RELIGION, RITUAL AND EVERYDAY LIFE Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education Program (ISLE) Program

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1 RELIGION, RITUAL AND EVERYDAY LIFE Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education Program (ISLE) Program Suggested US semester credit hours: 4 IFSA-Butler Course Code: RL and PACS Delivery method: Face to Face Language of Instruction: English Coordinator: Kalinga Tudor Silva, kalingatudorsilva@gmail.com COURSE DESCRIPTION The course provides insights into the religious life of various ethnic communities in Sri Lanka: Sinhala Buddhists, Tamil Hindus and Muslims. It will include an examination of different forms of worship at home and in religious shrines, healing rituals as well as rites of passage. The course also explores inter and intra religious interactions as well as common ritual practices that overlap religious boundaries. EVALUATION METHODS 1. Participation in classroom discussions 2. Observation of ritual performances 3. Guided visits to religious shrines and pilgrimage centers 4. Preparing 3 short papers of 1,500-2,000 word length and maintaining journals. Grading Class participation 25% Journals 30% Three Short assignments 45% ATTENDANCE Students studying on an IFSA-Butler program are required to attend all regularly scheduled classes, studios, recitations, workshops and laboratory sessions. Failure to attend classes may result in a loss of credit and a fail on your transcript. The specific application of the attendance guidelines is at the instructor s discretion. Lateness or absence can affect the student s grade.

2 COURSE OUTLINE Session Topics Readings, viewings Pre Course during Jaffna Visit Hindu Temple 1 Introduction to the course S. Susindrarajah, (1979) Religiousness in the Saiva Village (?) In Religiousness in Sri Lanka, ed. John Ross Carter (Marga Institute), pp Bryan Pfaffenberger, Social Communication in Dravidian Ritual Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp Hendry, J. (1999) The Ritual Round. In Other People's World: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology New York City: New York University Press, 1999, pp BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS PRACTICE 2 Sangha The Theravāda Community of Monks i. Role of the Sangha as spiritual guides ii. Sangha as a field of merit iii. The influence of the Sangha in contemporary social and political life 3 Buddhist iv. Ritual of dāna, paritta, bodhipåjā and relic worship and special religious festivals (Perahera) v. Other Forms of Sinhala Buddhist Bhikkhu Kantipalo. Banner of the Arahants. Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy 2008, Chapters 2 and 5. Michael Carrithers. Michael Carrithers. The Forest Monks of Sri Lanka: An Anthropological and Historical Study. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1983, Chapter I. Tessa Bartholomeusz, Women Under the Bo Tree In Buddhist Nuns in Sri Lanka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp Richard F. Gombrich Buddhist Precept and Practice. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp Richard F. Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere Buddhism Transformed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp ; H.L.Seneviratne, 1963 The Asala Perahara in Kandy, in CeylonJournal of Historical and Social Studies 6(2): W.S.Karunatillake, 1979 The Religiousness of Buddhists in Sri Lanka through Belief and Practice in Religiousness in Sri Lanka, ed. John Ross Carter (Marga Institute), pp P.B.Meegaskumbura, 2006, Ch. 10, Bhikkhu, Kapurala and Adura: A Study on the Folk Ritual in Sri Lanka, in Identity and Difference: Essays on Society and Culture in Sri Lanka. Kandy: ISLE, pp

3 4 Buddhist Meditation i. Distinctive aims of meditation according to Theravāda canonical theory ii. Practice of meditation by laypersons and monks in contemporary Sri Lanka Satipatthana Sutta, Middle Length Sayings Vol. I, pp Anapanasati Sutta, Middle Length Sayings Vol. III, pp P.D. Premasiri. Meditation Encyclopaedia of Buddhism Vol. VI, pp Meditation Practice 6 The Buddhist Pantheon of Gods and Deities Obeyesekere Gananath, The Buddhist Pantheon in Ceylon and its Extensions In Anthropological Studies in Theravada Buddhism, Manning Nash, New Haven: Yale University Press. J.C.Holt, 1991 Introduction: The Setting and the Problem, In Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp Rohan Bastin, The Regenerative Power of Kali Worship in Contemporary Sinhala Buddhism Social Analysis No. 40, Sep 1996, pp De Silva, Premakumara God of Compassion and the Divine Protector of Sri Pada : Trends in Popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities (SLJH) Vol. xxxiv (No 1&2): pp Recommended: Obeyesekere Gananath, The Fire-walkers of Kataragama... Journal of the Asian Studies, 37: J.C.Holt, Ch. 3, The Sandalwood Image: Upulvan Deviyo and the Origins of the Visnu in Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lanka In The Buddhist Visnu. New York: Columbia University Press, pp Elizabeth Nissan, Polity and Pilgrimage in Sri Lanka in Man 23 (June, 1988), pp De Silva, Premakumara Hindu and Muslim Connections to Sri Pada In Religion in Context (ed.) Jayadeva Uyangoda, Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, pp

4 7 Exorcist and Healing Bruce Kapferer, 1983, Ch. 3, Demonic Illusions, Demons and the Cosmic Hierarchy In A Celebration of Demons, Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Sri Lanka. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp Bruce Kapferer, Emotion and Feeling in Sinhalese Healing Rites Social Analysis No. 1, 1979, pp Bob Simpson, Possession, Dispossession and the Social Distribution of Knowledge Among Sri Lankan Ritual Specialists The Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 3, No. 1 (March, 1997), pp Bodhi Puja H. L. Seneviratne and Swarna Wickermeratne., 1980, Bodhipuja: Collective Representations of Sri Lanka Youth. American Ethnologist, Vol. 7, No. 4: HINDU RELIGIOUS PRACTICE 9 Hindu Cosmology and Religious Pantheon Roger, Ballard. The Conceptual Foundations of the Hindu Cosmological Vision: An Introductory Glossary John Holt. The Hindu Buddha and the Buddhist Vishnu. Religious Transformation in India and Sri Lanka. Numeta Yehan Lecture in Buddhism, University Calgory, pdf 10 Puberty Rites and Wedding 11 Muslim Ethnic Groups and their Religiosity in Sri Lanka S. Kalaiselvam. Hinduism. r%20iv/hinduism/mr.s.kalaiselvam%20-%20hinduism.pdf Deborah Winslow, of First Menstruation in Sri Lanka. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp Anthony Good, The Female Bridegroom: of Puberty and Marriage in South India and Sri Lanka The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice, No. 11 (Oct., 1982), pp Nuhman, M.A, (2007), Sri Lankan Muslims; Ethnic Identity within Cultural Diversity, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo 8, p Shukry, M.A.M, (1986), Muslims of Sri Lanka: Avenues to Antiquity- Muslims of Sri Lanka-A Cultural Perspective, Beruwala: Jamiah Naleemia Ins, pp

5 Vamadevan, (1999), The History of the Sri Lankan Muslims, Wattle G rove, Australia, PP Islamic M.A.M.Hussain (1979) The Faith of Muslims in Sri Lanka through Belief and Practice In Religiousness in Sri Lanka, ed. John Ross Carter, pp ). Dennis McGilvray, Arabs, Moors and Muslims: Sri Lankan Muslim Ethnicity in Regional Perspective Contributions to Indian Sociology, Online Sage Publications, 1998: pp Religiosity among Muslim Women Farzana Haniffa, Piety as Politics Amongst Muslim Women in Contemporary Sri Lanka. Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2/3, Islam in South Asia (Mar May, 2008), pp EVERY DAY LIFE 14 Performative Aspects of in Everyday Life R. S. Perinbanayagam, Dramas of Structure, Theory and Performance in Northern Sri Lanka, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan., 1981), pp Ahalya Satkunaratnam, Staging War: Performing Bharata Natyam in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Dance Research Journal, Vol. 45, Issue. 1, 2013, pp ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Any academic endeavor must be based upon a foundation of honesty and integrity. Students are expected to abide by principles of academic integrity and must be willing to bear individual responsibility for their work while studying abroad. Any academic work (written or otherwise) submitted to fulfill an academic requirement must represent a student s original work. Any act of academic misconduct, such as cheating, fabrication, forgery, plagiarism, or facilitating academic dishonesty, will subject a student to disciplinary action. IFSA-Butler takes academic integrity very seriously. Students must not accept outside assistance without permission from the instructor. Additionally, students must document all sources according to the instructions of the professor. Should your instructor suspect you of plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty, you may receive a failing grade for the course and disciplinary action may result. The incident will be reported to the IFSA-Butler resident director as well as your home institution. Institute for Study Abroad, Butler University 6201 Corporate Dr., Suite 200 Indianapolis, IN