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The vast and ancient topic of kingship in India has mostly been studied from the perspectives of rulers and other elites. But what constitutes sovereignty viewed from "below"? This book -- ethnographic and comparative in its essence -- deals with indigenous conceptualizations of sovereignty taking as its starting point a local proverb that connects the ritual (Dasara) of the king with festivals performed by his "tribal" subjects. The first part of the book initially introduces some pan-Indian ideas of kingship and proceeds to discuss indigenous notions of sovereignty as represented in rituals and myths in the region concerned (highland Odisha). The second part is devoted to the investigation of the proverbial performances. Mainly based on historical sources first the Dasara festival of the king is discussed, subsequently the indigenous rituals are described and analyzed, which the author ethnographically documented around the turn of the millennium. Ultimately, the proverb and the rituals constitute the idea of a sacrificial polity in which rulers and ruled share sovereignty in the sense that they are co-responsible for the flow of life.

Indigenous peoples --- Ritual --- Sovereignty --- History.

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While comparative studies on purity and impurity presented in the last decades have mostly concentrated on the ancient world or on modern developments, this volume focusses the hitherto comparatively neglected period between circa 300 and 1600 c. E. The collection is innovative because it not only combines papers on both European and Asian cultures but also considers a wide variety of religions and confessions. The articles are written by leading experts in the field and are presented in six systematic sections. This analytical categorization facilitates understanding the functional spectrum that the binomial purity and impurity could cover in past societies. The volume thus presents an in-depth comparative analysis of a category of paramount importance for interfaith relations and processes of transfer.

Purity, Ritual. --- Religion --- History of religion

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Purity, and its converse, impurity, formed a versatile metaphor in the ancient Greeck world. Constructing a multifaceted investigation, with both complementary and contrastive approaches, the thirteen papers collected in this volume explore the range of these ideas, from Archaic and Classical Greece to the Roman Near East. Different declensions are readily manifest : purity could be defined as a traditional norm or by institutional law, impurity expressed as a substantive crime or as rhetorical slander. A key debate revolves around the ethical sense of purity and impurity : how early and widely was this notion applied ; how did it complement concrete ritual practices of purification and abstention ; in other words, in a perspective of continuity and change, how were the inner/mental and outer/corporeal dimensions of purity harmonised ? The present volume celebrates the thirty-fifth anniversary of Robert Parker's seminal work "Miasma : pollution and purification in early greek religion". Analysing a wealth of documents - inscriptions, papyri, literature - both old and new, the authors reveal compelling case-studies, draw out innovative conclusions, and point in fruitful directions for future research.

Pureté rituelle --- Geist. --- Körper. --- Manners and customs. --- Purity (Ethics). --- Purity, Ritual --- Purity, Ritual. --- Reinheit. --- Reinigung. --- Greece --- Greece. --- Griechenland. --- Social life and customs. --- Purity [Ritual] --- Purity (Ethics)

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Gegenstand der Arbeit ist eine bronzezeitliche Grube von Frick-Seckeberg, die ein umfangreiches keramisches Fundinventar geliefert hat. Der hohe Anteil feinkeramischer Gefäße, die starke Fragmentierung und Hitzeüberprägung der Funde sowie die Anordnung der dicht gepackten Scherben in der Grube führten schon während der Grabung zu der Einschätzung, dass es sich um einen außergewöhnlichen Befund mit einem sehr speziellen Fundspektrum handelt. Es stellte sich daher die Frage, ob Funde und Befund im Kontext von rituellen Praktiken zu sehen sind und es sich um ein Phänomen handelt, das in der Bronzezeitforschung mit dem Begriff «Kultgrube» umrissen wird. Mit ihrer Analyse liefert Miriam Hauser eine plausible Deutung dieses eigenartigen Befundes als Überreste eines Festmahls. Nach dem Mahl wurde das Geschirr zertrümmert, die Scherben wurden in ein heftig loderndes Feuer geworfen, um anschließend wieder ausgelesen und in einer eigens dafür ausgehobenen Grube deponiert und mit Erde überdeckt zu werden. Diesen Handlungsablauf konnte Miriam Hauser anhand unscheinbarer Spuren am Fundmaterial rekonstruieren. Die herangezogenen Vergleiche stützen diese Interpretation und machen auf ein Phänomen aufmerksam, das in der Schweizer Bronzezeitforschung bisher noch wenig Beachtung fand. Mit ihrer Arbeit eröffnet Miriam Hauser jedoch nicht nur einen Einblick in die bislang kaum bekannten bronzezeitlichen Festpraktiken, sondern leistet zudem einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Typochronologie der Keramik aus der Mittel- und beginnenden Spätbronzezeit, deren Präzisierung weit über die Landesgrenzen hinaus ein dringendes Desiderat ist. Eine Masterarbeit der Universität Basel, Departement Altertumswissenschaften Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Provinzialrömische Archäologie.

Bronze --- Festmahl --- Grube --- Keramik --- archaeology --- Ritual --- Archäologie --- Ritus --- Aargau

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This study questions the traditional view of sacrifices in hero-cults during the Archaic to the early Hellenistic periods. The analysis of the epigraphical and literary evidence for sacrifices to heroes in these periods shows, contrary to the traditional notion, that the main ritual in hero-cults was a thysia at which the worshippers consumed the meat from the animal victim. A particular handling of the animal’s blood or a holocaust, rituals previously taken to be typical for heroes, can rarely be documented and must be considered as marginal features in hero-cults. The terms eschara, escharon, bothros, enagizein, enagisma, enagismos and enagisterion, believed to be characteristic for hero-cults, are seldom used in hero-contexts before the Roman period and occur mainly in the Byzantine lexicographers and in the scholia. Since the main kind of sacrifice in hero-cults was a thysia, a ritual intimately connected with the social structure of society, the heroes must have fulfilled the same role as the gods within the Greek religious system. The fact that the heroes were dead seems to have been of little significance for the sacrificial rituals and it is questionable whether the rituals of hero-cults are to be considered as originating in the cult of the dead.

Religion --- Philosophy & Religion --- European Religions - pre-Christian --- Hero-cults --- ancient Greek religion --- ritual --- religious beliefs --- sacrifice