audiobook Hindu Spirituality: Vedas Through Vedanta (World Spirituality) by From Crossroad Publishing Company in History

Description

The spectacular Lingsar festival is held annually at a village temple complex built above the most abundant water springs on the island of Lombok; near Bali. Participants come to the festival not only for the efficacy of its rites but also for its spiritual; social; and musical experience. A nexus of religious; political; artistic; and agrarian interests; the festival also serves to harmonize relations between indigenous Sasak Muslims and migrant Balinese Hindus. Ethnic tensions; however; lie beneath the surface of cooperative behavior; and struggles regularly erupt over which group - Balinese or Sasak - owns the past and dominates the present. "Bridges to the Ancestors" is a broad ethnographic study of the festival based on over two decades of research. The work addresses the festival's players; performing arts; rites; and histories; and considers its relationship to the island's sociocultural and political trends. Music; the most public icon of the festival; has been largely responsible for overcoming differences between the island's two ethnic groups. Through the intermingling of Balinese and Sasak musics at the festival; a profound union has been forged; which participants confirm has been the event's primary social role. Bridges to the Ancestors effectively reveals the Lingsar festival as a site of cultural struggle as the author explores how history; identity; and power are constructed and negotiated. He addresses the fascinating interaction between music and myth and the forces of modernity; globalization; authenticity; tourism; religion; regionalism; and nationalism in maintaining "tradition."