Arik Moran

This article discusses the life-story of Suchet Singh (1841–1896). The ruler of the Himalayan kingdom of Chamba, Singh was deposed by the colonial authorities soon after his accession in 1870, and spent the rest of his life seeking restitution. We argue that the strategies employed by Singh, who combined appeals to the international press with political manoeuvrings in India and Europe, evince a novel type of cosmopolitanism. This new development allowed elites from the colonies to contest the empire by exploiting unprecedented technological advancements in communications and travel alongside the support of a widening liberal lobby in the metropole. While Singh ultimately failed to regain his patrimony and died destitute in exile, his life story demonstrates the capacity of judicious engagement with the public sphere and the cultivation of global support-networks to improve the standing of colonial subjects in the Age of Empire.

The term Rajput kingship designates the sociocultural ideals and practices that inform sovereignty among the erstwhile kingdoms of northern India. Originating from the mixture of South Asian peasant societies and Central Asian invaders in the second half of the 1st millennium CE, the Rajputs (literally, “sons of kings”) propagated a composite image of sovereignty that conjoined the autochthonous beliefs of agro-pastoralists with Brahmanical (Sanskritic) mores. By the early modern era, Rajput kingship came to be embodied in the image of the heroic warrior-king. This ideal manifested in martial valor, attachment to territory, fidelity to kin and allies, and was epitomized through the notion of self-sacrifice. Having played an integral part in the administration of the Mughal Empire, Rajput rulers adopted additional tastes and customs from the Persian cosmopolis. The consolidation of Rajput kingship in the modern era saw the assimilation of local rulers into the framework of the British Indian Empire as autonomous subjects, becoming the emblematic icons of Indian kingship familiar today.

This paper examines the benefits of ethnographic film for the study of religion. It argues that the exploration of gaps between colloquial descriptions of divinities and their practical manifestation in ritual is instructive of the way religious categories are conceptualized. The argument is developed through an analysis of selected scenes from the documentary AVATARA, a meditation on goddess worship (Śaktism) among the Khas ethnic majority of the Hindu Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh, India). Centering on embodiments of the goddess in spirit possession séances, it points to a fundamental difference between the popular depiction of the deity as a virgin-child (kanyā) who visits followers in their dreams and her actual manifestation as a menacing mother (mātā) during ritual activities. These ostensibly incongruent images are ultimately bridged by the anthropologically informed edition of the material caught on camera, illustrating the added advantage of documentary filmmaking for approxim...

This paper examines the benefits of ethnographic film for the study of religion. It argues that the exploration of gaps between colloquial descriptions of divinities and their practical manifestation in ritual is instructive of the way religious categories are conceptualized. The argument is developed through an analysis of selected scenes from the documentary AVATARA, a meditation on goddess worship (Śaktism) among the Khas ethnic majority of the Hindu Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh, India). Centering on embodiments of the goddess in spirit possession séances, it points to a fundamental difference between the popular depiction of the deity as a virgin-child (kanyā) who visits followers in their dreams and her actual manifestation as a menacing mother (mātā) during ritual activities. These ostensibly incongruent images are ultimately bridged by the anthropologically informed edition of the material caught on camera, illustrating the added advantage of documentary filmmaking for approximating religious experiences.

This article explores the sociohistorical processes underlying ethnogenesis in the Indian Himalaya. Taking the Nars of Kullu (Himachal Pradesh) as a case study, it employs colonial sources and ethnographic data to trace the contributing factors and political conditions that facilitated their emergence as a distinct caste in the modern era. Largely congruent with the mass of lowly peasants, the Nars seem to have fissioned from their peers by developing lavish purification rites for a growing clientele of high caste patrons in British ruled-Kullu. While the surge in these rites may be plausibly dated to a little over a century ago, the myth of Nar descent from heaven that sanctions them harks back to the ahistorical past. The conflict between these data is resolved by consulting a parallel case from West Nepal, which points to the complementary axes of state regulation and cultural adaptation as key facilitators of caste ethnogenesis.

Cet article explore les processus sociohistoriques qui sous-tendent l'ethnogenèse dans l'Himalaya indien. Considérant le cas des les Nars de Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), il utilise des sources coloniales et des données ethnographiques afin de retracer les facteurs et les conditions politiques qui ont facilité leur émergence en tant que caste distincte à l'ère moderne. Largement conformes à la masse des paysans modestes, les Nars semblent s'être séparés de leurs pairs en développant des rites de purification somptueux pour une clientèle croissante de patrons de haute caste dans le Kullu gouverné par les Britanniques. Alors que l'essor de ces rites peut être daté d'un peu plus d'un siècle, le mythe de la descente du ciel Nar qui les sanctionne renvoie au passé anhistorique. Le conflit entre ces données est résolu en consultant un cas parallèle de l'ouest du Népal, qui pointe les axes complémentaires de la régulation étatique et de l'adaptation culturelle en tant que facilitateurs clés de l'ethnogenèse des castes.

http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/numero-6-no-6-2021/

The beginnings of British colonization in the Kangra and Kullu
Valleys (Himachal Pradesh, India) are closely related to the
commercial and political interests behind the rising demand for
tea across the globe. This paper examines the rise and fall of
Kangra Tea in the second half of the nineteenth century, the
people who propelled it, and their implication in Great Game
tactics in Central Asia. The initiation and termination of a short-
lived, trans-Himalayan fair at the heart of the tea district (1867-
79) illustrates the legacies and limitations of ‘gentleman
capitalism’ along the northern frontier of British India.

The history of British rule in the Indian Himalaya exemplifies the mutual enforcement of social identities and political cultures in modern South Asia. For the Khas ethnic majority of the Himachal Pradesh-Uttarakhand borderland, the colonial power's differentiation between "secular" and "religious" authorities engendered the division of substantially commensurable groups into "caste Hindu" and "tribal" societies. In demarcating borders along the "natural barrier" between the states, the British had severed a politically potent grassroots theocracy from its underlings, consolidated the fragmentation of the Shimla Hill States, and ultimately encouraged the development of a composite political culture that complemented Khas traditions with Brahmanical creeds from the plains.

Indic rites of purification aim to negate the law of karma by removing the residues of malignant past actions from their patrons. This principle is exemplified in a rarely studied religious festival of the West Himalayan highlands (Himachal Pradesh, India) known as the Kāhikā Melā, wherein a ritual specialist assumes the karmic residues of large publics and subsequently transfers them to their presiding deity by serving as a sacrificial victim. While early reports perceived the rite to be a Tantric variant of the universal ‘scapegoat’ rituals then being popularized by James Frazer, observing a recent performance of the rite significantly complicated this view. This paper proposes a novel reading of the Kāhikā Melā through the prism of karmic transference. Tracing the path of karmas from participants to the ritual specialist and beyond, it delineates the logic behind the rite, suggesting that the culminating act of human sacrifice is, in fact, secondary to the mysterious force that impels its acceptance.


* The paper corresponds with the documentary movie Chidra (2018), more on which here: https://vimeo.com/259167827

** This is a slightly revised version (primarily diacritics and a couple of fine tunings to minor points) of the paper published online

... artisans were commissioned to cast bronze statues of Bonpo masters as late as 1946; consult the Dekhang Sonam Chogya, I ... to free subjects from oaths and the infamous prerogative of decreeing forced labour (begar) prevalent throughout the region; see Joshi, Ethno-graphy ...

Kingship and Polity on the Himalayan Borderland explores the modern transformation of state and society in the Indian Himalaya. Centred on three Rajput led-kingdoms during the transition to British rule (c. 1790-1840) and their interconnected histories, it demonstrates how border making practices engendered a modern reading of ‘tradition’ that informs communal identities to this day. Countering the common depiction of these states as all-male, caste-exclusive entities, it reveals the strong familial base of Rajput polity, wherein women – and regent queens in particular – played a key role alongside numerous non-Rajput groups. Drawing on rich archival records, rarely examined local histories, and nearly two decades of ethnographic research, it offers an alternative to the popular and scholarly discourses that developed with the rise of colonial knowledge. The analysis exposes the cardinal contribution of borderland spaces to the fabrication of group identities. This book will interest historians and anthropologists of South Asia and of the Himalaya, as well as scholars working on postcolonialism, gender, and historiography.

https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462985605/kingship-and-polity-on-the-himalayan-borderland

Also available in open access: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/66301

AVATARA explores goddess worship traditions (shaktism) in a remote pastoral valley of the Western Himalaya (Himachal Pradesh, India). From the Chandika Temple near the valley floor to the solitary abode of the Hunter Goddess at the top of the mountain, the goddess manifests in multiple forms that are intertwined with the lives of her followers.

Every couple of years, Ram Nath leaves his fields and buffaloes to play the part of human sacrifice in a mysterious ritual of purification in the Himalayan Valley of Kullu, North India. During the ritual, Ram Nath transforms from a highland peasant into the master of ceremonies, a powerful redeemer who cuts holes (chidra) in the fabric of society, collecting sins into a cosmic trap that only he can operate. Chidra follows Ram Nath through the ritual to reveal how men, gods, and mediums handle the dangerous substance of actions (karma) on the Himalayan frontier. 

https://www.noprocess.com/chidra