Periphery and
Centre: Studies in Orissan History,
Religion and Anthropology
By- Georg
Pfeffer (ed.)
Studies
in Orissan Society, Culture and History Series 7
The
second Orissa Research Project presents the eastern province as a multi-centred
cultural
complex. In an interdisciplinary effort this historical study covers the so-called iron-age in western Orissa and questions the established foundation date of one of the major coastal temples. Conditions of early colonialism are exemplified by a report on a typical road construction, just as popular protest movements of that phase, as well as the ambivalent position of their leaders and the issue of conversions to Christianity are examined.
complex. In an interdisciplinary effort this historical study covers the so-called iron-age in western Orissa and questions the established foundation date of one of the major coastal temples. Conditions of early colonialism are exemplified by a report on a typical road construction, just as popular protest movements of that phase, as well as the ambivalent position of their leaders and the issue of conversions to Christianity are examined.
The
critical Orissan politico-religious controversies over independence are
presented by the visions of the Maharaja of Parlakimedi. Indological
contributions indicate that the contemporary debate on ‘animal sacrifice’ has a
long history. Just as the popular religious movements against Brahmanism,
introduced here by two accounts of rather different peasant and tribal versions
of the Orissan Mahima Dharma religion, are a contemporary manifestation of
similar dissent in the past.
The
empirical anthropological studies reflect the rather unique concepts of illness
among the Rona, the category of the person, as created by the application of
sacrificial food among the Gadaba, and the AghriÁ ideas on death. These three
articles may lead to the first comprehensive monographs on these important
communities of the tribal zone. The issue of a tribal status is ambiguous,
since the principals themselves, as well as external observers, tend to join
questions of administrative advantages with status ascription in acephalous political systems and the implications of plough cultivation. Postcolonial ‘modernization’, as described in another article on a new power plant in the tribal area, looks at how it has completely excluded the indigenous people. Finally questions of anthropological method are raised in articles on Kondh social structure, on the Goddess in southern Orissa, and on the question of values in different social contexts.
questions of administrative advantages with status ascription in acephalous political systems and the implications of plough cultivation. Postcolonial ‘modernization’, as described in another article on a new power plant in the tribal area, looks at how it has completely excluded the indigenous people. Finally questions of anthropological method are raised in articles on Kondh social structure, on the Goddess in southern Orissa, and on the question of values in different social contexts.
Georg
Pfeffer
is Professor of Socio-Cultural Anthropology (Ethnologie) at the Free
University of Berlin.
ISBN 81-7304-767-1
2007 378p. Rs.395/ pounds 28.99
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MANOHAR PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS
4753/23 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002
Phones: 23284848, 23289100
Fax: 23265162
E-mail: manbooks@vsnl.com
sales@manoharbooks.com
To order your copy at www.manoharbooks.com
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