{"id":152204,"date":"2025-09-25T16:21:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T23:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=152204"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:21:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T23:21:29","slug":"book-review-revisiting-gananath-obeyesekere-by-ruwan-m-jayatunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/09\/25\/book-review-revisiting-gananath-obeyesekere-by-ruwan-m-jayatunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Revisiting Gananath Obeyesekere by Ruwan M Jayatunge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjnjwfB2BBdL-0GK-TA7P44q8yQGuan3lZS85lT7zZWlHukY5e2xC32QljMsEFCHbn6YgXO_aBBJKyDoX1MqAPTvg-7hK6Gm3UYvD0ON2WbLU79WW8F4brH8Q0bK8Im6H9O1F_iYDSFlASB30-WZNACRgkqaDgd3WOE2PR9BtL30xOtHrzphZV43Tlv0Nn6\/s552\/Gananatha%20revisit.jpg\"><\/a>Dr. Ruwan M. Jayathunge&#8217;s recent publication, &#8220;Revisiting Gananath Obeyesekere,&#8221; holds significant contemporary relevance as it offers a comprehensive analytical examination of the influential works and research contributions of Gananath Obeyesekere, a distinguished former anthropology professor at Princeton University. This book delves into various aspects of Obeyesekere&#8217;s scholarship, including his insightful interpretations of the Sinhabahu myth and the Oedipus complex, as well as his critical essays such as &#8220;The Work of Culture: Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology,&#8221; &#8220;Dutthagamani and the Buddhist Conscience,&#8221; and &#8220;The Doomed King: A Requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinha.&#8221; Additionally, it explores themes in &#8220;Medusa&#8217;s Hair: An Essay on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience,&#8221; and &#8220;Karma and Reincarnation Concepts,&#8221; alongside a cross-cultural analysis in &#8220;Karma and Rebirth: A Cross-Cultural Study.&#8221; The book also addresses the myths that have historically justified colonialism, as seen in &#8220;The Man-Eating Myth and Human Sacrifice in the South Seas,&#8221; and provides insights into the Pattini cult in Sri Lanka through &#8220;The Cult of the Goddess Pattini.&#8221; Enhancing the book&#8217;s academic credibility, it features a foreword by Vam\u0131k Volkan, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, as well as contributions from French psychiatrist Eric Smadja, a close academic associate of Obeyesekere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. Dr. Ruwan M. Jayathunge&#8217;s recent publication, &#8220;Revisiting Gananath Obeyesekere,&#8221; holds significant contemporary relevance as it offers a comprehensive analytical examination of the influential works and research contributions of Gananath Obeyesekere, a distinguished former anthropology professor at Princeton University. This book delves into various aspects of Obeyesekere&#8217;s scholarship, including his insightful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-ruwan-m-jayatunge-m-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152205,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152204\/revisions\/152205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}