Time, person, and gender in Sinhalese astrology

Abstract

Astrology of various traditions is practiced throughout South Asia. Among the Sinhalese, concern with the influence of heavenly bodies and their agents is an ancient kind of theoretical knowledge—like Chinese geomancy—of great popular appeal. But horoscopy as a technique for reading the heavens and making predictions is a relatively new mass phenomenon and something of a technology reserved to a few skilled practitioners. This paper develops the contrast to consider what constitutes astrology and the ways by which astrological knowledge resonates with other Sinhalese notions of person and gender. By so doing, several issues are raised concerning the relationship of traditional knowledge and culture, understood as a system of meanings, [traditional knowledge, culture theory, social change, South Asian ethnography, philosophy and anthropology]