sacred versus profane laughter

For the distinction between valorized ‘sacred’ and repressed ‘profane’ laughter in Amerindian religion, see Claude L�vi-Strauss, "Suppressed Laughter," in The Raw and the Cooked, Introduction to a Science of Mythology: 1 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), pp.109, 120–132, which also provides evidence—overlooked by L�vi-Strauss himself—of not only comic behavior but also tickling serving as symbolic substitutes for transgression in mythology. See my contribution on "The Sense of Humor in Abhinavagupta and the Semblance of Humor of the Laughing Vid�shaka," to S. Visuvalingam, ed., Abhinavagupta and the Synthesis of Indian Aesthetics (1993).