The archetypal actions of ritual : an essay on ritual as action illustrated by the Jain rite of worship

Humphrey And Laidlaw Present A New And Radical General Theory Of Ritual By Drawing On An Ethnographically Rich Account Of The Ritual Worship Of The Jains Of Western India. Ritual, They Argue, Is Not A Logically Separate Type Of Activity, But Rather A Quality That Can Be Attributed To A Wide Range Of Everyday Activities. In Exploring The Issue Of What Is Distinctive About Actions Which Are Ritualized, This Book Makes An Ambitious And Controversial Contribution To Social And Religious Anthropology. Caroline Humphrey And James Laidlaw. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. What happens in religious traditions when the nature of the ritual is questioned, but the practice of performing rituals is not itself abandoned? How is it that people can accomplish ritual successfully without belief, and even without attributing any meaning to it? This book draws on the authors' observations of such reactions among Jains in western India, and asks what they can tell us about ritual as a mode of human action. Most anthropologists have assumed that ritual is a special kind of happening. The authors argue that we should not define ritual as a distinct type of event but instead look at ritualization, which is a modification of action. What is distinctive about actions which are ritualized? This book proposes a new theory to analyse the qualities which ritualization gives to a wide and disparate range of actions and events. The authors reject the common view that ritual carries intrinsic meaning, and stress the reasons why participants may or may not give meaning to ritual acts. They draw on insights from the philosophy of action, cognitive psychology, and phenomenology, to explore the paradox that in ritual, actors both are and are not the authors of their acts. . The book explores the implications for anthropology of this new theory of ritual, with discussions of the relation between texts and action, the importance of bodily experience in ritual enactment, and the sense of selfhood as it is affected by ritual. Frontmatter List of Figures and Plates (page xii) Notes on the Text (page xiii) 1. Introduction (page 1) 2. Jainism and the Puja Ritual (page 16) 3. What Kind of Theory Do We Need? (page 64) 4. The Ritual Commitment (page 88) 5. Getting It Right (page 111) 6. Apprehension and Cognition (page 133) 7. The Disconnection of Purpose and Form (page 167) 8. Looking for Meanings (page 191) 9. Meaning to Mean It (page 211) 10. The Evocation of Mood (page 227) 11. Stances of the Self (page 247) 12. Conclusion (page 260) Glossary (page 269) References (page 275) Index (page 289) Presents a general theory of ritual by drawing on an ethnographically rich account of the ritual worship of the Jains of western India. The authors argue that ritual is not a logically separate type of activity, but rather a quality that can be attributed to a much wider range of everyday activity.