Rituals, territories and powers in the Sino-Indian margins
Résumé
Taking Paul Mus’s idea of a “cadastral religion” as part of the socio-religious organisation
of the “Asian base” further, we propose approaching rituals linked to the territorial
prosperity of groups living on the margins of state power in the Chinese and Indian worlds
in a comparative way. These rituals are organised around the recurring schema of a force
of place, both natural and wild, which was pacified by a founding ancestor who, along with
his descendants, became the sacrificers representing the entire community—a schema
the details and variations of which we have analysed. By legitimising the occupation of a
space by one group and promoting its fertility, these rituals are where many interlocking
stakes are crystallised. These involve the sources of subsistence and the legitimacy to
occupy a territory and also membership and power-play forms, both within the group and
in its relations with its neighbours and the umbrella power centres.
Domaines
Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie
Origine : Accord explicite pour ce dépôt
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