Theology of Karman: merit, death and release in the case of Varanasi, India

In this article, the focus is on the question as to what motives the pilgrims may have for performing pilgrimage, and, in doing this, the author deals especially with the Hindu tradition, namely with pilgrimage to Varanasi, Banaras or Kāśī, which is often considered the Hindu sacred city par excellence by both Hindus and Westerners alike.The sacred power of Varanasi has three sources: the eternal presence of Śiva from the time of creation, the cremation ghāṭand the presence of the river Gaṅgā. Furthermore, we found that the most characteristic thing about the power of Varanasi is its connection with death and its power to confer on the pilgrim the fruit of complete release from the circle of birth, death, and rebirth, something which is normally the privilege of the adherents of ascetic and other non-worldly systems. This feature is still reflected in the fact that many elderly people come to Varanasi in order to die and get cremated here, and many people from the surrounding areas still take the bodies of their dead relatives to Varanasi for cremation

Rituals between religion and politics: the case of VHP’s 2001-2002 Ayodhya-campaign

The present paper deals with rituals in a political discourse, namely the rituals employed by the right wing, Hindu nationalist movement, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in its campaign for a Rama temple in the north Indian town of Ayodhya. As is probably well-known, VHP is part of a group of organizations known as the Sangh Parivar, or sangh family, which also includes the presently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the ultranationalistic organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. The rituals of VHP are instruments of the construction of an ideal Hindu society and part of an encounter between Hindu-nationalist tenets and the secular, political establishment. However, the rituals employed by VHP can not be said to represent a separate ritual genre, since they are not different from similar, traditional Hindu rituals. What makes them different is their context and their motives, the fact that they do not serve ordinary material, eschatological, or soteriological aims, but rather political aims, as well as the fact that the ritual agents in this case do not seem to have a satisfactory juridical legitimacy to perform the rituals

Global land use implications of biofuels: State of the art conference and workshop on modelling global land use implications in the environmental assessment of biofuels

Background, Aims and Scope On 4¿5 June 2007, an international conference was held in Copenhagen. It provided an interdisciplinary forum where economists and geographers met with LCA experts to discuss the challenges of modelling the ultimate land use changes caused by an increased demand for biofuels. Main Features The main feature of the conference was the cross-breeding of experience from the different approaches to land use modelling: The field of LCA could especially benefit from economic modelling in the identification of marginal crop production and the resulting expansion of the global agricultural area. Furthermore, the field of geography offers insights in the complexity behind new land cultivation and practical examples of where this is seen to occur on a regional scale. Results Results presented at the conference showed that the magnitude and location of land use changes caused by biofuels demand depend on where the demand arises. For instance, mandatory blending in the EU will increase land use both within and outside of Europe, especially in South America. A key learning for the LCA society was that the response to a change in demand for a given crop is not presented by a single crop supplier or a single country, but rather by responses from a variety of suppliers of several different crops in several countries. Discussion The intensification potential of current and future crop and biomass production was widely discussed. It was generally agreed that some parts of the third world hold large potentials for intensification, which are not realised due to a number of barriers resulting in so-called yield gaps. Conclusions Modelling the global land use implications of biofuels requires an interdisciplinary approach optimally integrating economic, geographical, biophysical, social and possibly other aspects in the modelling. This interdisciplinary approach is necessary but also difficult due to different perspectives and mindsets in the different disciplines. Recommendations and Perspectives The concept of a location dependent marginal land use composite should be introduced in LCA of biofuels and it should be acknowledged that the typical LCA assumption of linear substitution is not necessarily valid. Moreover, fertiliser restrictions/accessibility should be included in land use modelling and the relation between crop demand and intensification should be further explored. In addition, environmental impacts of land use intensification should be included in LCA, the powerful concept of land use curves should be further improved, and so should the modelling of diminishing returns in crop production