Kataragama : a god for all seasons /
In ever-increasing numbers Sinhalese of all religions (Muslims, Christians and Buddhists) are turning to Kataragama, an ancient Hindu God, at times of trouble and desperation. Once a year pilgrims make the journey to Kataragama's shrine in southeast Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to fulfil vows by performi...
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| Online Access: |
Full text (MCPHS users only) |
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| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Electronic Video |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London :
Royal Anthropological Institute,
1973
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| Series: | Disappearing world
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | In ever-increasing numbers Sinhalese of all religions (Muslims, Christians and Buddhists) are turning to Kataragama, an ancient Hindu God, at times of trouble and desperation. Once a year pilgrims make the journey to Kataragama's shrine in southeast Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to fulfil vows by performing acts of penance and worship in payment for a favour received. Kataragama is called on to help with a wide range of problems (unemployment, sickness, examinations, personal relationships) and is appealed to by people of all social backgrounds, notably the growing middle class and urban dwellers. A good third of the film is concerned with the annual festival, showing the often gruesome and sensational acts which the pilgrims perform including fire-walking, and the piercing of body and tongue with needles - all acts designed to obtain forgiveness and grace. One man is suspended from hooks in his back - a self-torture undertaken with apparent joy by a man who, like many others that perform such acts, feels himself (after a time) to be possessed by the God's spirit. These rather sensational acts are interwoven with the story of a peasant family whose son has disappeared, leading them eventually to seek help from Kataragama. The unfolding of this personal drama (with reconstruction of early episodes, and voice-over to detail their thoughts and feelings) forms the context for the events we see at the festival. The effect of the interweaving of these two `stories' is to place the otherwise purely exotic spectacle of the pilgrims' acts of penance within a universally understandable social context - that of the despair of a family whose young son is lost. The unplanned return of the boy, apparently in response to the family's appeal to Kataragama, provides a dramatic and moving finale to a film which has been compared in some respects to the great Italian neo-realist films. Clearly this film is an important one both for anthropologists and those concerned with ethnographic film per se. |
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| Item Description: | Title from resource description page (viewed Feb. 6, 2014). |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (54 min.). |
| Playing Time: | 00:53:32 |
| Access: | Access restricted to authorised ANU staff and students. |
| Language: | This edition in English. |
| Date/Time and Place of an Event Note: | Recorded in Sri Lanka. |
