces

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