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goat, extract its stomach, slice it open so that it forms a gaping slit, and pass their wailing newborn through the dripping opening seven times. This ritual, which I interpret as a symbolic child sacrifice, would seem to exemplify 'Sanskritisation'âthe low caste copying of elite lifeâstylesâin the way Bhats imitate dominant Hindu ideals implicit to a kingly tradition of blood sacrifice. However, I contend that this feast is unique in the way that Bhats simultaneously mimic and appropriate, subvert and contest, as well as rework and combine ritual traditions associated with both kings and priests. Bhaironji is a
Rajasthani equivalent of the panâIndian Bhairava 'The Destroyer', a 'fierce' or 'terrible' form of Shiva spoken of in ancient Vedic scriptures. For this deity in a panâIndian context, see White (1991).
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copying of elite lifeâstylesâin the way Bhats imitate dominant Hindu ideals implicit to a kingly tradition of blood sacrifice. ...this feast is unique in the way that Bhats simultaneously mimic and appropriate, subvert and contest, as well as rework and combine ritual traditions associated with both kings and priests.
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In this paper, I examine a birth ritual practised by a community of lowâstatus entertainers from the Indian state of
Rajasthan known as Bhats. On the birth of sons, but not daughters, Bhats offer gifts to the Hindu god Bhaironji, a panâIndian boss of the underworld. Specifically, they sacrifice a
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Specifically, they sacrifice a goat, extract its stomach, slice it open so that it forms a gaping slit, and pass their wailing newborn through the dripping opening seven times. This ritual, which I interpret as a symbolic child sacrifice, would seem to exemplify âSanskritisationââthe low caste
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Bhaironji, along with
Pretraj, is believed to be an assistant deity of Balaji. They are viewed as the foremost prosecutors of Balaji and believed to provide legal assistance to him during the trials of the
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Changing
Patterns of Family and Kinship in South Asia: Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of India's Independence Held at the University of Helsinki 6 May
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Imitation Is Far More than the
Sincerest of Flattery: The Mimetic Power of Spirit Possessionin Rajasthan, India Jeffrey G. Snodgrass Source: Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Feb., 2002), pp. 32-64
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Snodgrass, Jeffrey G. (2004). "Hail to the Chief?: The politics and poetics of a
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who have possessed people, at Balaji's temple in
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