Navel of the Demoness : Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in ...

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figure 4.14. Nyima Drandul on the Kog plain,
above the break in the irrigation tunnel that caused
the settlement to be abandoned.
I have known children to pilfer small accoutrements and even dried meat
for their own use or consumption, and I have heard of adults stealing more
substantial provisions. But this is the only case I know of in Baragaon where a
child stole with the intention of enriching his household.
This chapter has begun to tackle the subject of the community by seeing
its development in relation to other groupings, notably clans, residential groups,
and households. What we are beginning to see as a consequence of the
watering-down of clan identity is a polarisation of attitudes into individualism
on the one hand and on the other, responsibility to the collectivity. Not surprisingly,
perhaps, the tension between these two orientations is linked to
manifestations of religion; but the relationship is by no means as straightforward
as one might expect.