Hide Assignment Information Instructions Religions of the East RELS 1001 Winter 2021 Exam #1: Hinduism: 33.33% Material covered: Weeks 2-4 Questions released Tues. Jan. 26th 10:05am Submission...

Religions of the East
RELS 1001
Winter 2021
Exam #1: Hinduism: 33.33%

Material covered: Weeks 2-4
Questions released Tues. Jan. 26th 10:05am
Submission deadline Tues. Feb. 2nd 11:25am
Late penalty deduction of 2 points per day of the 33.33 as of 11:26am of due date
Last possible submission with penalties Tues. Feb. 9th 10:05

Answer two of the three questions below, identifying your essays as A, B or C. Each response must be no less than 1500 words. Structure your response in clear paragraphs and formal English academic prose. It is not necessary to cite class lectures when taking general information from my Panopto or recorded live lectures. To quote or paraphrase from readings, use in-text format (Author Date: page ###), and provide one final "Works Cited" page at the very end of your document (it is not necessary to provide one for each essay), taking the full bibliographic information as needed from the syllabus or from the cover page of the reading pack. Some examples would look as follows:

Direct quote examples

The exact origins of tantra are not well understood, but it is thought that it "crystallized around the fifth and sixth centuries CE" (Amore et al.* 2018: 61).

Misfortune is also possibly attributed to the astrological details of one's birth such as thenaga dosham, "(lit. snake blemish ...**), caused by particular astrological alignments" (Flueckiger 2015: 164).

* et al. stands foret alia, "and the others" -- when you refer to a work by 3 or more authors (like our textbook) and have the full list of names in the final list of references, you can just cite the first name followed by "et al."

** Three dots like this are called an ellipsis; they indicate that something has been removed from the quote. Remember what you put in quotation marks must reproduce EXACTLY what is in the original.

Paraphrase examples

The exact origins of tantra are not well understood, but it is thought that it had taken definite shape by around the 6th century CE (Amore et al. 2018: 61).

Misfortune is also possibly attributed to the astrological details of one's birth such as the naga dosham or snake blemish connected with certain configurations of stars and planets (Flueckiger 2015: 164).

....

Works Cited
...
Amore, Roy C., Amir Hussain and Willard Oxtoby, eds. 2018.World Religions: Eastern Traditions. 5th ed. Oxford University Press. [note here in the final Works Cited all three names are listed]

Flueckiger, Joyce Burkhalter. 2015.Everyday Hinduism. Chap. 6: Vrats: Ritual Vows and Women's Auspiciousness. Wiley Blackwell.

NOTE: be careful with your syntax when incorporating direct quotes. The grammar of the entire sentence must hold together:

GOOD:
The exact origins of tantra are not well understood, but it is thought that it "crystallized around the fifth and sixth centuries CE" (Amore et al. 2018: 61).

BAD:
There are many origins of tantra, scholars debate about this and "crystallized around the fifth and sixth centuries CE" (Amore et al. 2018: 61).

Full and complete responses require support from both readings and lectures, with specific and properly referenced quotes from readings. Bring the concrete and relevant details —key vocabulary, names of Gods, Goddesses, ritual traditions, historical figures, place names of India, etc. — into your responses.The only materials required or permitted to complete this exam are assigned class readings, the prerecorded Panopto and recorded live lectures, and the posted documentaryBearing the Heat. No external research is necessary, nor is it permitted.

Your two essays will be the result of a digestion and synthesizing process. By now you are expected to have done all the assigned readings, viewed all lectures and posted materials for Weeks 2-4, and to have created a set of notes as the basis for composing your essays. If you have not done this, you are not ready to write the exam. What is required here is a balancing and bringing together of the course material, where readings and lectures equally provide the basis for your creative and focused response to the question, expressedin your own words. All three exam questions require understanding of multiple elements of course content from across weeks 2-4. You will not simply transpose data from the readings into your responses, nor will you construct a response that is simply a string of quotations; you should not have large blocks of quoted text from readings. Be selective and precise, using readings to support particular facts rather than broad, general points. The final product must be your composition, in your own words, with selective support in the form of short reading quotes or paraphrases -- not the reverse.

Do not compose your response directly on Brightspace. Rather, please compose and save a copy of your document with your preferred program (Pages, Word, etc.). To submit, copy-paste (CTRL+C / CTRL+V) the text of your document into the submission box of the Brightspace assignment (making any final necessary adjustments such as restoring paragraph breaks or formatting) and submit before 11:25am on Tues. Feb. 2nd, 2021. Saving your own copy is crucial to prevent against loss of your work in the event of any connection problems or glitches when submitting through Brightspace.

Answer two of the following three questions, min. 1500 words each (please label response A, B or C, but do not reproduce the text of the question itself):

A.
What is order and how is it sustained? At different points of history and in different mythic and social and ritual contexts, we see that Hinduism is a kind of order-management system concerned to correct recurring chaos, disease, and disorder. Where does this concern seem to originate, and what multiple forms does it take through the development of Hinduism? Try to identify, in a chronological sequence, key examples in Hinduism of this theme of restoration, correction and preservation: what exactly does "chaos" mean or represent in different mythic, social and ritual contexts, and what have been the various solutions to these perpetual problems over the centuries?

B.
What is the meaning of domesticity and renunciation? We have seen that the home is a special place in Hinduism that requires careful management by men and especially women. It is ideally the domain of health, happiness, prosperity, family and worldly enjoyments. How are such goals pursued in Hindu ideology and ritual? Renunciation meanwhile turns away from this space, rejecting it in favour of the pursuit of liberating wisdom. How did Hinduism manage this tension between the householder's world and the renunciant's world? Build your response first on a treatment of the domesticity aspect of the question, following this with a treatment of the problem of renunciant values and their tension with worldly ones.

C.
How do human beings interact with the divine in popular Hinduism? Clearly one of the most basic features of popular (i.e post-Vedic) Hinduism is a concern to establish and maintain links with deities who are perceived as essential to human welfare. What do these links look like? What are the chief forms of Hindu culture and ritual which permit communication with the divine? Note that the question is not asking for a discussion of the gods and goddesses themselves or their mythologies, but the specific ways in which Hindus relate to them. In your response, discuss multiple examples from different post-Vedic historical contexts and environments, staying focused on the question of what Hindusdoto establish and maintain a two-way connection with divine beings.