Sherpas through their Rituals (Cambridge Studies in Cultural Systems) - Softcover

Ortner, Sherry B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521292166 ISBN 13: 9780521292160

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1978

Synopsis

The Sherpas of the Himalayas practice Tibetan Buddhism, a variety of Mahayana Buddhism. This is a general interpretation of Sherpa culture through examining the relationship between the Sherpas' Buddhism and other aspects of their society, and a theoretical contribution to the study of ritual and religious symbolism. In analysing the symbols of Sherpa rituals, professor Ortner leads us toward the discovery of conflict, contradiction, and stress in the wider social and cultural world. Following a general ethnographic sketch, each chapter opens with a brief description of a ritual. The ritual is then dissected, and its symbolic elements are used as guides in the exploration of problematic structures, relationships, and ideas of the culture. The author uses these rituals to illuminate the interconnections between religious ideology, social structure and experience. Professor Ortner analysis of the rituals reveals both the Buddhist pull toward exaggerating the isolation of individuals, and the secular pull that attempts to overcome isolation and to reproduce the conditions for social community.

About this title

Book Description

A mountain people of Sikkim State and Nepal, India, the Sherpas are related to Tibetans and share their culture and language. This text explores their lives, relationships and ways through an analysis of their religious rites.

About the Author

Sherry B. Ortner is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University and is currently completing her third book on the Sherpas of Nepal, "Life and Death on Mount Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering".

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521292166
• ISBN 13: 9780521292160
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208