Q. How does the body act as a sign and a host for religious practices?

Ans:
The concept of the body is central in religious studies as religious contents are
dependent upon the material existence of human bodies. Bodies are relevant in
religious studies first and foremost for the reason that some bodies support
religious beliefs, desires and actions, or for the reason that they are ascribed
religious meanings. This can further be elucidated with reference to the essay
“The Pre-eminence of the Right Hand: A Study in Religious Polarity” written by
Robert Hertz.
It is observed that while the Right hand is associated with honour, flattering
designations and prerogatives, the Left hand is reduced to a supporting role, given
the role of a humble auxiliary which can do nothing on its own. While this
phenomenon has often been attributed to biological make-up of humans, the
author argues that the preponderance of the right hand is obligatory and imposed
by coercion and guaranteed by sanctions. Right handedness appears to be
something that is not only simply accepted and submitted to as a natural necessity
but is also treated as an ideal that to which everybody must conform to and society
itself forces us to respect by positive sanctions. This directs us to the one
fundamental opposition that dominates the spiritual world- the sacred and
profane. Certain beings or objects by virtue of their nature or by the performance
of rites, are as if it were impregnated with a special essence which consecrates
them, sets them apart and bestows extraordinary powers on them however, it also
in a way, subjects them to a set of rules and narrow restrictions.
The significance of the antithesis: between profane and sacred varies according
to the position in the religious sphere of the mind which classifies beings and
evaluates them. Supernatural powers have in common the character of being
opposed to the profane, to which they are all equally dangerous and forbidden.
For instance, contact with a corpse produces in a profane being the same effects
as sacrilege. In this sense Robertson Smith was right when he said that the notion
of taboo comprised simultaneously the sacred and the impure, the divine and the
demoniac. But the perspective of a religious world changes when it is regarded
no longer from the point of view of the profane but from that of the sacred.
Among the Maori, the right is the sacred side, the seat of good and creative
powers; the left is the profane side, possessing no virtue other than, as we shall
see, certain disturbing and suspect powers. The same contrast reappears in the
course of the evolution of religion, in more precise and less impersonal forms:
the right is the side of the gods, where hovers the white figure of a good guardian
angel; the left side is dedicated to demons, the devil; a black and wicked angel
holds it in dominion. Even today, if the right hand is still called good and beautiful
and the left bad and ugly, we can discern in these childish expressions the
weakened echoes of designations and religious emotions which for many
centuries have been attached to the two sides of our body. It is a notion current
among the Maori that the right is the ‘side of life’ and of strength while the left is
the ‘side of death’ and of weakness. Fortunate and lifegiving influences enter us
from the right and through our right side; and, inversely, death and misery
penetrate to the core of our being from the left. So, the resistance of the side which
is particularly exposed and defenceless has to be strengthened by protective
amulets; the ring that we wear on the third finger of the left hand is primarily
intended to keep temptations and other bad things from us. Hence the great
importance in divination of distinguishing the sides, both of the body and in
space.
The sides of the body are also at times seen in relation to regions in space. The
right represents what is high, the upper world, the sky; while the left is connected
with the underworld and the earth. This is also illustrated in pictures such as that
of the Last Judgement wherein we see that it is the Lord’s raised right hand that
indicates their sublime abode to the elect, while his lowered left hand shows the
damned the gaping jaws of Hell ready to swallow them. Moreover, it is believed
that a holy place must be entered right foot first. Sacred offerings are presented
to the gods with the right hand and it is also the right hand that receives favours
from heaven and which transmits them in the benediction. Among the tribes of
the lower Niger, it is even forbidden for women to use their left hands when
cooking, lest they might be accused of attempted poisoning and sorcery. The left
hand, however, is not completely unemployed. It provides for the needs of
profane life that even an intense consecration cannot interrupt, and which the right
hand, strictly dedicated to war, must ignore.
Analysis of the characteristics of the right and the left, and the functions attributed
to them shows the religious necessities which make the pre-eminence of one of
the hands inevitable. In this manner, religious practices find expression through
the body which thus plays the role of a sign and a host.
In this manner, ever since its conception, organized religions have always laid
claim to the bodies of their adherents. The expression of religious belief through
bodily conduct and comportment has served both to confirm knowledge of
abstract creeds and to evoke expedient devotional attitudes. For example, in the
initiation ceremonies of the Araucanian shamanesses, initiates were brought into
a sacred circle of healers by having their bodies rubbed with canelo leaves and
massaged repeatedly over breasts, bellies, and heads. When the celebrations
reached their height, initiates climbed nine-foot trees that were barked and
notched to form ladders. Ritualistically, they were ascending to the sky to acquire
magical skills of healing, enacting physically their faith in the supernatural curing
powers of the gods.
It is a quality characteristic of societies especially pre-literate societies that
bodily rites and symbolic gestures have been used to articulate religious credo.
Traditionally, the body has served as a living memory pad to reproduce abstract
knowledge. Bodily ritual helps reconstruct the fundamental ordering of the
cosmos in religion. Careful stagings, decorations, and scarifications of the body
in liturgical ceremonies and theatrical productions are mimetic reproductions of
complex oral and scriptural stories and ideas. It is in this manner that the Omaha
Indians of North America paint and tattoo the skin of their young women with
two significant symbols: a round disk representing the sun and a star standing for
the night. Together, the two bodily signs are offered as a physical memorial to
the power of day and of night to grant fecundity on all earthly things.

In many religions, theoretical ideas concerning the origins of the universe, the
nature and power of divinities, and the fate of human souls are made visible in
seemingly innocuous details of bearing and verbal manners. In Islamic pr habits,
for example, the simple task of physical prostration before Allah demonstrates
willed subservience to divine omnipotence. In similar ways, variable positioning
of the body during Christian liturgy, with complex patterns of standing, kneeling,
sitting, and singing, involves the believer in a set of communal gymnastics that
contributes to internal reflection on biblical messages. Like the mind, the body
expresses itself in symbolic forms.

Traditionally, among the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity,

and Islam, each of which have set up strict ontological distinctions between the
supernatural and the natural, or the soul and the flesh, spiritual aspirations are
made manifest through the body in characteristic ways. Although all three of
these ‘religions of the book’, have their fundamental moral and theological
precepts scribally recorded, they have nevertheless made extensive use of bodily
resources. Internal devotional life has been maintained through external
behavioural codes like dietary regimen, dress codes, and work and holiday
schedules. These devotional habits have been structured to discipline the body
according to cosmic principles of sacred and profane. Head-coverings, face-
veilings, bowing, kneeling, and other signs of spiritual modesty shows how the
body acts as a sign of religious practices.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have also given account in their theologies of a
distinctly positive role for the human body. As expressed in the foundational
Hebrew myths of Genesis, the body is a creation of divine life; it is made in the
image of the creator of the universe. The human sensory apparatus is designed,
so these theisms affirm, to be an instrument through which the human soul
apprehends supernatural truths.
Since ancient and medieval times, the main task of organized religions has been
to instruct the moral person to pursue truth and piety through the natural abilities
of mind and body. To study the sacred and traditional writings of the Torah,
the Bible, and the Koran, making use of the body's temporal powers of reason,
will, and memory, was expected to lead believers toward more complete and
intimate understanding of eternal matters. Contemplation of created things, it was
believed, deepens appreciation of god their creator. During spiritual services,
sensitivity to the sacred order of things has been further heightened in many
denominations by instrumental music, choral singing, psalm recitation, and hand-
clapping. In some churches, the odour of incense. Corporal ritual calls for
repeated reflection on some of the most intense sensory experiences, including
hunger, sexual abstinence, sleep deprivation, and skin laceration. Across the
centuries, holy men and women have engaged in heroic efforts to deny basic
physiological drives and desires, and have consciously utilized their contrived
situations of pain and fatigue to reflect upon the human condition. It may very
well be true that religious efforts to regulate behaviour have contributed to the
unprecedented consciousness among the human species of sensory experiences
and bodily movements and passions.
Thus, it can be concluded that the body, in numerous instances across societies,
serves as a sign and a host for a number of religious practices. It holds differential
meanings across religious societies but is equally significant in the performativity
of a wide range of rituals and customs. The inherent meaning accorded to
different parts of the body such as the sacredness of the right hand or the
profaneness of the left hand, body piercings, tattoos, possession of the body by
divine spirits and so on are a few of the numerous ways in which the body acts as
a sign and a host for religious practices.

References
• Flynn, M. (n.d.). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from www.encyclopedia.com:
www.encyclopedia.com on 17th Nomenber 2022.

• hertz, r. (2013). The pre-eminence of the right hand: A study in religious polarity. HAU:
Journal of ethnographic theory, 335-353.

Submitted by: Michelle Pao

B.A.(H) Sociology
2nd Year
Roll# 2021/238.