Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia Online

Get access Subject: Asian Studies


Edited by:
Marine Carrin (Editor-in-Chief), University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, and Michel Boivin, Centre for South Asian Studies (CNRS-EHESS), Gérard Toffin, Centre d’Études Himalayennes, Paul Hockings, University of Illinois at Chicago, Raphaël Rousseleau, Université de Lausanne, Tanka Subba, North-Eastern Hill University, Harald Tambs-Lyche, University of de Picardie-Jules Verne (Section Editors)

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Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia strives to reflect the diversity of indigenous cultures of South Asia with its many language groups and religious traditions. Shaped by their own mythologies, these tribal religions differ in form and content from Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity, though variants of the latter traditions have been adopted by some indigenous people. Religion is taken in a broad sense and includes aspects of morality, symbolism, identity formation, environmental concerns, and art. Far from being simple survivals of an earlier stage, these religions often show remarkable capacity for adaptation and change. The approach is contemporary rather than a reconstruction of an anterior state, though it does not overlook relevant historical processes.

More information: Brill.com

Pakistan: Introduction

(10 472 mots)

Auteur(s): Boivin, Michel
In the 1973 constitution of Pakistan, which is still in force, the preamble states that all citizens are equal before the law (art. 25), and that they have the right to preserve and promote their specific language, script, and culture and to establish institutions to do so (art. 28). In part IX, entitled Islamic Provisions, it states that all laws must be in conformity with the injunctions of Islam as they exist in the Qur ʾ ān and the sunnah, that is, the compilation of Prophet Muḥammad’s sayings known as ādi s (art. 227.1), but that nothing shall affect the personal laws of non-Mu…
Date: 2021-11-10

Paliyan

(5 584 mots)

Auteur(s): Gardner, Peter M.
Among peaceful, egalitarian Paliyan (plur. Paliyar) foragers in the south Indian hills, 28% of men and women serve as the mouthpiece (shaman) of a male or female protecting god ( cami). A  cami can both diagnose whether an attacking spirit, sorcery, or immoral human behavior has caused an illness or injury and deal with such a problem.  Kattu karuppu (or  kattu) spirits attack Paliyar quite frequently, but protecting gods are able to chase them away. Shamanistic sessions occur every week or two in any local group; they often last more than an hour or t…
Date: 2021-11-10

Pardhan

(5 959 mots)

Auteur(s): Guidolin, Monica
The Pardhan are generally defined as traditional bards and court musicians of the Raj Gond, a dominant group of landowners that since the early 11th century were the rulers of a vast multi-tribal society. During the Gond royal power imposed in the regions of central India particularly from the 14th to the 16th centuries, the Pardhan negotiated their position with the small local princely states constituting the ancient Gond kingdoms. This region was subject to the influence of the feudal Rājpūt …
Date: 2021-11-10

Pashtun

(4 957 mots)

Auteur(s): De Chiara, Matteo
The Pashtuns (or Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns, Pathans) are an ethnic group of about 50 million peoples mainly inhabiting a large area extending from eastern Afghanistan – from Kabul to Kandahar – to western Pakistan – from Swat district to Peshawar, Kalat, and Quetta. They are also found in other areas of Pakistan, such as Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, as well as in other countries, that is, India, Malaysia, Dubai, and more. Their economy is mainly based on agriculture, commerce, and pastor…
Date: 2021-11-10

Pastoralists (Hindu)

(8 051 mots)

Auteur(s): Tambs-Lyche, Harald
Pastoralists may form a small proportion of Gujarat’s population today, but they have been significant historically and continue to hold an important place in the regional tradition. The cycle of myths centering on Kṛṣṇa is of crucial importance here, as the members of the Ahir (Ahīr) caste claim to be the descendants of his people. Together with the Charan (Cāran), the Rabari (Rabārī), and the Bharwad (Bharvāḍ), they designate themselves as daglābhāī (lit. “brothers of the blanket”), from the blanket ( daglā) worn by the cattle herders on their wanderings, used to shield …
Date: 2021-11-10

Pastoralists (Sindhi-Muslim)

(8 569 mots)

Auteur(s): Maru, Natasha
The pastoralists in the Banni grassland of Kachchh district, Gujarat, present a unique ethnic, linguistic, religious, livelihood-based and transnational identity. Though included within the broader socio-economic category of māldhārī (lit. “those that have the wealth of livestock”), a term that has gained currency over the past couple of decades through development efforts by both government and civil society, they differ from the other communities in this group for being ethnically and linguistically Sindhi, religiously M…
Date: 2021-11-10

Paudi Bhuiyan

(7 517 mots)

Auteur(s): Skoda, Uwe
The Paudi Bhuiyan represent a small section of the larger Bhuiyan (“Earth People”) community. Other names commonly used for them are Hill Bhuiyan, just Bhuiyan, Bhuiya, and Bhuyan. Paudi Bhuiyans are classified by the government of India as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Community (PVTG). As one of 12 such communities in Odisha and 75 in India, they are entitled to additional annual development programs for the fields of education (the average literacy rate among Paudi Bhuiyans in Bonai subdiv…
Date: 2021-11-10