essay
Purity and impurity in the death rituals of Bengal
Bengal : studies in literature, society and history • (27) • Published In 1976 • Pages: 115-120
By: Bhattacharyya, Manibrata.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Notions of purity (SAUCA) and impurity (ASAUCA) are significant factors influencing the social life of Bengali Hindus. In this article Bhattacharyya examines the meaning of these concepts in relationship to rituals associated with death; in particular, those ceremonies by means of which '…the deceased is progressively transformed from a person, now dead, to a spirit (PRETA), and then to an ancestor (PITRI)' (p. 115). Throughout the transformation process the author shows how purity and impurity are central themes, for as the deceased moves from one stage to the next, each previous stage becomes impure and must be 'overcome' through the proper acts of purification by members of the deceased's kin. Thus, to the Hindu, purity and impurity are conceived as conditional states, relative in nature, yet in constant flux (although this latter point is not elaborated on in the text). Prior to each transformational stage the deceased is impure relative to the status toward which he or she is changing, but pure relative to the status from which he or she is changing.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Lineages
- Burial practices and funerals
- Mourning
- Eschatology
- Purification and atonement
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Bengali
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- South Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Unknown
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1992
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1968-1972 [p. 119]
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Kangsbati Valley, West Bengal, India
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Manibrata Bhattacharyya
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- none
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bengalis