RT Article
T1 Moralizing gods, local gods, and complexity in Hindu god concepts: evidence from South India
JF Religion, brain & behavior
VO 12
IS 1/2
SP 97
OP 115
A1 Placek, Caitlyn
A1 Lightner, Aaron
LA English
PB Routledge
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1797880128
AB Cultural evolutionary approaches to religion have found that in small-scale societies, “local gods” (LGs) usually care about ritual, in-group cooperation, and ecological challenges, whereas in large-scale societies, “moralizing gods” (MGs) are more concerned with prosociality. In contrast, Hindu deities are considered aspects of one god, and urban regions include LGs, complicating the prevailing distinction. The current study investigated perceptions of deities in Mysore, India, among Hindus (N = 165) who primarily worship Shiva, a prototypical MG, and Chamundeshwari, the LG. Using surveys and experimental games, our results indicated that Chamundeshwari is perceived as possessing characteristics typical of both LGs and MGs. Furthermore, beliefs about Shiva as a moralizing and punitive god were associated with prosocial game allocations in three experimental economic games, but similar beliefs about Chamundeshwari were not. Participation in rituals for Shiva predicted allocations toward outgroup members in one game, whereas participation in rituals for Chamundeshwari predicted selfish allocations in one game. These mixed results demonstrate the challenges that demographic and cultural variation can impose on dichotomous models of deities to explain religious variation, and we offer directions for future research to better understand such complexity.
K1 India
K1 economic games
K1 moralizing gods
K1 supernatural punishment
K1 Religion
DO 10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006282