With hundreds of kilometres of coastline, Gujarat emerged historically as an important location o... more With hundreds of kilometres of coastline, Gujarat emerged historically as an important location of intersecting long-distance trade routes. Maritime trade connected littoral societies across the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean while overland trade reached as far as Central Asia. The social diversity characteristic of contemporary Gujarati society reflects the long history of translocal relationships enshrined in the foundational narratives of castes and religious communities many of whom trace their origins to a place beyond Gujarat: some Hindu castes claiming origins in the Himalayas live side-by-side with Parsis remembering their flight from Persia in the ninth century as well as with Muslims reminiscing ancestral places distant in time and location in Bukhara (Central Asia) or the hinterland of the East African coast. The plurality of historical sojourners who eventually settled in Gujarat becomes manifest also in distinct religious places.
Among the many emotions that may be evoked and sought after in religious practice, ecstasy is an ... more Among the many emotions that may be evoked and sought after in religious practice, ecstasy is an emotional state reserved by definition for extraordinary occasions and fields of performance and discourse. Religious ecstasy is not only expressed in poetic language using erotic metaphors or at least metaphors of desire but also evoked in the context of textual recitations and musical performances. This inclusion of erotic and aesthetic aspects can be regarded as enhancing the potential attraction of this emotion for those who practice a religion. On the other hand, this is also one reason why the guardians of religious doctrines and ethics have tended to regard ecstatic practices with skepticism. This essay discusses ecstasy and religion, focusing on possession and shamanism, ecstasy as an emotional state, and the silent ecstasy of meditation. It also examines ecstasy as the embodiment of religious emotions in rituals such as the Caitanya tradition of the Hindus and the Rafa'i bro...
Among the diverse practitioners of Islam in Gujarat, the Sidi stand out for their unique combinat... more Among the diverse practitioners of Islam in Gujarat, the Sidi stand out for their unique combination of a Sufi saint cult with the veneration of their African ancestry. Members of the small African Diaspora numbering ca. 6-7000 in Gujarat, trace their origins to slaves from the hinterlands of the East African coast captured and sold to India by Gujarati, Arab and Persian traders till the late 19 t h century. Today their descendants, the Sidi, live in ramshackle houses in urban slums or villages at the fringes of Gujarat society.
is not behind us, but lies ahead […]. For a very long time man was something different, and he ha... more is not behind us, but lies ahead […]. For a very long time man was something different, and he has not been a machine for very long, made complicated by a calculating machine«1 »Geld ist im Wesentlichen der Maßstab der Entscheidung, die ein Mann trifft«2
B rill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a thematic encyclopedia that attempts to encompass the great... more B rill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a thematic encyclopedia that attempts to encompass the great breadth of Hindu traditions within a multidisciplinary context. The opening statement given in the preface of each of the five volumes of this collection asserts that it is both for the scholar and the general reader interested in the study of Hinduism. That being said, this collection is not for the faint of heart. Rather than a multi-volume encyclopedia of fairly short entries on the widest variety of topics on the subject, with information one could most likely find on the Internet, this work is set up as a collection of critical essays ranging from fifteen to fifty pages. Each essay tackles the subject in depth, with an extensive bibliography and cross referencing. This collection is not for the casual researcher interested in getting a brief answer to a question on Hinduism. It is a collection of scholarly treatises that are appropriate for graduate level research.
Long before the current age of postcolonial globalization, the Western Indian Ocean served as a m... more Long before the current age of postcolonial globalization, the Western Indian Ocean served as a maritime highway linking littoral settings in Western India with Arabia, Persia and East Africa. Among the many travellers who crossed the Indian Ocean in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people from Africa faced a particularly gruelling fate. In contrast to those who willingly journeyed by
With hundreds of kilometres of coastline, Gujarat emerged historically as an important location o... more With hundreds of kilometres of coastline, Gujarat emerged historically as an important location of intersecting long-distance trade routes. Maritime trade connected littoral societies across the Arabian Sea and the wider Indian Ocean while overland trade reached as far as Central Asia. The social diversity characteristic of contemporary Gujarati society reflects the long history of translocal relationships enshrined in the foundational narratives of castes and religious communities many of whom trace their origins to a place beyond Gujarat: some Hindu castes claiming origins in the Himalayas live side-by-side with Parsis remembering their flight from Persia in the ninth century as well as with Muslims reminiscing ancestral places distant in time and location in Bukhara (Central Asia) or the hinterland of the East African coast. The plurality of historical sojourners who eventually settled in Gujarat becomes manifest also in distinct religious places.
Among the many emotions that may be evoked and sought after in religious practice, ecstasy is an ... more Among the many emotions that may be evoked and sought after in religious practice, ecstasy is an emotional state reserved by definition for extraordinary occasions and fields of performance and discourse. Religious ecstasy is not only expressed in poetic language using erotic metaphors or at least metaphors of desire but also evoked in the context of textual recitations and musical performances. This inclusion of erotic and aesthetic aspects can be regarded as enhancing the potential attraction of this emotion for those who practice a religion. On the other hand, this is also one reason why the guardians of religious doctrines and ethics have tended to regard ecstatic practices with skepticism. This essay discusses ecstasy and religion, focusing on possession and shamanism, ecstasy as an emotional state, and the silent ecstasy of meditation. It also examines ecstasy as the embodiment of religious emotions in rituals such as the Caitanya tradition of the Hindus and the Rafa'i bro...
Among the diverse practitioners of Islam in Gujarat, the Sidi stand out for their unique combinat... more Among the diverse practitioners of Islam in Gujarat, the Sidi stand out for their unique combination of a Sufi saint cult with the veneration of their African ancestry. Members of the small African Diaspora numbering ca. 6-7000 in Gujarat, trace their origins to slaves from the hinterlands of the East African coast captured and sold to India by Gujarati, Arab and Persian traders till the late 19 t h century. Today their descendants, the Sidi, live in ramshackle houses in urban slums or villages at the fringes of Gujarat society.
is not behind us, but lies ahead […]. For a very long time man was something different, and he ha... more is not behind us, but lies ahead […]. For a very long time man was something different, and he has not been a machine for very long, made complicated by a calculating machine«1 »Geld ist im Wesentlichen der Maßstab der Entscheidung, die ein Mann trifft«2
B rill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a thematic encyclopedia that attempts to encompass the great... more B rill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism is a thematic encyclopedia that attempts to encompass the great breadth of Hindu traditions within a multidisciplinary context. The opening statement given in the preface of each of the five volumes of this collection asserts that it is both for the scholar and the general reader interested in the study of Hinduism. That being said, this collection is not for the faint of heart. Rather than a multi-volume encyclopedia of fairly short entries on the widest variety of topics on the subject, with information one could most likely find on the Internet, this work is set up as a collection of critical essays ranging from fifteen to fifty pages. Each essay tackles the subject in depth, with an extensive bibliography and cross referencing. This collection is not for the casual researcher interested in getting a brief answer to a question on Hinduism. It is a collection of scholarly treatises that are appropriate for graduate level research.
Long before the current age of postcolonial globalization, the Western Indian Ocean served as a m... more Long before the current age of postcolonial globalization, the Western Indian Ocean served as a maritime highway linking littoral settings in Western India with Arabia, Persia and East Africa. Among the many travellers who crossed the Indian Ocean in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people from Africa faced a particularly gruelling fate. In contrast to those who willingly journeyed by
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