Feeding, Sharing and Devouring: Ritual and Society in Highland Odisha, India

637 Pages·2015·6.965 MB·English

by  Peter Berger, Jennifer R. Ottman

Peter Berger
Feeding, Sharing, and Devouring
Religion and Society
Edited by
Gustavo Benavides, Kocku von Stuckrad and
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
Volume 59
Peter Berger
Feeding, Sharing,
and Devouring
Ritual and Society in Highland Odisha, India
Translated by
Jennifer R. Ottman
DE GRUYTER
ThetranslationofthisworkwasfundedbyGeisteswissenschaftenInternational–
TranslationFundingforWorkintheHumanitiesandSocialSciencesfromGermany,ajoint
initiativeoftheFritzThyssenFoundation,theGermanFederalForeignOffice,thecollecting
societyVGWORTandtheBörsenvereindesDeutschenBuchhandels(GermanPublishers&
BooksellersAssociation).
ThisworkwastranslatedfromtheoriginalGermanintoEnglishbyJenniferR.Ottman.
ISBN978-1-61451-379-7
e-ISBN(PDF)978-1-61451-363-6
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-1-61451-975-1
ISSN1437-5370
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for Amrei
and in memory of
Rogu Sisa
and
Jomna

Contents
Note on Usage XI
Preface XIII
 Introduction 1
. The Research Region 2
. Ethnography of the Gadaba 10
. My Fieldwork among the Gadaba 12
. Food and Society 16
. Some Theoretical Remarks 38
. Organization and Theses 51
Part One:
The Social Order
 The Social Order: Categories, Groups, Relationships 57
. The House 58
. The Local Sub-Line 78
. Local Lines, Status Categories, and Dignitaries 81
. The Village 94
. The “Latecomers” 123
. The Land 135
. Relationships between Villages 166
. Concepts of “Society” 190
. External Relationships 198
. Conclusion 203
Part Two:
Rituals and Festivals
 Fed and Eaten: Transformations of the Person 221
. Pregnancy and Rebirth 221
. Birth 222
. Sacrifice for the Dead 227
. Tying the Chicken Bone 228
VIII Contents
. “Ending Pollution” 228
. Tying the “Birth String” 234
. “Taking Down the Hair” 235
. The “Path Wedding” 237
. The Process of Marriage 245
. On the Living, the Dead, and Dying 274
. The Mortuary Rituals I 283
. The Mortuary Rituals II: gotr 304
. Conclusion 332
 The Table of the Agnates: Rituals of the Annual Cycle 364
. Seasons and Festivals 364
. Forms of Labor Help 366
. The Hot Season 368
. The Rainy Season 400
. The Cold Season 415
. Conclusion 444
 “You Are the Goat, I Am the Tiger”: The Rituals of Healing 475
. The Social Meaning of Illness: Precarious Relationships 475
. Causes of Illness and Misfortune 477
. Specialists, Diagnoses, and Treatments 480
. The Healers’ Means 483
. Curses 486
. Destruction 488
. Possession and Exorcism 503
. Attacks by soni rau 510
. Conclusion 512
 Conclusion 520
TransformationandConstitutionofSocialRelationshipsthroughAlimentary
Processes 522
Symbolic Classification in Alimentary Processes 523
Appendix
Epilogue 531
Bibliography 554
Contents IX
Glossary 568
Desia 568
Gutob 584
List of Figures 590
List of Photos 591
List of Maps 592
List of Tables 593
Index 594