Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place
Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions
Anthropologists, religious scholars, and art historians contemplate
sacred place and sacred biography in Asia to show how secular politics,
religious experience, and sectarian rivalry intersect.
Description
This book brings together essays by anthropologists, scholars of
religion, and art historians to explore some of the most fundamental
challenges that religious groups face as they expand from their
homeland or confront the demands of modernity. The chapters span a
broad geographical area that includes India, Nepal, Thailand,
Indonesia, and China, and address issues from the classical and
medieval period to the present. They show how sacred places have a
plurality of meanings for all religious communities and how in their
construction, secular politics, private religious experience, and
sectarian rivalry can all intersect.
A Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation Book on Buddhism and
Comparative Literature.
Reviews
Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions is an important marker of the growing awareness in Asian Studies of the significance of ‘place’ as a productive analytical category ... This volume will play a useful role in the scholar’s library.
- Frances Garrett