Assam

Assam constitutes the region of northeast India bounded by the modern nations of Bangladesh and Bhutan, as well as by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Bangla, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. Known in ancient sources as Prāgjyotiṣpūra (the “city of eastern lights”) and as Kāmarūpa (the “form” or “place of desire”), Assam remains one of the least studied and poorly understood areas of South Asian Hinduism. The home to more than forty recognized tribal communities, Assam has tremendous religious, ethnic, and linguistic diversity, which has helped shape the unique forms of Hinduism that have flourished in the region. Moreover, Assam also has a long reputation as a realm of magic, witchcraft, and the supernatural; for example, even in the early 21st century, the town of Mayong in Morigaon district is infamous as the quintessential “land of black magic.” The historical roots of Hinduism in Assam date back to at least the Varman dynasty of the 4th to 7th centuries, when Vedic sacrifices such as the aśvamedha and other Brahmanical rites were widespread. However, most of the kings of Assam from the Varmans onward came from non-Hindu tribal backgrounds, and the form of Hinduism that developed in the region has long been a complex negotiation between Sanskritic traditions and indigenous practices from the many local communities of the region. During the Assamese Pāla dynasty of the 8th to 12th centuries, Śākta traditions became dominant, and major texts such as the Kālikā Purāṇa were composed, praising the great mother goddess Kāmākhyā (goddess of desire) and her retinue of yoginīs. A unique form of Hindu tantra probably also began to flourish at this time, and Assam has a long reputation as one of the oldest heartlands or perhaps even the original homeland of tantra in South Asia. The Ahom kings of the 13th to 19th centuries continued the patronage of powerful goddesses while also building temples to Śiva, Viṣṇu, and others. During the 16th century, Assam like much of northern India witnessed a powerful revival of Vaiṣṇava bhakti, led by the devotional reformer Śaṅkaradeva (b. 1449–d. 1568). Through Śaṅkaradeva’s influence, Vaiṣṇavism remains a dominant cultural and religious force in Assam to this day. However, even in the 21st century, Assamese Hinduism remains incredibly diverse, and one can still see a wide range of indigenous, folk, and local practices that range from magic and menstruation festivals to spirit possession and ecstatic dance performances.

ARKETIPE DALAM KUMPULAN CERITA RAKYAT OGAN KOMERING ILIR DAN IMPLEMENTASI PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA INDONESIA

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan arketipe dalam kumpulan cerita rakyat Ogan Komering Ilir dan implementasi pembelajaran bahasa Indonesia di SMA. Pendekatan yang digunakan ialah kualitatif dan metode deskriptif analisis. Dalam analisis ini menggunakan teori Carl Gustav Jung, yaitu arketipe dalam ketidaksadaran kolektif yang meliputi arketipe pesona (topeng), bayangan (shadow), anima, animus, ibu agung (great mother), orang tua yang bijak (wise old man), hero, dan diri (self). Hasil analisis diperoleh tujuh arketipe dari lima cerita rakyat, yaitu Putri Jari Sakti terdapat satu arketipe, Cinta Juliah Putri Ningrat terdapat lima arketipe, Si Seman Lempuing terdapat empat arketipe, Putri Gelam terdapat empat arketipe dan Keadilan Bagi Pangeran Batun tiga arketipe. Sementara itu, dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia prosa lama ini bisa diadopsi sebagai materi pelajaran, karena setiap cerita lama terdapat bayangan-bayangan leluhur yang disebut dengan arketipe yang muncul dalam ketidaksadaran kolektif pada setiap manusia.

SYMBOLISM OF THE GREAT MOTHER SABA AND RITES RELATED TO HER

The purpose of the study is to reveal the mythological symbolism of the “saba” leather wineskin, revered in the traditional culture of Kazakhs and related peoples. The methods of structural-semantic and comparative analysis, the analytical school of K.G. Jung, the mytholinguistic school of S. Kondybai, as well as the concept of symbolic capital of P. Bourdieu used to analyze the Kazakh folklore, linguistic and ethnographic material about the saba wineskin, in which koumiss is sourd and butter is beaten. The originality and value of the research lies in the fact, that the available ethnographic, folklore and linguistic materials about the wineskin-saba were interpretedby the author in a new way in the context of the assumption, made by S. Kondybai. The essence of S. Kondybai's idea is that the image of Sauap-khan in one of the versions of the epic "Koblandy" was originally a female character named Saba-apa and represented one of the incarnations of the mythological Great Mother. The results of the study: the symbolism of the wineskin-saba as the Great Mother and the World Mountain is revealed, the connection of this symbolism with the images of a woman and a mare, and the special role of women in traditional rituals associated with kumis are explained. Process of butter beating in saba interpreted as cosmogonic act, in which the Great Mother creates the world.

Paleolithic Women’s Spirituality and its Relevance to us Today

In this paper, I consider Paleolithic women's spirituality as expressed through various aspects of their artwork found in the caves of Spain and the ‘Venus figurines and suggest these icons may be seen as an attempt by some of early these women artists to translate their own inner experiences and insights cataphatically, and thereby reconcile the tension between the image-less I experience ineffable transcendence using didactic expression grounded in images. This method was used later by the Spanish mystic Santa Teresa, who clearly felt the mystery needs to be related to personally; it is not an abstract mystery, but a mystery that is alive, that vibrates through us and is what animates every cell in our body; we are an embodiment of this living mystery. Whereas in the 16 Century it was normal for Teressa to consider the mystery as God, it was most likely customary for Paleolithic women to think of the mystery as the Universal or Great Mother, an insight some of them probably arrived at through analogy with the creative force expressing itself through their pregnant bodies. Whereas Santa Teresa employed images that meant something to the people living during her time, these ancient women probably did the same. From this perspective, their artwork may be seen as pointers to this 'entity' or mystery, which, is both immanent in creation and at the same time is beyond duality and all definitions. Here, I also submit that they probably realized the creative aspect of the enigma through their pregnancies, and, in their death, they recognized it as the destructive or dark phase in the cycle of life that is so necessary for ‘rebirth’ to occur, and, in its expression through celestial events, they probably celebrated it through their rituals and their pilgrimages which took place at specific times of the year.

O sagrado feminino: A figura arquetípica da mulher em narrativas míticas Paiter Suruí

O estudo analisa a figura feminina arquetípica presente nas narrativas míticas de autoria Paiter Suruí, povo indígena residente na fronteira entre os estados de Rondônia e Mato Grosso, no Brasil. Para tanto, utiliza-se como fonte de dados setes narrativas Paiter Suruí apresentadas no livro Vozes de Origem, uma coleção de histórias narradas por indígenas Paiter Suruí em sua língua de origem, o tupi-mondé, à antropóloga Betty Mindlin, responsável pela tradução para o português e organização do livro. Como referencial teórico-metodológico é utilizada a abordagem Analítica da Psicologia a partir do conceito de amplificação simbólica proposto por Carl G. Jung (1875–1961) e elaborado como método de análise por Marie Louise Von Franz (1915–1998). O percorrer da análise indica os arquétipos femininos existentes nessa cultura através de suas narrativas míticas, sendo predominante o Arquétipo da Donzela, da Grande Mãe e da Mulher Fatal. De acordo com a Psicologia Analítica, pode-se observar que a narração mítica indígena constitui um todo de sentido coerente e organizado sobre a psique: os processos inconscientes são transpostos para as narrativas, nas quais a figura arquetípica feminina surge como uma representação da figura da mulher na sociedade Paiter Suruí; e a narrativa mítica como uma representação da realidade cultural indígena dessa etnia, bem como uma propagação de seus valores. Partindo desse pressuposto, as narrativas míticas representam, por meio da simbologia, elementos de significado, tais como a organização da sociedade Paiter Suruí, aspectos que representam o feminino e os padrões de comportamentos esperados. The study analyzes the archetypal female figure present in the mythical narratives of Paiter Suruí, an indigenous people residing on the border between the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso, in Brazil. For this, seven Paiter Suruí narratives presented in the book Vozes de Origem, a collection of stories narrated by Paiter Suruí indigenous peoples in their native language, the tupi-mondé,to the anthropologist Betty Mindlin, responsible for the translation into the Portuguese and organization of the book, are used as the data source. As a theoretical-methodological framework, the Analytical approach of Psychology is used from the concept of symbolic amplification proposed by Carl G. Jung (1875–1961) and elaborated as a method of analysis by Marie Louise Von Franz (1915–1998). The analysis course indicates the female archetypes existing in this culture through their mythical narratives, being predominant the Archetype of the Maiden, the Great Mother and the Fatal Woman. According to Analytical Psychology, it can be observed that the mythical indigenous narrative constitutes a coherent and organized sense of meaning about the psyche:unconscious processes are transposed into narratives, in which the female archetypal figure emerges as a representation of the figure of woman in Paiter Suruí society; and the mythical narrative as a representation of the indigenous cultural reality of this ethnicity, as well as a propagation of its values. Based on this assumption, the mythical narratives represent, through symbology, elements of meaning, such as the organization of the Paiter Suruí society, aspects that represent the feminine and the patterns of expected behaviors.

Мифо-архетипические мотивы психобиографии Тараса Шевченко

The study of various aspects of the symbolic biography of Taras Shevchenko is a contemporary direction of modern Ukrainian literary criticism. This article analyzes the mythological and archetypal motifs in Great Mother. They played a special role in the life and work of the poet, who never made up for the slave and orphan complexes. The strategy of symbolic-biographical analysis significantly expands the psychoanalytic context of the study.

Staroverstvo - the Old Religion - the Slovene Pre-Christian Religion

The data about staroverstvo, i.e. about the pre-Christian religion in three regions in Slovenia are reviewed. The most archaic of them is the Posoško staroverstvo - the Old Religion around the upper Soča River valley. For it is characteristic the single, female god, the Great Mother, a number of spirits, importance of triangular features, rocks, caves, stone and wood, way of life in peace, reincarnation of souls. The Kraško staroverstvo - the Old Religion in the Karst region is intermediate between it and the East Slavic pre-Christian religion. The influence of the arrival of agriculture about 7,500 years ago is indicated in it. The Dolenjsko staroverstvo - the Old Religion in Western Lower Carniola reflects the Iron Age situation. Characteristic for it is the revering of waters as well as the neighboring hill-forts and bird-hills. The hill-forts started to be erected on the intrusion from east of the Y chromosome haplogroup R1b people about 6,500 years ago. The bird-hills served the birds, which would carry the soul of the deceased into the other world, possibly onto the other side of the moon. All these Old Religions indicate that the ancestors of Slovenes did not arrive in the 6th Century AD from east of the Carpathian Mountains but were aboriginal in Slovenia.

THE MOTHER ARCHETYPE and HANDS ON HIPS MOTIF

Symbols have become the most important tool for the human being’s self-expression from the first cave paintings to architecture. Each symbol has formed with values such as a message, thought and wish. In the memory of almost in every culture, the definition of weaving has been done over concepts such as eternity, immortality and plentifulness, however there is scarcely any data about their starting point. Archetype concept can be used to fill in these data blanks. Archetypes, propounded by the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, modelling the human character and collective unconscious relations, have been efficient in bringing the mythological elements to come in sight. Concepts such as great mother and mother goddess, showing similarity in many geographies, is the biggest example of the mythologies shaped with collective unconscious. Many motifs in weaving involve mythological elements. Therefore, the relation between motif and archetype will provide benefits for defining the output sources of symbols. One of the most important archetypes developed by Jung is the “Mother” archetype. The motif which corresponds to mother archetype is the Hands on Hips in Anatolian weavings. Literature survey has been conducted in this study, emphasizing the relation between one of the symbolic building blocks of Turkish weaving arts; Hands on Hips motif and the mother archetype and as a result of the study, it is surmised that mother archetype has been a precipitating element in motherhood concept in reflecting to the motifs. Key Words: Hands on Hips Motif, Mother Archetype, Weaving, Carl Gustav Jung.