Materiality, affection, personhood: on sacrifice in the worship of the goddess Kali in Guyana

Abstract

This paper describes the ritual procedures associated with animal sacrifice in the worship of the Hindu goddess Kali in Guyana, formerly British Guiana. Animal sacrifice is explored through questions relating to materiality, personhood and the mutual permeability of persons and objects. The aim is to advance an interpretation based on native conceptions regarding the potential effects of the exchange and circulation of substances between devotees of the goddess Kali, Hindu deities, and ritual artefacts.

Dutch spirits, East Indians, and Hindu deities in Guyana: Contests over land

“…However, it is not recommended that they be trusted, for they are deceivers. In Kali temples, those who manifest the Dutch must also manifest Hindu deities, too, otherwise the person's body and mind can be easily controlled by the spirits (Mello 2020a). 27 A more detailed account was presented in my PhD dissertation (Mello 2014).…”

“…This entails attending weekly religious services, making offerings to deities, participating actively in rituals, and fasting for three days before attending weekly religious service 12 . To protect themselves from potentially nefarious forces, persons afflicted by malevolent beings, such as the Dutch spirits, must engage in several practices that aim to incorporate divine power (“shakti”) into their own bodily essences (Busby 1997; Ishii 2013; Marriott 1976; Mello 2020a; Nabokov 2000). Depending on the circumstances, more elaborate rituals are performed to the deities, either inside temples, on their precincts, or where the consultants live.…”

Espíritos, história e colonialismo na Guiana

“…Via de regra, as divindades prescrevem um período determinado de devoção aos consulentes. Ou seja, por alguns finais de semana, a pessoa em questão deve frequentar o templo, participar dos ritos, realizar ofertas e, eventualmente, iniciar o treinamento para manifestar divindades hindus, com o objetivo de incorporar o poder divino [shakti] em suas próprias essências corporais e morais (Mello, 2020c;Busby, 1997;Ishii, 2016;Marriott, 1976;Nabokov, 2001). Idealmente, à medida que as divindades se manifestam em humanos, os corpos destes se fortalecem e se tornam menos suscetíveis às influências de seres malévolos.…”

“…Alternativamente, os procedimentos rituais podem se limitar à realização do chamado boundary work, ou seja, oferta ritual que visa compensar os espíritos holandeses pelas suas perdas passadas, de modo a aplacar seus desejos de vingança, prevenir ataques espirituais e reconhecer, ao menos 28 | Disso não decorre que vereditos divinos sejam prontamente, e acriticamente, aceitos. A dúvida, a hesitação e o ceticismo são elementos fundamentais no próprio processo de validação desses vereditos (Mello, 2020c).…”