On the banks of the Gaṅgā : when wastewater meets a sacred river 9780472068081, 0472068083, 9780472098088, 047209808X
Alley investigates ethno-semantic, discursive, and institutional data to flesh out the interplay between religious, scie
239 41 59MB
English Pages [310] Year 2002
Recommend Papers
- Author / Uploaded
- Kelly D. Alley
File loading please wait...
Citation preview
On the Banks of the Gahga
On the Banks of the
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2002
For Ali, Zahra, and Khayr
Contents
VIII
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
XII
XIII
Introduction: Field Methods and
On the Banks of the Gahga
3
On the Banks of the Gahga
5
On the Banks of the Gahga
7
On the Banks of the Gahga
9
IO
II
I2
13
PART I
CHAPTER I
i8
19
20
2I
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
CHAPTER 2
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
CHAPTER 3
51
Map i. The Ganga basin. (Map source: World Wide Fund for Nature-India and Paani Morcha, modified by Cyrus Dawsey.)
53
54
55
On the Banks of the Gahga
Fig. ii. Contemporary outdoor exhibit of Ganiga's descent from heaven
Fig. z. Sculpture of Mother Ganga (eighth century)
59
60
6i
62
Fig. 3. Priest performing arati on Paficganga ghat
64
The Power of Gahga
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
PART 2
CHAPTER 4
76
77
78
79
8o
8i
Fig. 5. Pilgrims washing utensils in the Ganga
83
0(
Sacred Purity and Uncleanness
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
I00
I0I
102
103
I04
105
CHAPTER 5
IO7
108
109
ii..
. .. .
III
112
II3
I 14
II5
116
II7
I18
PART 3
CHAPTER 6
I22
123
I24
I25
I26
127
I28
I29
130
I31
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
CHAPTER 7
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
PART 4
CHAPTER 8
On the Banks of the Gahga
157
On the Banks of the Gahga
159
I6o
161
162
..................
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
I7I
I72
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
CHAPTER 9
181
182
183
184
I85
i86
187
188
189
190
191
192
Fig. 10. Wastewater flowing from a tannery into a nai
194
Fig. i i. Human corpses washed up on sandy banks
196
197
198
199
N
201
202
203
204
205
206
CHAPTER 10
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
CHAPTER II
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
24I
242
243
244
245
246
247
Notes
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
Glossary
266
Bibliography
268
269
270
27I
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
28o
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
29I
Index
294
295
296