Cadastral Religious Practices

Contesting Place in a Post-colonial Space

Contexts

(Re)colonizing Tradition

A Pedestrian Guide to a "Traditional" City

Welcome to Bhaktapur

[1] The Tea Stall at Guhepukhu
[2] Nava Durga Chitra Mandir
[3] Khauma Square
[4] Tourist Motor Park
[5] Indrani Pitha
[6]Lasku Dhwakha Gate
[7]Char Dham
[8]Cafe de Temple
[9]Batsala Temple
[10] Batsala Temple
[11] City Hall
[12] The Procession Route
[13] Pujari Math
[14] The Peacock Restaurant
[15] Sewage Collection Ponds
[16] Bhairavanath Temple

Cadastral Religious Practices

The history of religions in South and Southeast Asia, as Mus interprets it, is a history in which this basic pattern and logic of indigenous Cadastral Religion is challenged, enriched and compromised and reasserted in new forms.
--Frank Reynolds 1981, 229 1956

Working from the oeuvre of Paul Mus, cadastral religious practices are a magical and pragmatic means by which lived territory is generated. "Cadastral" describes a survey showing boundaries and property lines, and pertains to "cadastre" a official register of ownership, extent and value of real property in a given areas which is used as a basis of taxation. By concentrating on cadastral practices Musšs scholarship poses an alternative to what he glosses as the Upanishadic interpretation of Hinduism that concentrates on salvatory philosophy, scripture, and caste.