ABSTRACT
The chapter argues that the relationship between the temple, rituals and people/pilgrims may be conceptualized through the relationships they created. These relationships were premised upon the notions of reciprocity: exchange and re-distribution. This relationship is, however, asymmetric in that the exchange is unequal, made up of abstract concepts such as grace, absolution and religious merits – all attained through darshan or divine-gaze – while reciprocity is couched in material terms – objects of rituals, money or provisioning. The re-distribution, therefore, is material, like prasada or consecrated food. The relationship thus established between the devotees and the divine is a social contract wherein the material is actualized within the spiritual, creating a religious value, which may be understood in such ideals as salvation, accumulation of merit or making good the afterlife.
This aim of this chapter is to comprehend the process by which the Himalayas were conceptualized and mapped as a sacred territory over time. Based on inscriptional, textual and visual material, the western-Himalayan temple rituals, the ritual economy and the agents performing these rituals have been documented.
