Belo Horizonte Mandir: da iconografia de Jagannatha, Baladeva e Subhadra á etnografia da vivência dos seus rituais

Abstract

This Course Completion Work on images of the Vaishnava temple in Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais (Brazil), founded in 1986, aims to study the Deity Sculptures: Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra, (RAVI, 1984). whereas the context and history of Vaishnavism, based on the sacred scriptures of ancient India.Its transposition to the West and, in particular, to the temple community where these sculptural forms are located. It is based on principles that guide Iconography, Iconology, Documentation and Ethnographic methods when approaching the pieces, as well as the observation and contextualization of ritualistic experiences in this sanctuary. The follow-up survey of icon worship practices brings the attempt to understand and expose the relationships between adepts and deities. describes and interprets the meaning of the ritual representations and practices of bhakti-yoga, as cook and offer food to materially reproduced deities, based on texts of Vedic culture and religion and in Brazilian academic authors dedicated to the study of religions and are embedded in this philosophy. The research concludes that there is a elevated relationship, transcendental and centered in the devotional service developed in the daily life of devotees and in the events that make effective and concrete the transcendence in Belo Horizonte Mandir. Personifications play a strong role in this process and the understanding of devotees is that all the images present in this shrine represent Krishna, considered one by those who believe in him, expanding in boundless respects because of his omnipotence and mercy towards his devotee.