The anthropology of tacit knowledge in the domestic mandala: a case study of chhetris in the Kathmandu Valley
Date
2009
Authors
Gray, J.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology, 2009; 11:255-278
Statement of Responsibility
John Gray
Conference Name
Abstract
The epigraphs encapsulate the two major themes of this paper. As Bachelard's quotation suggests, Chhetri houses are not simply functional places for everyday living. Instead, the house and its surrounding compound are also an encompassing cosmos in which Chhetris of the Kathmandu Valley dwell and come to understand its fundamental principles.1 In their everyday activities of preparing, cooking and eating rice, Chhetri Householders spatially configure their domestic compounds into mandalas-sacred diagrams that are simultaneously maps of the cosmos and machines for revealing the truth of cosmos as a fundamental unity. At the same time, such everyday dwelling in a domestic mandalas is productive of knowledge of the cosmos they represent.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright status unknown