Endo-Cannibalism in Malayo-Polynesian

In the early twentieth century the French sociologist Robert Hertz published an influential essay under the title of “A Contribution to the Study of the Collective Representation of Death.” Hertz’s primary interest was in the quite widespread Malayo-Polynesian practice of double burial, whereby corpses were not immediately taken to a final resting place but instead […]

Why do men woo and women choose?

According to neo-Darwinian synthesis, evolutionary success is defined largely in terms of fecundity, or reproductive success, not just survival. It is the replication of the gene that matters most, not the organism. If reproductive success through genetic replication is the ultimate goal of evolution, then resource acquisition can be seen as merely a means to […]

Weikza and sexual intercourse with fruits

As in the case of European alchemy, Burmese alchemy too includes techniques for the transmutation of base metals into gold. Of much greater importance in Burmese alchemy, however, are the goals of achieving magical power, especially of immortality. These powers are acquired by means of the alchemic stone whose absolute purification and refinement is the […]