ဖော်ပြချက်/အကြောင်းအရာ:
"This paper is a short presentation of two Pwo Karen sects as they may be
found in contemporary Western Central Thailand. It will discuss the organization,
origin, and cultural content of the two denominations in order to
show how their politico-religious concepts and ritual architecture are related
to their historical position in a larger system comprising the Buddhist
monarchial civilizations of Burma and Thailand. It is my supposition that
the religious paraphernalia of present day sects materialized in a certain
historical context as symbols of royalty and autonomy, and in the larger
social context functioned to identify these Pwo Karen collectively as a
sovereign part of a larger civilized world. These symbols of self-defined
participation in the world, and at times even claims to superiority, had been
moulded according to a model set by the monarchism of the 18th century
Mon Buddhist kingdom in Lower Burma. It included a messianic Buddhist
framework, which precipitated millenarian expectations of the rise of a
world conqueror and subsequent future Buddha, the Buddha Ariya Mettaya,
who would install a new and ideal society for the elect. Viewing the
history of the Buddhist valley civilizations, be they Burmese, Mon or Thai,
we may see that this messianic aspect of Theravada Buddhism has been the
catalyst for both social discontent and personal political ambitions within
the Buddhist societies of Southeast Asia.2
The term 'Karen' covers a category of people in Burma and Thailand who
speak related languages. Karen-speaking people are spread over a large
area, and their habitations are found in the hills and forests as well as the
lowland. Everywhere Karen groups live interspersed among various other
ethnic groups, hill as well as valley peoples..."
ရင်းမြစ်:
Soertryk FOLK Reprint Vol. 23 1981 K0BENHAVN
Date of Publication:
1981-00-00
Date of entry:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
အကြောင်းအရာ/အမျိုးအစား:
Language:
English
မှတ်တမ်း:
ပုံစံ:
pdf
အရွယ်အစား:
246.61 KB