Female Sexual Symbols of Sri Lankan Buddhist-Hindus

Obeyeskere says these women have objectified, or projected and externalized, their psychic pain in these matted locks, thereby allowing them to function as symptoms. But, because the locks are culturally intelligible they also serve as symbols and are capable of bestowing on the person a new social role, i.e. priestess rather than patient. He contends that the dominant emotion being objectified by the female ascetics is guilt, and that their personal experiences leading up to the development of matted hair constitute an orderly sequence of events which overtly dramatizes their inner turmoil while still adhering to the guidelines of the cultural myth model involved.

The symbol of matted hair is optional for ascetics, and is subject to manipulation by the person adopting it so it can be mae to fit her individual intrapsychic needs while continuing to function in a cultural idiom. Obeyeskere maintains that because the choice of the symbol involves option and manipulation, it is definitely linked to

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f his sakti. The pattern of increased devotion to the god, accompanied by decreased involvement in the family is clearly shown in this case, with the conflict between eros and agape eventually decided in the god's favor. II. It seems to me that the witchcraze of the 16th and 17th centuries can be analyzed according to Obeyeskere's model. The personal and cultural turmoil of the late Middle Ages could lead to the projection and externalization of these problems onto "witches". If people objectified their fear and anger in terms of witches, then by destroying the witches they could, theoretically, destroy their personal and cultural conflicts. Such an act would constitute a dramatization of inner pain similar to the ascetics. Silvia Bovenschen says the psychological explanation of the witchcraze involves fear of castration and "fear of the all-consuming mother", both of which exemplify the projection of sexual and aggressive impulses. She questions how such fears could become so extreme as to result in witch hunts, but I feel she answers her own question when she explains the societal chaos in Europe at that time, with growing rationalism and empiricism, spreading Christianity, famine, poverty and revolutions. Almost every
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Lankan Buddhist-Hindus, Karunavati Maniyo, Sri Lanka, Silvia Bovenschen, Sri Lankan, Bovenschen Obeyeskere, Lanka West, Middle Ages, III Obeyeskere, personal cultural, Sociology Spring, matted hair, sri lankan, projection externalization, development matted hair, development matted, social role, myth model, culturally intelligible, sequence events, inner turmoil,
Approximate Word count = 1461
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)