3 Review(s)

The essays in the volume Consecration Rituals in South Asia address the ritual procedures that accompany the installation of temple images in Shaiva, Vaishnava, Buddhist and Jain contexts, in various traditions and historical periods. Through the performance of complex rites designated with the term pranapratishtha (establishment of, or infusion with, life), man-made sculptures are ritually transformed into (recep­tacles of) deities. The collection is thematically and methodically broad, with a large number of detailed textual studies, but also with ethno­graphic contributions that discuss contemporary instances of con­secration rituals. Among the overarching themes are issues related to historical continuity and change, as well as transformational moments in such rituals.