The Fire-Walkers of Kataragama
The Rise ofBhaktiReligiosity in Buddhist Sri Lanka
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3611287 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gananath Obeyesekere (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1978 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 457-476 |
| Publication date | 1978-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9118 • E-ISSN: 1752-0401 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2053572 |
| OpenAlex | W2327467102 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 33 |
| References cited | 3 |
At the tip of southeastern Sri Lanka is the shrine of Kataragama, sacred to Skanda, the son of Śiva. There, every year in the Sinhala monthäsala(July/August), devotees walk the length of a pit containing a thick layer of red-hot coals. Many Buddhists and Hindus, the fire-walkers as well as ordinary devotees, believe that this custom of the annual fire-walking ritual comes from mythic times and commemorates Skanda's victory over theasuras(titans). In fact, the present form of fire-walking in Buddhist Sri Lanka dates not from theasurawar, but from World War II. Furthermore, those who walk the fire are not members of a hoary ancient ritual lineage; rather, they are modern urban people, uprooted from traditional Sinhala Buddhist peasant culture. Fire-walking is a new phenomenon, and it is a product of recent social change
Ancient history · Archaeology · Buddhism · Geography · Islam · Islamization · Peasant · Political science · Politics · Product (mathematics · Religiosity · South asia · Sri lanka · Theology · Victory · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
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| Unique citing works | 33 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,7 |
| Citation span | 1979 - 2026 (48) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 32 |