Academic literature on the topic 'Religious aspects of Shades and shadows'

Mani established his religion on very broad syncretistic grounds, in the hope that it could conquer the whole oikumene, East and West, by integrating the religious traditions of all peoples—except those of the Jews. Although Manichaeism as an organized religion survived for more than a thousand years, and its geographical realm extended from North Africa to Southeast China, this ambition never came close to being realized, and the Manichaeans remained, more often than not, small and persecuted communities. Yet, in a somewhat paradoxical way, Mani did achieve his ecumenical goal. For more than half a millennium, from its birth in the third century throughout late antiquity and beyond, his religion was despised and rejected with the utmost violence by rulers and thinkers belonging to all shades of the spiritual and religious spectrum. In this sense, Manichaeism, an insane system, a “mania,” appeared as the outsider par excellence.

The article presents Lithuanian linguistic cultural image of Truth (Tiesa) reconstructed from lexicographic data. The analysis of the lexicographic definitions of this lexeme in Lithuanian dictionaries (The Dictionary of Lithuanian Language, The Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian, the dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms and Lithuanian etymological sources) distinguishes two main aspects of its meaning: (1) archaic, associated with jurisdiction, when Truth also meant law, justice and court, and (2) contemporary, used in modern Lithuanian, when Truth is explained though its classical correspondence definition: truth is what corresponds to the reality. Therefore, two semantic levels are distinguished: synchronic and diachronic. The diachronic level analysis shows the semantic development of the word, the specification of its meaning (the loss of the primary judicial meaning), and the synchronic analysis shows that truth in Lithuanian language is a very complex and contradictory concept, containing numerous connotative meanings and semantic shades. The analysis of lexicographic data presents the following linguistic cultural image of Lithuanian Truth: it is a value which is honourable and sacred, unconcealable; on the one hand it possesses many positive aspects, such as courage and the ability to save the world, on the other hand, it is hardly distinguished from lie, very obscure and unfair, may not be integral and is often unpleasant. It is social and religious honesty, directness, avoiding intentional and unintentional deviation. Truth cannot be contrived or human-created.

AbstractIn this paper, ancient Greek and Zulu sacrificial ritual are compared in order to test the validity of Burkert's hypothesis about the origins and function of sacrifice. Similarities and differences between the two ritual systems are analysed. The Zulus do not clearly differentiate between Olympian and chthonic deities and sacrifices and seem to sacrifice exclusively to or for the shades or ancestors. The absence of a fully-developed ancestor cult in ancient Greek religion (the cult of heroes and the cult of the dead bear some resemblance to one) seems to reflect the nature of a pólis culture which cuts across the boundaries of tribes and phratries: no such culture is evident amongst the Zulus and ancestor cult thus reflects the lineage and kinship system characterising Zulu life. Burkert believes that sacrifice has its origins in the ritualisation of the palaeolithic hunt. Crucial aspects of the theory do not seem to be validated by Zulu thought-patterns: e.g. there is little or no trace of guilt or anxiety at ritual killings, a guilt which might be expected from a people deeply attached to their animals, often personified in praises addressed to them. Following G.S. Kirk, this paper attempts to illustrate that composite accounts of both ancient Greek and Zulu sacrifice acquire misleading emotional resonances which individual sacrifices might not have. This comparative study does not disprove Burkert's theory, but attempts to demonstrate that explanations offered in terms of origins or formative antecedents are fraught with speculative problems and throw no light on the motivation for sacrifice.

This article interrogates manifestations of the shadow soul, combining anthropological, magical and religious approaches to the shadow in an analysis of a small group of interrelated Gothic texts. It enters the shadowy worlds of Peter Schlemihl, protagonist of Hans Andersen's ‘The Shadow’, Dracula, and Peter Pan, who, on being detached from their shadows, have themselves become shades. This journey into the kingdom of shadows will uncover the folkloric demon, the vampire, the physiognomist, the satyr, the pagan Pan, and the Devil himself. To read these narratives through Frazer's The Golden Bough challenges conventional psychoanalytic readings and offers an alternative, folkloric perspective, one which lays bare the ritualistic and magical beliefs that inform late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Gothic.

Abstract: Religious style of Indonesia or Islam Nusantara has its own peculiarities. The form that can be found from the different shades of Islamic Archipelago with other countries in the Middle East, especially the Islamic origins of Saudi Arabia, namely in terms of uniqueness of the treasures of the experience and the practice of the Indonesian people as their adherents. It can be said that Islam Nusantara is Islam as moral and moral teachings for its adherents, and not Islam as "ideology" that does not appreciate the understanding of others. Departing from the different shades between Islam Nusantara and Islam with other countries, not separated from the historical background of the existence of cultural experiences of experience and religious belief of its predecessors. Islam Nusantara which has become an important part of adherents in Indonesia, viewed from the aspect of propriety of its adherents, can be categorized as "Islam of humanistic orthodoxy." They in carrying out Islam always maintain its normative religious values, hold to Al-Qur'an and al- Hadith. In addition they also carry out historical teachings, in which the role of spiritual values, inner values (esoteric) in religion, especially the values of human morality has become a very urgent principle in his life. As the rites are at the level of the reality of the life of the people, in every moment of his life rite can not be separated by the name of holding a religious attitude (rite of life)), pleading for a supernatural (unseen) outside, in religious language begging for help The Almighty, the God of nature.Abstrak: Corak keberagamaan masyarakat Indonesia atau Islam Nusantara telah memiliki kekhasan tersendiri. Bentuk yang dapat ditemukan dari perbedaan corak Islam Nusantara dengan negara-negara lain di Timur Tengah, terutama negara asal Islam, Arab Saudi, yaitu dari segi kekhasan khasanah pengalaman dan pengamalan batin masyarakat Indonesia sebagai pemeluknya. Dapat dikatakan bahwa Islam Nusantara adalah Islam sebagai ajaran akhlak dan moral bagi pemeluknya, dan bukan Islam sebagai ideologi yang tidak menghargai pemahaman kelompok lain. Berangkat dari perbedaan corak antara Islam Nusantara dengan Islam dengan negara lain, tidak lepas dari latar belakang historis keberadaan tradisi pengalaman budaya dan kepercayaan religiusitas para pendahulunya. Islam Nusantara yang telah menjadi bagian penting pemeluknya di Indonesia, dilihat dari segi kepatutan masyarakat penganutnya, dapat dikategorikan sebagai “Islam ortodoksi humanis.” Mereka dalam menjalankan Islam senantiasa masih mempertahankan nilai-nilai normatif keberagamaannya, berpegang kepada al-Qur’an dan al-Hadis. Di samping itu, mereka juga menjalankan ajaran historis, yang mana peran nilai-nilai spiritualitas, nilai-nilai batiniah (esoteris) dalam agama, terutama nilai-nilai moralitas kemanusiaan telah menjadi prinsip yang sangat urgen dalam kehidupannya. Sebagaimana ritus-ritus yang pada tataran realita kehidupan masyarakatnya, dalam setiap momen ritus kehidupannya tidak lepas dengan yang namanya mengadakan suatu sikap religiusitas (upacara ritus kehidupan)), memohon pertolongan kepada sesuatu kekuatan (ghaib) di luar dirinya, dalam bahasa agama memohon pertolongan kepada Sang Maha Kuasa, Tuhan pencipta alam.

The article deals with the nature of the synthesis of modern Russian prose and elements of Eastern poetics. On the example of Victor Pelevin’s texts – Т (2009), Batman Apollo (2013), Secret views of Mount Fuji (2018) – the question of functioning in the author’s artistic discourse of the designated signs is objectified. In a special way in V.O. Pelevin’s prose the religious and philosophical aspect of Zen Buddhism as the adjacent direction of East culture is played. Elements of Eastern poetics organize the plot and thematic block of works in a special way. The variant principle of Viktor Pelevin’s writing organically complements the literary process, moving in a spiral of increment of world art practice. Moreover, reading is in a situation of multiple connotations of meanings, as well as a constructive relational assessment of being. Elements of oriental poetics in Pelevin discourse acquire shades of semantic tricks. The synergy of the author’s experiment is also becoming a reception model for the potential reader. An open dialogue, thus, produces the manipulation and synthesis of cultural signs with their own halo of readings. The analysis of the prose of Victor Pelevin confirms the idea that the compilation of different aesthetically world contemplation positions expanding the horizon of meaning, reduplicate the rhizome connotations. It is concluded that the implementation of Eastern poetics in the texts of postmodernism at the level of motives and images objectively concretizes the process of cultural synthesis of modern literature.

Abstract When placing Hopkins in the divisive and impassioned religious and academic world of mid-Victorian Oxford, scholars have frequently drawn attention to those University tutors and senior churchmen who in different ways influenced his mental and religious development: Benjamin Jowett, Walter Pater, Henry Parry Liddon, and (more distantly, from Birmingham) John Henry Newman. In comparison, relatively little attention has been paid to Hopkins’s own undergraduate friends and contemporaries at Balliol College, or to the question of how other young men responded to the same set of religious circumstances and intellectual influences. In this study Henry Scott Holland (1847–1918) is selected to illustrate discernible Anglican parallels to particular aspects of Hopkins’s literary style and religious faith. Examining the ways Holland’s Anglicanism resembles, engages, contests, and shadows the early spirituality of Hopkins throws useful light on their overlapping academic and religious contexts. Particular attention is paid to examples of shared vocabulary, to themes from Holland’s published sermons and religious writings, which correlate to elements of Hopkins’s work, and especially to Holland’s vision of a kenotic “law of sacrifice” set in the life of the Holy Trinity. Key works such as Holland’s Logic and Life (1882) and the influential volume of Anglican essays Lux Mundi: A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation (1889) are utilized to inform a new perspective on Hopkins’s sermons and devotional writings.

Thisarticle offers a comprehensive overview of the “saxophonejazzimprovisation” phenomenon. It was noted that in the contemporary jazz studies, the components of this notion are, as a rule, not combined but studied separately. This work is the first study that proposes to combine them based on the textureandsyntaxparameters. For that purpose, a number of perceptions already developed in academic music studies have been corrected in this work, including the perception of the instrument’s textural style (A. Zherzdev), specifics of its reflection in improvisation, syntax as a “system of anticipations” (D. Terentiev), which has its own specifics in saxophonejazzimprovisation. Being one of the style “emblems” of jazz, saxophone combines the specifics and universalism of its aggregate sound, which makes its sound image communicatively in-demand. It was emphasized that the methodology and methodic of the topic presented in this work need to be concretized on the example of saxophone jazz styles, which offers prospects for further studies of this topic. The theory of jazz improvisation inevitably includes the question of instrument (instruments, voices) used to make it. At this point, we need to tap into information about the instrumental-type style (style of any types of music according to V. Kholopova) available in jazz practice in both of its historical forms: traditional and contemporary. Saxophone becomes one of the key objects of this study, being an instrument of new type capable of conveying the entire range of jazz intoning shades represented in such origins of jazz as blues, ballad, religious chants, popular “classical music”, academic instruments. To generalize, it is worth noting that information about saxophonejazzimprovisation is concentrated in two areas of study: organological (jazz instruments and their use: solo, ensemble, orchestral) and personal (portraits of outstanding jazz saxophonists made, as a rule, in an overview and opinionbased style). The historical path of saxophone as one of the most in-demand instruments of jazz improvisation was quite tortuous and thorny. The conservative public considered this instrument “indecent” and believed that its use in jazz does not meet the requirements of high taste (A. Onegger). It was emphasized that specifics of jazz saxophone sound indeed lay in the instrumentalization of expressive vocal and declamatory intonations originating from blues with its melancholy and “esthetics of crying”. It is manifested especially vividly, and with even greater share of shock value than in jazz, in the use of saxophone in rock music, which exerted reverse influence over jazz that gave birth to it (V. Ivanov). The timbre-articulatory diversity found in saxophone is identified when taking its organological characteristics out of the dialectics of the pair of notions “specifics – universalism”, where the deepening of the former (specifics) means overcoming thereof towards the latter, universalism (E. Nazaikinskyi). As a result, we have a textural style of saxophone based on melodic nature of this instrument, its specific timbre enriched by the influence of other instrumental sounds, including trumpet, piano, and later, electric guitar. Among the existing definitions of texture in music, there are three key, determinant parameters of the approach to the study of texture style of saxophone in jazz. The first of them is spatial-configurative (E. Nazaikinskyi), the second is procedural-dynamic (G. Ignatchenko), and the third is performance-based (V. Moskalenko). On aggregate, the textural style of jazz saxophone is defined in this article as the synthesis of the instrument’s “voice” and the “voice” of the improviser saxophonist. The former defines the typical in this style, and the latter defines the individual, unique. The specifics of texture in jazz, including saxophone jazz, are special, because this improvisation art does not have the component of final “finishing” of musical fabric. The formulas existing in saxophone jazz texture are divided into three types: specific (typical for jazz itself), specifized (stemming from the folklore and “third” layers), and transduction-reduction (according to S. Davydov, borrowed from the academic layer). The syntactic composition of saxophone jazz improvisation correlates by the textural one, taking the shape of textural-structural components (a term by G. Ignatchenko) – units of the first scaled level of the perception of form, which are related to the one and the other. The mechanism of anticipation – a forestalling perception of the next segment of the process of improvisation, and the intuitionallogical orientation of an improviser saxophonist toward the number “7” have great significance (E. Barban). Like in academic practice, syntax in jazz improvisation is built on the basis of “stability” and “instability” semantics (D. Terentiev), forming a complex system of paradigms and syntagmas (the former are typical for traditional jazz, the latter for contemporary one). The rules of jazz improvisation semantize, because the most important thing for a jazz musician is the process, not the result. At this point, the aspect of temporal distance from the “cause” to the “effect” becomes especially distinguishable: the farther they are from each other the less predictable improvisation becomes, and vice versa. The process of improvisation is largely structured by choruses, which represent sections of a form related to variant reproduction of a theme (standard theme or author’s theme). In addition, improvisation (including saxophone improvisation) may contain elements of general forms of sound used as the bridges connecting sections inside choruses.

Background. As it is well-known from the statements by O. Messiaen himself in conversations with K. Samuel [10; 7], the French composer had the phenomenon of “colored hearing” associated with the effect of synesthesia. A prerequisite in modern performing art, as in the work of a musicologistresearcher, is the introduction to the worldview of an author-composer. The study of Messiaen’s synesthetic associations helps the interpreter to expand his timbre range in connecting with emotional “immersion” in the essence of the work, and the researcher of his music – to interpret correctly (often – to “decipher”) and convey to the listener the author’s intention. That why consideration of the synesthetic aspect of the works of the French Master appears relevant. The purpose of this study is to reveal some features of the musical-visual ideas of O. Messiaen, the understanding of which is necessary for adequate perception and reproduction of his music. The material of the work is, mainly, the composer’s own statements, on which the generalizations made in the article based, and which the main conductors in the infinite multicolor spiritual world of the French composer are. The studies results. The child impressions, when Olivier together with his parents visited monuments, museums, churches – the Notre-Dame, the SaintChapel, the Chartres Cathedral, the Cathedral in Bourge – became the sources of the sound-color visions of the French genius. Magical colors of the MiddleAges stained glasses left an amazing feeling, an imprint, which did not disappear during his whole life. Stained-glasses as “the light, captured by the human” [7] are the constant awe and the love of O. Messiaen. In childhood, while reading W. Shakespeare, Olivier made stained glass-like scenery using transparent wrappers and packaging materials painted in different colors, then put the decorations to the windows. The sunshine, going through them, was lightening the little boy’s theater like the footlights. Later, the light, as something Divine, will become the main semantic emphasis in the works of the composer. Messiaen puts the color music above the church and religious, the color music, according him, does the same as medieval stained glass: “it brings us blinding admiration .... All sacred art ... should be, first of all, something like a rainbow of sounds and colors” [6]. Like a stained glass window consists of pieces of glass, so music consists of “pieces-cadres”, but, unlike cinematic montage, a stained glass has a mystical nature. From the inside, a stained glass shows one picture of the world, from the outside – another; it is a rosy view of the world and, at the same time, a prism, through which one can see the musical diversity. So, for O. Messiaen, the basis of the foundations is a religion related closely to philosophy; they serve music, and music serves the color music. A musicologist K. Zenkin defines the color music of O. Messiaen as the highest form of sacred music, as “the answer of human to God” [2, p. 171]. Being 11 and having become a student of Paris Conservatory, Olivier for the first time heard the opera by his teacher, Paul Dukas, “Ariadne and Bluebeard”. Messiaen was amazed by the episodes, where the main heroine consistently opens seven doors and finds herself in seven halls, filled with seven different kinds of precious stones; each one was characterized by different tone and timbre. Later, O. Messian continued the searches of his teacher in area of color-sound. About incredible enjoyment by the color the composer says in connection with painter-orphist Robert Delaunay, calling his paintings “colored dreams”. In the pictures of latter, he was most attracted by the principle of simultaneous contrast. The concept of “simultaneous contrast” refers to the phenomenon, in which our eyes, perceiving any color, involuntarily require a different color addition. For example, red requires green, yellow – purple, since these colors are diametrically opposed to each other on the color wheel, etc. If there is no such addition, the eye can simultaneously find (generate) it. As O. Messian had such rare natural quality as synesthesia, while listening to music, in his imagination different colors, corresponding to different sounds, appeared. Borrowing the painting principle of the simultaneous contrast, the composer applied it in his musical works, for example, in chord constructions. Messian’s “colour hearing” was connected not with tones, like to N. Rimsky-Korsakov or A. Skryabin, but with chords. Chords, in understanding of French composer, are the analogues of colors; changing of the chords leads to the changing of the colors and its patterns. The composer is characterized by the “vertical” perception of the sound-color range, but the “chord” factor does not exhaust his color perception, since O. Messiaen operates with the frets, which he calls “systems”. Each system is associated with a specific coloring of sounds. Colors and sounds are arranged for him on the principle of gamma. In the color scheme of O. Messiaen, there is no yellow color, instead of it an orange-golden one is introduced. Especially the composer likes violet or lilac color, belonging to the category of complex, which includes extremely cold blue and extremely warm red. This color has a lot of shades: with the dominance of red-scarlet, with the dominance of blue-hyacinth. In the Middle Ages, in the symbolism of stained glass windows, the first one identified Love to Truth, and the latter – Truth of Love. O. Messian perceived the laws of the universe through the prism of “infinite colors”. For the composer, painting becomes the basis of his artistic method and generates musical images. He felt the colors in the music by the “inner vision”. The subjective vision of sound colors was using by O. Messiaen in the process of creating musical canvases, called, in its turn, to affect the “inner vision” of the listeners.

<p>One of the prospective results of the ESF project „Linguoculturological and Socio-economic Aspects of Territorial Identity in the Development of the Region of Latgale” (2009–2012) is a linguo- territorial dictionary of Latgale, which would reveal particularity of Latgale’s historical, economic, folkloric, and literary factors in 300 cultural signs and concepts (when referring to selection of entries and the dictionary concept further see Šuplinska 2010). In the developed questionnaire „Latgola is…” (466 units) the word ‘susātivs’ (in Latgalian means ‘a shadow’)was included due to two reasons: 1) as infrequently used word in the cognition of the 21st century user of Latgalian literary language, being ousted by the word ‘āna’, which is closer to the Latvian literary language; 2) as a symbol of dualism/entirety apprehension of a personality activated in the latest literature and music (according to K. G. Jung’s archetype).</p><p>When tracing formation of the concept of ‘susātivs’ the following sources have been reviewed (see the enclosed overview of sources): folkloric collections (S. Uļanovska, P. Smelters, B. Opincāne, et al.), periodical publications of the beginning and middle of the 20th century (most of the examples are found in „Drywa” newspaper (1908–1917) and its annexes) as well as the works of M. Andžāne, K. Nautris, O. Zvīdris, P. Jurciņš, J. Klīdzējs, R. Mūks; publications where the word ‘susātivs’ has been used in the title: modern poetry anthology „Susātivs” (2008) and CD „Bolts susātivs” (lyrics by A. Kūkuojs, music by Sovvaļnīks, 2010).</p><p>The article is aimed at review of the concept of ‘susātivs’ (meaning ‘shadow’ in the Latvian literary language), revealing the conception of its lexical meanings, context and symbolic significance in folklore (mainly in riddles), literature, periodicals and stereotypes prevailing in the society. Semantic and symbolic ambiguity of ‘susātivs’ is demonstrated by Latgalian riddles, under the impact of Christianity’s as symbol of negation used in the early 20th century periodicals, interpretation of spiritual ‘susātivs’ appears in writings of K. Nautris, O. Zvīdrs. Shadow as the genuine (often banned or hidden) part of the personality in their texts is revealed by M. Andžāne, J. Klīdzējs, R. Mūks. White shadow as search of the self is activated in two publications: the modern poetry anthology „Susātivs” and CD „Bolts susātivs”.</p><p>Some analytical psychology insights are worth to be highlighted that to e great extent have influenced the interpretation of the concept of ‘susātivs’ in this article. Firstly, according to the principle of analogy, the individual structure of psyche (consciousness, personal unconsciousness, collective consciousness; Jung 1996: 165) can be perceived as a psyche of ethnos, nation, supposedly of a country or of the world. Secondly, since the shadow includes hidden, suppressed, undesirable (even villainous) sides of personality and at the same time the normal instincts and impulses of creativity (Henderson 1997: 117), then exactly this unconscious side of psyche of Latgalian as a representative of the ethnos has affected the lack of self-esteem and has exacerbated the problems to which explanation in the reality of consciousness is not found anymore, or is not so simply detectable. Thirdly, being aware of the shadow, you can start to use it for revival of integrity and stability of the psyche, but the shadow can not be ignored, denied or suppressed for a long time. Even worse, if one opts for assimilation of it that has often happened to the Latgalian separate religious affiliation or language, or for exerting influence: when the first newspapers started, also new words were started to be mentioned frequently – Latgola and Latgalians. Why the old, real Latvians had to be started to call in other names? What to do! The Courlanders have taken the name of Latvians for them. Latvians from Inflantia were called the „Polish”people. For that reason in order not to fight the Courlanders for the word of Latvians, young journalists from Inflantia started to call themselves Latgalians (Dekters 1970: 12).</p><p>When returning to the texts subject to analysis and understanding of the concept of ‘susātivs’, we should start with the analysis of this lexeme in folklore. It most frequently appears in the riddles and forms a ambiguous understanding of the lexeme: on the one hand, a sense of fatalism has been developed (You cannot escape your shadow by analogy with everybody should carry their own cross, or you cannot escape your fate), on the other hand, the notion of absolute good and absolute evil (obscure, inexplicable) as devil (also shadow). At the same time, several riddles underline that the shadow is a friend who never leaves, even more – one is walking, two will speak – is drawing attention to intuitive understanding of the creator of this riddle with regard to the fact that shadow is a part of the human psyche. Periodicals at the beginning of the 20th century underline the link of lexeme ‘susātivs’ with the human life, which is temporary, according to cognitions of Christianity, it is just a preparation for the real life, therefore exactly the negative, condemnable connotation is gradually pointed out in use of figurative meanings of lexeme ‘susātivs’.</p><p>During 20’s and 30’s of the 20th century the stereotype that ‘shadow’ is something condemnable (e. g., undesirable phenomena of social or economic life are represented by a shadow: life shadows – backwardness, obscurantism, envy (Madsolas J. 1944)), or something that cannot exist separately, dependent entity (e. g., slave, servant, dog), is prevailing in periodicals, gradually also in the reader’s conscience. And this is just the time when not the most complimentary views with regard to Latvians from Latgale are developed and maintained at a national level (including today) that have established a preconceived attitude in Latvians from other regions and created the inferiority complexes in Latvians from Latgale.</p><p>Initially in Latgalian himself his „shadow” was put to shame – different language (the opinion is gradually strengthened and only supported by Soviet times that this is a distorted Latvian literary language, also mixture of Slavic and Latvian language), which may not be Latvian (denial of the designation and introduction of the term Latgalian dialects), underdeveloped agriculture (cheap labour) and comparatively low level of education, certainly, also belonging to another faith and large families as a phenomenon of certain obscurantism. Gradually (most explicitly after K. Ulmanis’ coup in 1934 and unfortunately also after Latvia’s accession to the EU) the shadow was not put to shame in Latgalian himself or in individual from Latgale, but applied to the whole region (after accession to the EU also the other regions quite often are in this status of shadow).</p><p>At the beginning of 20th century, with the growth in numbers of anthropology, psychology and psychoanalytical studies, also the understanding of shadow is affected by the change. In Latgalian literature it was commenced by M. Andžāne in her story „A black man, white shadow” (1947), where the main character Aleksandrs Rynčs demonstrates that it is important not to lose oneself, one’s substance. even if the society, the people do not understand it or it is not topical for the age. From this story comes the designation „white shadow”, which means the true, the deepest substance of an individual, harmony with oneself as a result of adopting and refining one’s own shadow – the inner human being.</p><p>Maybe the Latgalian literature would never had seen the possibility to reduce the negative connotation of shadow, which is historically developed and strengthened in consciousness of the language user, unless there are two strong personalities, theoretically – shadow philosophers J. Klīdzējs and R. Mūks, whose works are known mainly to Latvians from other regions, in the case of R. Mūks, throughout the world. Of course their impact is indirect, at the same time in the works of the 21st century Latgalian authors there is a strong feeling of the reflection of their outlooks.</p><p>Both authors emphasize the importance of respect for the shadow in development of an individual, as well as of the peoples and cultures at large. For the most part it means transformation of fear, feelings, instinctive hunches, ideas into creative energy. Exactly this meaning of shadow as question/ response about the true nature of a human being, society, is activated in two Latgalian publications: the modern poetry anthology „Susātivs” and CD „Bolts susātivs”.</p><p>Strengthening of the shadow as a concept in the Latgalian literature at the beginning of the 21st century is due to the fact that, after going through a long way of transformation and getting rid of the negative connotation, Latgalians are beginning anew to recognize it as an integral part of their nature that allows them to retain their otherness – in language, tradition, attitude towards the world, which is still impressive with its naturalness and emotionality.</p>

This chapter explores the origin and growth of the Devadasi system and highlights the present status of Devadasis in Indian society. The term Devadasi is a Sanskrit word, which literally translates to ‘female slave of God’. In contemporary times, for various sociohistorical reasons, the Devadasi tradition appears to have lost its status and is equated synonymously with prostitution and slavery in India. The chapter questions the importance of the religious factor in explaining the logic of the Devadasis' institution. Conversely, the element of caste and socioeconomic background are two fundamental aspects that must be taken into account. These factors, strictly interwoven, contribute to keeping this practice alive.

The accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England and Great Britain triggered a series of negotiations as to what the new British polity would be like and how far the Elizabethan settlement of religion might be subject to alteration. James manipulated the agendas of a range of interest groups in order to remodel both the court and, in some sense, to remake the (British) State. One crucial aspect of that process was the making of peace with Spain and an attempt to shadow the major European royal houses without getting drawn into the political conflicts which replaced the wars which had concluded in 1598. But the attempt to maintain a quasi-nonconfessional mode of politics inevitably encountered a Protestant critique of the king and court which James sought to defuse by tacking his public pronouncements on papal authority to his, arguably, absolutist readings of royal power.

Like other Catholic communities under Protestant jurisdiction, the Irish, initially with Spanish assistance, provided itself with the means of educating at least some of its clergy and a small number of laity. Traditionally, the resulting Irish colleges’ network has been understood almost exclusively as the product of the religious reform of the sixteenth century and of the phased English conquest of the island. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a narrow view of their significance. It concentrated largely on the priest-producing aspect of their activities, to the neglect of their social, economic and cultural roles. This narrowness of approach has been a concern for a new generation of historians. Conscious of the social function of these institutions, some have tried to reintegrate the colleges into comprehensive, source-based explorations of their originating and target communities. This is now yielding more satisfactory accounts of their significance. Of particular importance has been work on the various roles played by the colleges in facilitating Catholic migration to the continent and in maintaining a Catholic pastoral infrastructure in Ireland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. More recent studies have revealed how the colleges’ role changed over time and varied geographically and socially. It is now becoming clear how much their continued existence depended on their capacity to respond to alterations in the geo-political contexts that originally brought them into being. The relative decline of Spain in the early seventeenth century, the dominance of France from the 1660s and, perhaps most importantly, the growth of the British Empire after the 1690s crucially influenced the nature and role of the colleges. So too did directives from continental hierarchies and from Rome, frequently issued in response to endless collegial infighting. Even more significant, however, was the rapidly changing economic and political status of the Catholic communities in Ireland, to which the colleges had been providing clergy, and other services, since the 1590s. In the second half of the eighteenth century the demands, needs and aspirations of the emergent Catholic interest in Ireland posed a challenge that eventually overawed college administrations. Although European secularization and the French Revolutionary Wars were the occasion for their closure, it was the altered relationship between Irish Catholics and the imperial government that rendered the traditional role of continental colleges redundant. With growing opportunities in the imperial armies, the European connection in general was relatively less important for Irish Catholics. At the same time, the freedom to establish domestic seminaries provided the Irish hierarchy with convenient alternatives to the continental colleges, which, even in their heyday, had often seemed more trouble that they were worth. Few continental colleges re-established themselves in the nineteenth century. Those that did were only shadows of their former selves.