ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH

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Cleansing, Contamination and Sacrifice: Three Processes of Purification Karen Fernandez, University of Auckland, New Zealand

The sacred, being set apart and kratophanously powerful, must be approached appropriately. Consumer research has suggested that purity is necessary before the sacred can be approached, but has not explained how it can be achieved. Accordingly, I examine purity (a state of non-polluted perfection), and the role of three purification rituals?cleansing, contamination, and sacrifice?in preparing consumers to approach the sacred. I rely on research in Hindu Sociology to interpret interviews with Hindu consumers participating in weddings, funerals, and house-warming ceremonies. I explain how the three processes of purification operate to incrementally purify.

[to cite]: Karen Fernandez (2011) ,"Cleansing, Contamination and Sacrifice: Three Processes of Purification", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 219-224.

[url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1006971/eacr/vol9/E-09

[copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. Cleansing, Contamination and Sacrifice:T hree Processes of Purification Karen Fernandez, University of Auckland, New Zealand

ABSTRACT status (Belk et al. 1989; Curasi, Price, and Arnould 2004). Belk et al. The sacred, being set apart and kratophanously powerful, must (1989) also note that because the power of sacred is kratophanous, be approached appropriately. Consumer research has suggested or capriciously multi-valenced (Fernandez, Veer, and Lastovicka that purity is necessary before the sacred can be approached, but 2006), it should be approached with care. has not explained how it can be achieved. Accordingly, I examine Belk et al. (1989) state that sacrifice purifies and prepares the purity (a state of non-polluted perfection), and the role of three sacrificer to approach and commune with the sacred, suggesting purification rituals—cleansing, contamination, and sacrifice—in to us that purity is a necessary pre-condition to safely approaching preparing consumers to approach the sacred. I rely on research in the sacred. The view that candidates for Roman Catholic sainthood Hindu Sociology to interpret interviews with Hindu consumers should have lived a life of chastity, piety, and renunciation of earthly participating in weddings, funerals, and house-warming ceremo- pleasures (Woodward 1990), resonates with the belief that extreme nies. I explain how the three processes of purification operate to purity is necessary to approach the sacred (Callois 1952; Davis 1997; incrementally purify. Harper 1964). However, the extant consumer research does not define purity, nor does it explicate the processes by which it can be achieved. “Fields of purity exist like islands in a sea of impurity [that]… O’Guinn and Belk (1989) opine that some sort of transforma- must be artificially created and specially maintained.” Harper tion is needed before secular things can become sacred, and offer (1964, p.193) the example of contamination (the transfer of essences between two entities) as a possible transformative agent. This suggests to us that Belk, Wallendorf and Sherry (1989) describe the sacred as an examination of contamination may fruitfully reveal insights into “more significant, powerful and extraordinary than the self” (p.13) the processes of purification. Kozinets (2002) suggests that sacrifice and note that it should be set apart to avoid profanation. Although can effect self-transformations, and joins Sherry (1996) in calling for consumer researchers have examined consumers’ experiences at further investigation of the role played by sacrifice in consumption set-apart sacred consumption sites as diverse as Heritage Village of the sacred. This research answers their call by considering the (O’ Guinn and Belk 1989) and Burning Man (Kozinets 2002), they role of sacrifice in purificatory processes. Finally, the importance have not yet examined how consumers prepare to approach and ex- placed on cleanliness and cleansing substances such as water and periencing the set-apart sacred. Belk et al. (1989) suggest that purity fire in diverse religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and is a necessary pre-condition to safely approaching the sacred, but Zoroastrianism, suggests to us that ritual (Rook 1985) cleansing may there appears to be no published consumer research that addresses also be an agent of purification. how purity is attained. Previous consumer research does, however, In summary, consumer researchers, who have predominantly suggest some possible answers. For example, O’Guinn and Belk examined contemporary Western consumers, have not yet specifi- (1989) suggest contamination may be a possible transformative cally focused on the processes by which cleansing, contamination, agent. Kozinets (2002) joins Sherry (1996) in calling for an inves- and sacrifice effect purification. This limits our understanding of how tigation of sacrifice in consumption of the sacred. The importance consumers prepare themselves to approach and experience the sacred. placed on cleansing in diverse religions suggests ritual cleansing Mary Douglas observes “we must recognize our own fundamental may also purify. However, previous research has not examined assumptions for what they are: the creation of our place and time” if and how these three mechanisms—cleansing, contamination, (Dumont 1972, p.13) and suggests foreign cultures, particularly Hindu and sacrifice—can purify. Furthermore, the inter-relationships of India, as fruitful perspectives from which to challenge contempo- cleansing, contamination, and sacrifice with each other, and with rary Western culturally bound perceptions. Accordingly, I rely on purity, have not been clarified. research in Hindu sociology and participant observation of modern Purity and its antithesis, pollution, are key cultural categories Hindu Indian consumer rituals, to better understand the processes of in Hindu culture (Das 1982). Consequently, I ground my empirical purification. Grounding this empirical research in an Eastern context research in a Hindu context to allow me to more clearly explicate where purity is a critical meaning category (Das 1982), permits a the processes by which consumers can purify themselves. Drawing clearer explication of the processes by which consumers can purify on research in Hindu sociology (Das 1982; Douglas 1966; Srinivas themselves and their possessions. 1952), I suggest that the processes of purification prepare consum- ers to approach the sacred. As I shall explain, purity is a state of Traditional Hindu Perspectives on Purity non-polluted perfection—and purification involves removing or Carman (1985) notes that purity, in the Hindu view, requires an repelling pollution (elements that are incongruent with a pure absence of pollution whhich he defines as an element incongruent state). My general purpose is to explicate the processes of purifica- with the pure, desired state. I define purity more parsimoniously, as tion. More specifically, I aim to: 1) define purity, 2) examine the a state of non-polluted perfection. Although purity is not the same inter-relationships of purity with the mechanisms of cleansing, as authenticity (the perception that something is the “real thing”), contamination and sacrifice, and 3) elucidate how the processes of the two concepts are related. For example, an authentic new violin purification prepare the purified to approach the sacred. for sale in a music store is expected to look perfect (i.e. be pure) and to be without defect (i.e. without pollution). Its authenticity may THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS be judged largely on the basis of its brand, packaging and price. Belk et al. (1989) define the sacred as “more significant, powerful However, an instrument purporting to be a vintage Stradivarius violin and extraordinary than the self” (p.13). Their seminal work on the may be rejected by a prospective buyer as inauthentic, if it looks sacred, in keeping with Durkeimian tradition, holds that the sacred, too perfect–instead imperfections are considered to be indexical being dichotomous from the profane, is in constant danger of profana- evidence (Grayson and Martinec 2004) of its authenticity. tion (Arnould and Price 2004). Consequently, the sacred must be set Attaining and maintaining purity requires ritual purification. apart, and treated differently from the profane, to maintain its sacred In the traditional Hindu view, people, objects, and substances 219 European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, © 20112010 220 / Cleansing, Contamination and Sacrifice: Three Processes of Purification (“elements”) differ both in their innate state of purity and in their tion. Conversely, although Belk does not appear to explicitly define ability to receive and transmit pollution (Bayly 1986). An entity contamination, he does note that his concern is not with physical in its ordinary state, termed “normal ritual status” (Srinivas 1952), contamination but with “symbolic contamination, where a person exists on a continuum between ritual impurity and ritual purity. is involuntarily incorporated into another’s extended self” (1988, Contact with less pure, or polluted elements moves that entity p.51). Drawing on these two conceptualisations, Fernandez and along the continuum towards ritual impurity while contact with Lastovicka (2009) explicitly define contamination as the apparent purer elements moves that entity toward ritual purity. Thus, as our incorporation of one entity into another entity. Contamination oc- epigraph states, purity must be created and constantly maintained. curs when an entity is in prolonged (physical or otherwise) contact The inter-relationships of purity and sacredness that is central with a different entity, resulting in a perceived or actual transfer to Hindu beliefs (Das 1982) are clearly illustrated Davis’ (1997) of essences between the two entities. A received essence can be account of the manner in which Hindu priests worship an important perceived as positive or negative, depending on how the source of image of a deity. He explains how Hindu rites of establishment are contagion is perceived (Argo, Dahl, and Morales 2008). used to create an image of a deity that is fit enough for the deity to As I shall demonstrate, purification requires the avoidance and/ inhabit and act through. This involves a multi-stage process that or removal of negative contaminants, and the approach and/or incor- begins with the selection of “pure and luminous materials that poration of positive contaminants. Hindus have very specific beliefs bear an innate resemblance to the deity” before the image of the about which substances have the potential to pollute or negatively deity is physically fabricated to ensure the deity is both “visually contaminate e.g. menstrual blood, and which substances have the and symbolically represented” by the image (p.35). After being potential to purify or positively contaminate e.g. gold. According to placed on a pedestal within a sacrificial pavilion, a priest awakens ancient Hindu beliefs, gold originated from Agni (the god of fire) the image by drawing the eyes on the image with a golden needle and emerged from the breath of the gods (Coomaraswamy 1997) and rubs the eyes of the idol with unguents and displays before it and so is considered eternally pure and incapable of being polluted a series of special substances and persons including ghee [clarified (Madan 1985). Consequently, purificatory elements in Hindu culture butter], honey, grain, mantras [invocations], decorated virgins, include 22 ct. gold jewellery, and other items that often resemble and an assembled crowd of devotees. The image is washed and gold in color—for example, ghee (clarified butter) and turmeric purified and adorned with clean clothes and adorned with suitable (the golden-colored powdered root of a rhizome related to ginger). ornaments. The process is completed when the priest performs a The literature thus reviewed suggests that a person may prepare rite of affusion—a rite that adds power and capacities to the image to approach the sacred by seeking to emulate or resemble the sacred. by pouring substances over it. Since the sacred is not polluted, it is by definition, “pure” and must not be sullied by contamination with the impure. So purification The Processes of Purification rituals which increase one’s resemblance to the sacred are neces- Cleansing and Purification. Cleansing connotes removing sary prior to approaching the sacred. The literature reviewed also unwanted substances. Much as consumers groom themselves daily suggests that cleansing, sacrifice and contamination can all be used to re-incorporate cultural meanings (Rook 1985), devout Hindus to attain purity. However, previous research has yet not empirically engage in ritual bathing to re-incorporate ritual purity. Although examined how these purification rituals are enacted. This research bathing with water is the most widespread method of removing seeks to contribute by providing such an empirical examination of ritual impurity among devout Hindus (Dumont 1972), biological purification rituals. cleanliness is not necessarily identical to ritual cleanliness or ritual purity. For example, ritual purification of the home (Srinivas 1952) METHODOLOGY can involve the urine and dung of cows, which may be seem pollut- I conducted unstructured depth interviews with ten Hindu Indian ing from a Western, biological perspective, but is considered pure (“Hindu”) informants regarding their participation in Hindu rituals. from a Hindu religious perspective because they emanate from The informants, seven of whom were female, ranged in age from cows which are sacred to Hindus (Korom 2000). Thus practices 28 to 73. All but one informant had lived the majority of their adult such as devotees drinking the urine of Hindu priests to partake of lives in Asia (nine in India, one in Malaysia) but all are now living its psychogenic properties (Belk 1988) which may seem repugnant in Australasia. The informants were interviewed, and in some cases from a Western perspective, are not perceived as so, within the observed, by one or both authors, with regards to wedding, funeral culture of the devotees. and house-warming rituals. The data-set consisted of interview Sacrifice and Purification. Sacrifice can involve ‘giving up’ or transcripts, videos, photographs and fieldnotes. I employed the con- ‘giving away’ (Sherry 1996)—distancing oneself from pleasurable stant comparative method of analysis, engaging in open ended and practices or valued possessions. An obvious example is abstaining axial coding (Spiggle 1994) of interview transcripts and fieldnotes from sexual relations in order to maintain chastity or celibacy, to develop my emergent interpretations with the assistance of the which has historically been required of those seeking to commune relevant literature, as suggested by Venkatesh (1994). with God (Brink 1991). Another sacrifice which is common is some religions is to abstain from eating some or all types of meat, either FINDINGS entirely, or at least on holy days. In this sense, sacrifice purifies The Hindu word for major life rituals—samskara—means by avoiding substances and practices that are polluting. However, to “purify” (Inden and Nicholas 1977). In Hindu society, liminal in another sense, sacrifice can purify because it signifies the ritual entities, such as an unmarried woman (Kolenda 1984) is seen as death of the polluted entity, permitting a rebirth of a pure entity. For polluting (Das 1982) and a threat to the purity of physical and social example, Hindu religious ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, body (Douglas 1966). Thus, a prospective bride must be purified and even house-warmings, involve the ritual use of fire. (Inden and Nicholas 1977), before she can become a worthy and Contamination and Purification. Argo, Dahl and Morales successful carrier of the groom’s family’s biological immortality. (2006, p.81) define “consumer contamination as contamination from Other persons who are liminal (e.g. grooms, new mothers, or the consumer touching.” This definition, while leaving contamination newly bereaved) are also required to purify themselves lest they itself undefined, does emphasise the physical nature of contamina- contaminate others in their circle (Harper 1964). European Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 9) / 221 Cleansing as the guardians, reproducers and transmitters of the sacred. Mas- Much as consumers groom themselves daily to re-incorporate saging the prospective bride or groom with turmeric purifies him cultural meanings (Rook 1985), our informants told us that devout or her on multiple levels. On a biological level, the turmeric, being Hindus engage in ritual bathing to re-incorporate ritual purity before an antiseptic, cleanses and removes pollution from his or her skin. praying each morning. Although bathing with water does effect Some turmeric remains on the skin, thus forming a barrier against biological cleansing, it is actually ritual cleansing (removal of further pollution (Inden and Nicholas 1977). Some turmeric also polluting elements) that is being sought. This became particularly permeates the skin, and since it is viewed as a pure substance, this clear in cases where the cleansing agent was fire, rather than water. contact is believed to make the recipient purer. Finally, turmeric, Jassie (AF 38) had recently divorced and invited friends and family being an auspicious substance, invites the benevolence of the gods to a house-warming ceremony for her new apartment. Fieldnotes upon the marriage (Inden 1985). The prospective bride and groom describe the house-warming ceremony. are given new clothes to wear, which are traditionally made of “pure” materials such as new, unwashed cotton or silk (Harper 1964). Be- “As I entered Jassie’s apartment, I was surprised to see two sides the turmeric mentioned earlier, another such purifying element men [a Hindu priest and his assistant) building a FIRE (em- is the emically termed “pure” gold. (The most prized gold jewelry phasis present) in a black cauldron in the middle of her living in India is made from 22 carat gold since chemically pure gold, at room. They literally put wood in this cauldron, set it alight, 24 carats, is too soft to fashion into jewelry.) Hindus commonly and poured ghee [clarified butter] into it periodically. The refer to 22ct gold as “pure” gold, even though it is not pure gold entire room was filled with white, sweet-smelling smoke, and in a chemical sense (Fernandez and Veer 2003). The bride is given I learnt later that the smoke alarm had been disabled. Jassie, new and used “pure” gold jewellery from her biological family, and the rest of us (myself, and a dozen of her friends and in-laws, and friends on the occasion of her wedding (Fernandez relatives) were asked to sit around the fire, which I learnt later and Veer 2003) and this gold positively contaminates her, resulting was called a hawan [sacred fire]. The priest chanted mantras in ritual purification. and indicated periodically at the correct ritual moments for Jassie and her two chosen supporters (her best friend and a Sacrifice favorite aunt) to add sandalwood chips and ghee to keep the A final purification process is sacrifice. An obvious example fire going. I later spoke to the priest who explained that the of sacrifice is abstaining from sexual relations in order to maintain purpose of the ceremony was to cleanse the home of any bad chastity or celibacy, which has historically been required of those spirits and bad luck, and to infuse it with auspiciousness. At seeking to commune with God (Brink 1991) or destined to become the end of the ceremony, he put a small part of the cauldron’s saints (Woodward 1990). One young couple, explained how they contents into an incense burner and directed Jassie to carry were required to fast, which they explained involved abstaining from through every room of her apartment.” meat before their wedding ceremony. Meat is considered pollut- ing in Hindu religion (Douglas 1966) suggesting that purification As evident in the preceding observations, ritual purification required avoiding pollution. However, sacrifice can also involve involves decontaminating the impure by removing undesirable rituals which symbolize death and re-birth. Jassie’s hawan, described elements. earlier, is also a focal point of Hindu wedding ceremonies. The perfumed smoke of the fire, the burning of incense and the chant- Contamination ing of mantras all serve to transport the participants to the liminal The aforementioned excerpt from fieldnotes also suggests that zone of the axis mundi (Eliade 1959), the central pillar connect- cleansing may serve a second function of purifying via contamination ing the heavens, earth and the underworld—where pure humans by the positive. For instance, Anjali (IF45), one of our informants can transcend the spatio-temporal boundaries (O’Guinn and Belk explained how, for a number of days before a Hindu wedding, she, 1989) to commune with the sacred. The hawan is sacralized by prospective bride was ritually bathed with water and massaged the addition of ghee [clarified butter] which is considered the most with turmeric. This golden colored spice, prized for its antiseptic distilled essence of the cow which is revered as sacred by Hindus properties in India, is believed to purify the recipient (Srinivas 1952) (Korom 2000). The significance of the home-owner and her key and is also considered auspicious (Fernandez, Veer, and Lastovicka supporters, or the groom and bride sacralizing the hawan becomes 2006). It also imparts a much-favored golden-yellow tone to the apparent when noting that constructing the fire altar is believed bride’s skin. Among some ethnic groups, the turmeric is believed to be “a veiled personal sacrifice. The sacrificer dies [emphasis to “heat” the bride in order to make her sexually receptive to the present] and …reaches heaven…this is only a temporary death” groom (Kolenda 1984). Anjali recalled how, every day for a week (Coomaraswamy 1997, p.162). before her wedding, “my close female relatives and friends prepared For example, when bride and groom sacralize the hawan, they me for my wedding by rubbing turmeric paste on me. I wore only ascend to the cosmic plane temporarily and descend reborn with my white petticoat and blouse, and they dipped their hands into a the wife being incorporated into the husband as his “half-body” large bowl of tumeric [powder mixed with water to form a golden (Inden and Nicholas 1977). The ascension of the bride and groom yellow paste] and put the paste on my body. They rubbed it into to the cosmic plane is facilitated by their spatial proximity to the me to make my skin fairer so… I would be ready for Sham [the hawan, which signifies the center of the the axis mundi, and hence groom].” A similar pre-wedding ceremony was observed where the portal to the cosmos. By sacralizing the fire, the couple ascends Prakash (AM 28), dressed in white clothes was rubbed with turmeric into the cosmos and descends reborn with the wife incorporated by his female relatives, in preparation for his wedding. Fieldnotes into the husband’s body. This is signified in many Hindu marriages noted that at the conclusion of this ceremony, every visible part of by the tying of the Manghal Sutra (sacred golden necklace) around Prakash’s body was literally stained bright yellow. the bride’s neck, and the groom drawing a vermilion line on the Thus the female relative and friends of the bride and groom center parting of the bride’s hair, signifying the symbolic opening ritually purify them in preparation for their marriage. Like the of her womb. Many pure and/or auspicious substances such as ghee, married women of medieval times (Brink 1991), Hindu women act honey, and grain are then ritually offered to the new couple. These 222 / Cleansing, Contamination and Sacrifice: Three Processes of Purification Figure 1 The Incremental Processes of Purification

rituals echo the final stages of the rites of establishment described Int: Were the clothes new? by Davis (1997). Fire purifies by destroying of the old and re-creating the new. Preeti: No, not new, they were his own clothes, but we washed Christian groups who engage in baptism practice this same symbolic them so they were clean. death and resurrection; however Christians use the element of water, rather than the element of fire to symbolize sacrifice (O’Guinn and I note that clean white cotton clothes are viewed as “pure” and Belk 1989). In both cases, the fire or water serves to symbolically hence, along with the mantras and incense, were able to contaminate destroy the old, polluted element, and to re-create the new, pure the body with purity. Preeti also told the interviewer, the close fam- element. Thus, sacrifice can go beyond being a means to avoid pol- ily of the deceased fasted in preparation for completing the initial lution. Sacrifice, particularly when fire or water are involved, can funeral rites. These were completed when the body was placed on a also remove pollution by ritually destroying the polluted element, as funeral pyre which was lit by Preeti’s son. These initial funeral rites well as add purity by facilitating physical contact with pure elements. were complete when the skull of the deceased exploded in the heat, Hence, I believe sacrifice is the ultimate purificatory mechanism an act which Hindus believe permits the deceased’s spirit to leave that subsumes the processes of cleansing, decontamination by his body. The ritual burning of the body symbolizes its death and removing the impure, and contamination by incorporating the pure. the release of its spirit, subsequent to its re-birth into a new body. Thus sacrifice is a multi-stage process, whereby the ritually clean Incremental Purification entity first dies, then is re-born as a new, pure entity. The three purification processes explicated so far—ritual A person or possession must be purified, before the sacred cleansing, ritual contamination, and ritual sacrifice—may not can be approached without danger of profaning it. As depicted individually completely achieve a transformation from impure in the Figure, purity can be attained by at least three incremental, to completely pure. Like the incremental rites of establishment sequential processes: ritual cleansing, ritual contamination, and discussed by Davis (1975), these three purification processes ap- ritual sacrifice. pear to act sequentially to achieve incrementally purer states. For Ritual cleansing goes beyond biological cleansing in that it example, Preeti’s (AF 75) explained how her late husband’s body decontaminates by removing polluted elements. The process of was first washed by hospital staff (presumably achieving biological decontamination by removing polluted elements is mirrored by cleanliness). Then, when the body was returned to their home, a the process of purifying by contamination from pure elements. priest came to the house to ritually cleanse the body. She noted that This finding underscores the utility of considering the influence of he “used just water to pour over the body, but no soap...” clarifying both positively and negatively valenced sources of contaminants that this was not a mere biological cleansing. The two processes in consumer research. Sacrifice is the ultimate act of purification described so far moved the body along the continuum from being in that it involves cleansing that literally or symbolically destroys polluted to becoming sterile (biologically clean) and then onwards the old, impure entity; allowing a new, pure entity to emerge. Fur- to becoming ritually clean. thermore, the three processes of purification can act incrementally to successively move the entity to be purified along a continuum Preeti: … the pujari [priest] chanted mantras and burned from the polluted, to sterile, to ritually clean, to becoming sancti- incense while pouring water over Uncle’s [her late fied, before it is symbolically destroyed before its symbolic rebirth husband] body. Then, he dressed the body with white as a new, pure entity. cotton clothes and with garlands of flowers. European Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 9) / 223 DISCUSSION Frances Luce (eds.), Valdosta, GA : Association for Con- Purity and pollution, and hence the processes of purification, sumer Research, 53. are central to traditional Hindu cultural values and practice, and Banotai, Alyssa (2003), “The Customer is Always Right,” Jour- hence more easily discerned. Given the large numbers of Hindus nal of Environmental Health, 65(9), 49-50. in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere, purification is of obvi- Bayly, Christopher (1986), “The Origins of Swadeshi (Home In- ous relevance to consumer research relevant to Hindu consumers. dustry): Cloth and Indian Society, 1700-1930,” in The Social However, the relative prominence of purity for Hindu consumers Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, Arjun compared to contemporary Western consumers does not mean Appadurai (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 285-321. that purity is not relevant to the latter group. Western consumers Belk, Russell W. (1988), “Possessions and the Extended Self,” continue to utilize symbols of purity and processes of purification Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (September), 139-168. when practicing religious rituals, wedding rituals, and christening Belk, Russell W., Melanie Wallendorf, and John F Sherry, Jr. rituals. Furthermore, contemporary Western consumers are increas- (1989), “The Sacred and Profane in Consumer Behaviour: ingly concerned with removing pollution from their environment via Theodicy on the Odyssey,” Journal of Consumer Research, products such as hand sanitizers (Banotai 2003). Current advertising 16 (June), 1-38. of sanitizing products usually emphasizes their ability to remove Brink, Maryann E. (1991), “The Image of the Word: The Repre- unwanted substances. However, our findings suggest consumers’ sentation of Books in Medieval Iconography,” in Transcend- perceptions of their efficacy would be increased if advertisers also ing Boundaries: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study emphasized how these products added desired substances to the of Gender, Pamela R. Frese and John M. Coggeshall (eds.), surfaces thus cleansed e.g. “anti-bacterial coating.” Bergin and Garvey: New York, 67-80. Consumers are also increasingly concerned about the purity of Caillois, Roger (1959), Man and the Sacred, trans. Meyer their food and other substances they encounter, as both the growth in Barash, Glencoe Il: The Free Press. demand for organic food (Wiggins 2007)and the increasing rejection Carman, John B. (1985), “Conclusion: Axes of Sacred Value in of genetically-engineered food (Motion and Weaver 2005) attest Hindu Society,” in Purity and Auspiciousness in Indian So- to. This demand for purity is also evident in consumers’ increas- ciety, John B. Carman and Frédérique Apffel Marglin (eds.), ing responsiveness to marketing claims of “pure” food or drink Leiden: E. J. Brill, 108-20. with no additives, and “100% pure” tourist destinations (Morgan, Coomaraswamy, Ananda (1997), The Door in the Sky: Cooma- Pritchard, and Piggott 2002). 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