Book Reviews : ISHITA BANERJEE DUBE, Divine Affairs: Religion, Pilgrimage, and the State in Colo nial and Postcolonial India. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2001, pp. 195

Abstract

Ishita Banerjee Dube has written an important book about the cult of Jagannath in Puri and the long historical struggle for control of the rituals, the festivals and, above all, the pilgrimage income among the raja of Puri, the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial governments, and the various ritual functionaries associated with the temple. The book has four chapters arranged thematically rather than chronologically. The major themes include the following: (i) the myths and legends associated with Puri and Jagannath; (ii) the legal, political and religious relations between the temple and the raja of Khurda/Puri, on the one hand, and between the raja and the colonial and post-colonial states on the other; (iii) the everyday and festival activities of the temple managed by often competing groups of ritual functionaries, especially cooks, guards and pilgrimage guides (pandas), and their relentless efforts to extract income from the pilgrims and avoid administrative control by the raja or state; (iv) the famous car festival of Jagannath, its liturgical cycle, and the multiple meanings assigned to the festival and the pilgrimage to Puri to attend it. In addition, the introduction addresses some of the more theoretical