Jinamanjari 1996 09 No 14

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 90

This by itself, however, does not give ritual action a singular identity or meaning. The prescribed action of the ritual tends to modify or eradicate the intended meaning of the participant, and this effect is compounded when ritual performances are either compressed or stretched from one day to the next.
Citing the abhishek (act of anointing the murti) as an example, the co-authors note that different purposes, indeed whole different vocabularies, interpretations, and meanings are attached to the prescribed act. "Thus ritualization, in two distinct ways, obscures the relation between action and the goals people might wish to achieve by it: first, the acts can be made symbolic, metaphorical, and so forth, because there is no need for them to conform to practical requirements; second, ritualized acts need have no sequential rationality of one in relation to another.
In response to the argument presented by some that ritual is a non-linguistic instrument to communicate "meaning" and societal intent, Humphrey and Laidlaw argue that the relation between socially held purposes for rituals and the form and occurrence of ritualized acts is far from straightforward. Although they agree that ritualized performance can "communicate" a mental-emotional state conveyed by chanting, music and gestures, it became evident from the informants' interpretative "meanings" of Jain puja that ritual linguistic action -- is very limited in communicating meaning, ideas or concepts.
as non
Despite the use of what, at times, appears to be the incorporation of a quasi-western/Protestant template, Humphrey and Laidlaw have continued to open the current discourse in ritual theory. Therefore, the discursive models and meanings of rituals as one of the possible responses to ritual rather than as underlying it constitution, create a dialogue rather than closure. More interestingly, this fresh approach to anthropological discourse tends to redistribute authority and power from those who chose to call themselves the
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