I am afraid our debate most of the time relapses into a simplistic notion of modernity and tradition as if they are available as such, out there. Just to indicate the complex interrelations between tradition, modernity and technology, let me quote another small part from Muralidharan's paper referred earlier in this forum.
"Social reform discourse made the modern community possible by ushering in a new sacred geography that fits into an emerging Bourgeois public sphere. The loss of the feudal patronage of the temples coincided with their release from local ties and symbolic associations. During this century, the semiotic value of the temple has altered. Firstly, certain temples like Guruvayoor and Sabarimala and on a smaller scale several minor ones became Pan—kerala or even pan South—India….A survey of the new literature of Bhakti, and the songs and films of a devotional hue would reveal that each God was liberated from local shackles and either generalized to an abstraction or hooked to a broader pantheon by means of several devises. While the process destroyed to agreat extent the graded nature of divinity , it preserved the more elite or Brahmanical Gods and practices by rendering them nearly universal.Many Muthappans, Chathans and Bhagavathis perished in this promotional venture that ensured a greater distribution of symbolic prestige and an upward mobility in the religious hierarchy. ….The feudal aura that surrounded the temple, its air of mystery and its aroma of rarity have all been successfully commodified and with new semiotic resonances.The aristocracy of the religious is no longer the religion of the aristocracy and hence the community functions as a market in signs. What it signifies or realizes is nearly as moot as the question of what the viewer of a TV serial consumes. On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 7:48 PM, C.K. Vishwanath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > in an aggressive communal atmosphere,This is what we are witnessing > Sivasena used arati to counter prayer of muslims in public space.All these > sounds and noices are using for the communalisation of public sphere.State > is the mute witness is here.Whic is why even asgar aki engineer asks-is > indian secularism dead?This is much more the crisis of urban public sphere > in indian social life.A particular type of vernacular public sphere and its > syncretic tradition is shifting towards a ghettoisation /lumpamisation of > civil life .Even the sacred private beliefs are pushing to social division > by which the political and religious capital is creating. > > > -- > Dileep R I thuravoor --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
