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Document Details : Title: Reinterpreting Mantras as Religious Healing in Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia Subtitle: The Indigenous Religion Paradigm as an Alternative to 'World Religions' Author(s): ALFIAN, Andi Journal: Studies in Interreligious Dialogue Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Date: 2023 Pages: 15-34 DOI: 10.2143/SID.33.1.3292291 Abstract : The use of mantras can be found in almost every tradition and ritual of indigenous peoples in Indonesia. Mantras are interpreted and practiced in various ways to help communicate and connect multiple aspects of the cosmic order. Mantras are also used in healing and traditional medicine to cure various diseases; they are used in everyday life to prevent and protect humans from harm. Unfortunately, due to modern academic frameworks that aim to explain religious practices rationally, mantras, along with various religious practices and indigenous knowledge, have been eliminated. In the modern Western paradigm, especially the World Religion Paradigm, which separates science and religion, culture and nature, the mantras used in healing practices by indigenous peoples are considered magical and non-scientific (incompatible with science). At worst, they are even considered deviant by adherents of world religions that are more conservative. Such a paradigm is a colonial construction of modern knowledge. By reviewing the use of mantras among indigenous peoples - specifically Javanese, Sumbanese, and Buginese, this study interprets the mantras used for healing by indigenous peoples and decolonizes the modern western paradigm of religious practices of indigenous people. The data in this study were taken from the Forum Kamisan Daring, Episode 9 on the use of mantras in rituals in Javanese and Sumbanese, and through in-depth interviews and relevant articles. The data was then compiled and analyzed using the indigenous religion paradigm. Finally, the results of this study show that, for indigenous peoples, disease is a cosmic imbalance, and healing is an attempt to rebalance the cosmos. The mantra in this context is a technology or a language used to build a balanced intersubjective relationship from one that has been disturbed. |
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