Formations of Ritual: Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil

334 Pages·1994·17.79 MB·English

by  David Scott

Formations of Ritual
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Formations of Ritual
Colonial and Anthropological
Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil
David Scott
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Copyright 1994 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
Portions of this book previously appeared in the following publications: "The Cultural
Poetics of Eyesight in Sri Lanka: Composure, Vulnerability, and the Sinhala Concept of
Distiya," Dialectical Anthropology 16, no. 1 (1991), reprinted by permission of Kluwer
Academic Publishers; "Anthropology and Colonial Discourse: Aspects of the Demono-
logical Construction of Sinhala Cultural Practice," Cultural Anthropology 7, no. 3 (1992),
reprinted by permission of the American Anthropological Association; "Conversion and
Demonism: Colonial Christian Discourse and Religion in Sri Lanka," Comparative Studies
in Society and History 34, no. 2 (1992), reprinted by permission of Cambridge University
Press; "Criticism and Culture: Theory and Postcolonial Claims on Anthropological Dis-
ciplinarity," Critique of Anthropology 12, no. 4 (1992), reprinted by permission of Sage
Publications Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, MN 55455-3092
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Fublication Data
Scott, David, 1958-.
Formations of ritual : colonial and anthropological discourses on
the Sinhala yaktovil / David Scott,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8166-2255-8
ISBN 0-8166-2256-6 (pbk.)
1. Sinhalese (Sri Lankan people)—Rites and ceremonies.
2. Sinhalese (Sri Lankan people)-Religion. 3. Medicine, Ayurvedic-
Sri Lanka—Devinuvara-Religious aspects. 4. Exorcism—Sri Lanka-
Devinuvara. 5. Devinuvara (Sri Lanka)-Religious life and customs.
I. Title.
DS489.25.S5S38 1994
306.6'943438'095493-dc20 93-5648
CIP
The University of Minnesota is an
equal-opportunity educator and employer.
For my mother's memory
and for my father
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"He reviled me! He struck me!
He defeated me! He robbed me!"
They who gird themselves up with this,
For them enmity is not quelled.
"He reviled me! He struck me!
He defeated me! He robbed me!"
They who do not gird themselves up with this,
For them is enmity quelled.
Not by enmity are enmities quelled,
Whatever the occasion here,
By the absence of enmity are they quelled.
This is an ancient truth.
Dhammapada (1:3-5)
As a bush fire burning out of control stops only when it reaches a
vast body of water, so the rage of one who vows vengeance cannot
be quelled except by the waters of compassion that fill the Ocean of
Omniscience.
"The Demoness Kali," Dharmasena Thera, Saddharmamtndvaliya,
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
On Transliteration and Usage xiii
Introduction xv
Part I. Ethnographic Topoi
1. Situating Yakku 3
2. Malign Glances: Distiya and the Ethics of Composure 38
3. Tovil Ntitima (The Dancing of tovil) 67
Part II. Colonial Discourses
4. Exorcisms and Demonic Experience, Anthropology
and Yaktovil III
5. Colonial Christian Discourse, Demonism, and Sinhala
Religion 137
Part III. Reconstructing Anthropological Objects
6. Historicizing Tradition: Buddhism and the Discourse
of Yakku 173
7. The Ends and Strategy of Yaktovil 204
Conclusion 241
Appendix 245
Notes 249
Glossary 279
Bibliography 283
Index 295
ix