The Gift of Food to a Wandering Cow: Lay-Mendicant Interaction Among the Jains
This essay approaches world renunciation among the Jains not as an ideological construct in which the social world is transcended, but rather as a socially interactive practice. The ongoing transactional relationship between renouncers and laity is investigated in terms of the gifting of food to the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage Publ.
1999
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| In: |
Journal of Asian and African studies
Year: 1999, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 89-110 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This essay approaches world renunciation among the Jains not as an ideological construct in which the social world is transcended, but rather as a socially interactive practice. The ongoing transactional relationship between renouncers and laity is investigated in terms of the gifting of food to the renouncers among the Svetambar Murtipujak Jains. A comparison is made of this exchange with Digambar gifting of food to renouncers, and a range of Hindu prestations involving the transfer of demerit (pdp) in order to maximize the donor's ontological status. Through this comparison we are able to see certain structural similarities within the two Jain examples, despite seemingly crucial differences in performance. Further, we can see how these Jain exchanges fit into broader South Asian paradigms, and at the same time exhibit specifically Jain understandings of karma, merit, and demerit. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-2538 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Asian and African studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/156852199X00194 |