Religion, as defined by Anthony F. C. Wallace in his book Religion: An Anthropological View, is the beliefs and rituals concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces. An anthropologist has to study religion as a social phenomenon and pay attention to the meanings of religious doctrines, settings, acts, and events. One of the founders of the anthropology of religion, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor thought that religion arose as a way to comprehend conditions and events that people could not explain by reference to daily experience. Religion is a very influential factor in bringing people or breaking them apart. It is a major factor in understanding the culture of a group of people.
The Aboriginal Australians believe in polytheism, which is the belief in multiple gods. In order to represent the gods, they use deities--which are representations either in the form of images or objects. The deities fall under three categories: the creation beings, ancestral beings, and totemic beings.
Since birth, I was raised under the religion of Hinduism. Much like the religion of the aboriginal Australians, Hinduism is polytheistic. Unlike the aboriginal Australians, however, we do not have three categories that our gods fall under. In Hinduism, we have a separate god for each different function. For example, we have a god of education, god of wealth, god of heaven, et cetera. The gods, however, don't fall under any distinct categories. Each god has his or her own function and is represented through either a human-like or animal-like image. The Hindu religious doctrines tell stories of these gods as if they lived on Earth well before our time. The gods lived as normal human beings; however, they had powers that gave them more authority than the average person. The deities in Hinduism are not native to just one tribe. Hinduism is universal, in terms of the gods that we have, so every Hindu has the same gods. The stories about the gods have different variations though.
Even though the religion of the Aboriginal Australians and Hinduism--which is what I was raised under--is very different there are still some similarities. Both religions are polytheistic and both have deities. The deities for both religions also contain a story that represents the culture of the people in the religion.
Kottak, Conrad Phillip
2012 Mirror for Humanity. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
2012 Mirror for Humanity. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Charishma, this is really good because you are comparing with a culture that is yours, and also being very reflexive, which is what I asked you for, but you are, or seem to be doing it all in one post. I am reading through all these posts. I haven't seen any other posts yet by you, but if there is no ethnographic post below, you might need to make this one post into two. I am very happy with you all for being so proactive, though. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI know what you were telling me Charishma. This is great, as I said it in the comment belowe, and you did it way ahead of time, but I am asking you to keep it consistent with your group members. They are writing their reflexive comment in the "comments" section. You are doing it all in one section. I think that was what you told me when you approached me on Wednesday, right? Just try to separate it, as the rest are doing, so you can all keep it consistent. Great job, and I appreciate it :-)
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