Ritual Innovation

Brian K. Pennington is Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University and the author of Was Hinduism Invented? Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion. Amy L. Allocco is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University.

"The volume is a very important contribution to the ongoing discussion on South Asian ritual, ancient and contemporary. Many case studies in this volume show that even strategic change is often not presented as innovation, but rather as the return to an original tradition, as the restitution of an older and better state before time corrupted the ritual system. It shows clearly that looking closely at ritual practices within their specific historical and local contexts helps understand how religious traditions maintain a 'timeless' aura while constantly adapting to a rapidly changing world." — Reading Religion"The breadth of coverage in Ritual Innovation is extraordinary and refreshing in terms of the types of contemporary ritual practices and practitioners receiving attention, not to mention the geographic spread across South Asia. This book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on South Asian religions and contemporary Hinduism." — Karline McLain, author of The Afterlife of Sai Baba: Competing Visions of a Global Saint

• List of Figures and TablesAcknowledgmentsIntroductionBrian K. Pennington and Amy L. Allocco Part I. Ritual Innovation and Political Power 1. Coronation of the Hindu King: Tradition and Innovation in Nepalese HistoryNawaraj Chaulagain2. Ritual Replacement and the Unmaking of Monarchy: Notes on Nepal’s Bhot.o Jātrā, 2006–2008Anne T. Mocko3. Innovating the Ancient, Instantiating the Urban: The South Asian Indra FestivalMichael C. Baltutis4. Changes in Ritual Practice at the Himalayan Hindu Shrine of KedarnathLuke Whitmore5. Ritual Renunciation and/or Ritual Innovation? Redescribing Advaita TraditionReid B. Locklin Part II. Ritual and the Economies of Caste and Class 6. Ancestral Rites Reworked: The Transition from Solemn to Domestic Modes of Feeding the DeadMatthew R. Sayers7. Flower Showers for the Goddess: Borrowing, Modification, and Ritual Innovation in Tamil NaduAmy L. Allocco8. Consuming Krishna: Women, Class, and Ritual Economies in Pushtimarg VaishnavismShital Sharma Part III. Ritual and the Negotiation of Gender 9. Village Widow/Town Priestess: Innovating Ritual Power in a Pilgrimage EconomyBrian K. Pennington10. Leveraging Agency: Young Jain Women’s Ritual Innovations through the Updhān FastM. Whitney Kelting11. Ritual Innovation and Masculine Identity Formation in the Contemporary Cult of Lord AyyappanLiz Wilson Part IV. Ritual Innovation in Contemporary Transnational Contexts 12. Dancing the Vedas, Deritualizing Theory: A Study of "The Universal Truth"Charles S. Preston13. Ganesha and the Chocolate Almonds: Ritual Innovation and Efficacy in DiasporaJanet Gunn14. Recasting Sexuality, Gender, and Family through Contemporary Canadian Ritual InnovationSudharshan Durayappah and Corinne G. DempseyContributorsIndex