Numen 2010 - 57,3-4

Numen
Nvmen : international review for the history of religions / ed. on behalf of the International Association for the History of Religions. - Leiden [u.a.] : Brill, 1954-
Erscheinungsverlauf:
1.1954 -
ISSN 0029-5973 (Print-Ausgabe)
ISSN 1568-5276 (Online-Ausgabe)
URL: IngentaConnect
URL: Numen - Brill

Inhalt: 57,3-4 (2010)
Folgende Artikel enthalten einen Südasien-Bezug:

• Blackburn, Anne M.: „Buddha-Relics in the Lives of Southern Asian Polities“, S. 317-340
  DOI: 10.1163/156852710X501333
  

  Abstract: Drawing on literary and inscriptional evidence from Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia, this essay examines the place of Buddha-relics — potent traces of a Buddha — in the life cycle of southern Asian political formations. In the formation of new polities and/or new dynasties, relics were drawn into the physical landscape and literary memory of the state, in order to provide protection and to claim desirable lineage and authority. At times of heightened military and political activity, when kingdoms were at risk, the protection and deployment of relics, and their ritual engagement, formed part of the state's central technologies. During periods of victory and restoration, relic festivals and the enhancement of a landscape embedded with relics, were used to display, affirm, and protect the royal court.

• Flügel, Peter: „The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas“, S. 389-504
  DOI: 10.1163/156852710X501351
  

  Abstract: This article gives an overview of recent findings on the thriving cult of bone relic stūpas in contemporary Jaina culture. Although Jaina doctrine rejects the worship of material objects, fieldwork in India on the hitherto unstudied current Jaina mortuary rituals furnished clear evidence for the ubiquity of bone relic stūpas and relic veneration across the Jaina sectarian spectrum. The article discusses a representative case and assesses the significance of the overall findings for the history of religions. It also offers a new theoretical explanation of the power of relics.