Enshrining Space: Shrines, Public Space and Hinduization among the Kulung of Nepal

• Main Author: Grégoire Schlemmer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2018-07-01
• Series: South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
• Subjects: Nepal; shrine; altar; representation; Hinduization; public space
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/4603

What can the notion of “shrine,” especially “wayside shrine,” tell us about a society? A wayside shrine could be defined as an edifice including a material representation of powers, which is built in a public space and open to all. Such a definition leads us to focus on three main notions associated with it. First of all, that of material representation and its complex association with the presence of powers. Secondly, the notion of public space and how it emerges in relation with the state. And, finally, that of ritual unit and the question of what a ritual unit implies, besides the participation of its members in ritual activity. Describing the emergence of these types of shrines among the Kulung Rai, a so-called tribal society of the Nepalese Himalayas, will lead us to discuss some major changes that have occurred in this society over the last hundred and fifty years and that can be regarded as a Hinduization process coming “from below.”