Rejuvenating Karayala: An Endangered Folk Theatrical Form of Himachal Pradesh

This paper deals with karayala, a folk theatrical form of Himachal Pradesh. This form is basically a ritual, performed in the name of a local deity called Biju/Bijeshwar. It is a night long ritual consisting of minimum three and maximum four episodes (swaangs) and each one is followed by a musical interlude comprising singing and dancing. Karyala is an impromptu theatrical form. There are no women actors and only men play female roles. Surprisingly, till date women are not allowed to play female roles. It deals with range of themes and most of them aim at reforming society by employing techniques like mimicry, caricature, satire, paradox, pun and word play. The paper seeks to introduce karayala to larger audience. In the crisis of the present context and particularly owing to onslaught of media multiplicity, we have lost karayala’s past as none for a long while cared to document it due to urbanization, people’s indifference and media charged environment that has threatened its existence. At present it is alive in people’s memory and is necessitated by rituals to avert divine wrath; nevertheless, its space stands largely invaded by media today. The future of this folk theatrical form seems bleak unless we take effective measures to revive/ retrieve it.

Jainism and Buddhism in the life of the Tamil Subaltern People

A keen reading on the religious activities in Tamil speaking region down the centuries evidently exposes the two different predominant traditions existed with influence, namely ‘Vaithiga’ and ‘Avaithiga’ (Non-Vaithiga) religious traditions. These two indeed by their institutionalised reorganization largely influenced and initiated considerable changes in the socio-political and cultural life of Tamils. Apart form these institutionalised two, a few forms of the local deity worships were also in practice. However, this paper limits its focus on the institutionalised religions in general and Buddhism and Jainism in particular. It seems that the the Vaithiga religion, right from the beginning, has habitually extended its support and has also been supported by the Kings and Chieftains of power/authority whereas Buddhism and Jainism on the other hand have earned their support largely from the subaltern mass. This paper therefore argues that the success story of Buddhism and Jainism among the subaltern mass has not simply related to any external practices of the religions, but invariably structured within the very ‘humanistic’ ideology of the said religions themselves.

Informal Power Structures and Grassroots Politics in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh

The study, based on outputs obtained from villages of Shillai block in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, looks at the informal power structure found in the state’s rural areas. Both formal and the informal power structures have historically coexisted but we will study various factors that empower informal power structures and critically contrast them to the equality-based, constitutionally legalised formal power structures. This entails an understanding of the basis of mobilisation and relationships among different caste groups, the role and influence of local deity institutions, the traditional elitist strata as well as the nature of institutions like Khumlis and their subsequent relationship with formal political institutions. This purposive, investigative and participatory study was conducted in the villages of Shillai block where the process of modernisation has been very slow. This is probably why the historically privileged, traditional elite and informal institutions continue to dominate the entire social structure. The marginalised stratum of society has consequently received minimum participation and representation in formal institutions or the legislating, executing and adjudicating of policies and decisions.

Veṅkaṭanātha’s Impact on Śrīvaiṣṇavism

This article maintains that the resemantization of Hayagrīva from a minor pan-Indian deity to a major local deity can be traced to Veṅkaṭanātha (traditional dates 1269–1370), who chose Hayagrīva because of his connection with learning and the Vedas. As a consequence of this intentional resemantization, in Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta following Veṅkaṭanātha, Hayagrīva has acquired distinct and standardized traits that are clearly recognizable in all reuses of his image and trope. To conclude, the article shows how Hayagrīva took on a particularly sectarian flavor as an identifying mark of the sub- school of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, which considers Veṅkaṭanātha its founder.

Bog Armatus na natpisima s Duvanjskog polja

C. Patsch found two votive monuments dedicated to the deity Armatus during the excavations in Karaula in Duvno in 1896. Most scholars accepted his opinion that Armatus was a local deity although Patsch did not mention function or character of the mentioned deity. In this work we will try to give more complete review of the mentioned deity, theses and arguments regarding his autochonous origin, and offer different opinions about his function and character.