Annakūt/Govardhan Pūjā: Identity and Pilgrimage in the Gujarātī Hindu Diaspora
This article will examine the annual festival of Annakūt/Govardhan Pūjā and look at its role in transforming Gujarātī Hindu notions of the sacred in the U.K. I will provide an brief ethnographic account of the festival as celebrated by B.A.P.S. Swaminarayan Sanstha and the International Society for...
| Published in: | Diskus |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2010
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| In: |
Diskus
Year: 2010, Volume: 11 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article will examine the annual festival of Annakūt/Govardhan Pūjā and look at its role in transforming Gujarātī Hindu notions of the sacred in the U.K. I will provide an brief ethnographic account of the festival as celebrated by B.A.P.S. Swaminarayan Sanstha and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness the and analyse the relationship between the festival and the nature of sacred Gujarātī Hindu space, time and personality in the U.K. I will also examine issues concerning differing theological and philosophical approaches to the event and how specific Hindu identities are highlighted during the festival. Furthermore, my research has also shown that during this event religious and mythic events become re-conceptualised and re-enacted particularly through the medium of devotional food offerings to the divine. This article will, therefore, go onto explain how, in a wider context, specific places of Gujarātī Hindu worship take on new meaning and surrounding areas become transformed into pilgrimage landscapes. The specific questions that have arisen from these issues are: in what way does the event create the circumstances for pilgrimage and the establishment of Hindu sacred space in a diasporic context? How does this event highlight the ways in which diverse traditions approach and understand the divine? How does this festival call into question the issue of Hindu Identity and the perception of a unified, homogenous perception of Hinduism in the diaspora? |
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| ISSN: | 0967-8948 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Diskus
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