Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2023.2165250
Hadiqa Imtiaz, S. Raza, Safina Baig, K. Zahra
Chakwal is located in Potohar Plateau of the Punjab Province. Town Bhoun of District Chakwal has historic significance as it is famous for carding archaeological sites and monuments. A rich archaeological mound of Pind Kahoot is located on the periphery of town Bhoun in District Chakwal. The site is occupied for agricultural activities. Whenever the farmers plough their fields and stones stuck the plough, they put them aside. So, the borders of the mound are over laid by stones of various sizes and debris. The mound is spanning over a vast area and its surface is covered with potsherds of different wares, textures, and sizes. The findings from the site include pottery, terracotta figurines and pipes, grinding stones, game discs, metallic jewelry, terracotta, steatite and carnelian beads, and bones. The current paper focuses on an analytical and comparative study of artifacts. It will also trace occupancy of different cultures and their relative chronological sequence. Besides, it will also elaborate the ethnoarchaeological study by establishing a link between the recovered artifacts and contemporary traditional practices in terms of materials and techniques.
{"title":"Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Artifacts Discovered from Pind Kahoot Mound, District Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan","authors":"Hadiqa Imtiaz, S. Raza, Safina Baig, K. Zahra","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2023.2165250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2023.2165250","url":null,"abstract":"Chakwal is located in Potohar Plateau of the Punjab Province. Town Bhoun of District Chakwal has historic significance as it is famous for carding archaeological sites and monuments. A rich archaeological mound of Pind Kahoot is located on the periphery of town Bhoun in District Chakwal. The site is occupied for agricultural activities. Whenever the farmers plough their fields and stones stuck the plough, they put them aside. So, the borders of the mound are over laid by stones of various sizes and debris. The mound is spanning over a vast area and its surface is covered with potsherds of different wares, textures, and sizes. The findings from the site include pottery, terracotta figurines and pipes, grinding stones, game discs, metallic jewelry, terracotta, steatite and carnelian beads, and bones. The current paper focuses on an analytical and comparative study of artifacts. It will also trace occupancy of different cultures and their relative chronological sequence. Besides, it will also elaborate the ethnoarchaeological study by establishing a link between the recovered artifacts and contemporary traditional practices in terms of materials and techniques.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75388468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2023.2235120
A. Tosato
This article assesses the topic of theatrical performances and sculpture in medieval India through an analysis of the relationship between narrative sculptures, literary works of poetry (kāvya), and theatrical performances, as these are described in the manuals on dance/theatre (nāṭya), such as the Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata, with the commentary Abhinavabhāratī by Abhinavagupta, Saṅgītaratnākara, and Nṛttaratnāvalī. The sculptures included in this study are found in four temples built by the Hoysaḷa dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries and represent the story of “Arjuna and the Hunter (kirāta)”, told in the Mahābhārata and in later literary works that were well-known in the courts of South India, including the Hoysaḷa court. After providing a detailed description of the sculptures based on the śilpa and nāṭya śāstras (treatises on sculpture and theatre), the study suggests that the sculptors carving these images adopted the technical language of nāṭya according to its theatrical usage (viniyoga), as an instrument to convey specific meanings and to express the emotions (bhāvas and rasas) evoked in the story, in both dancing and non-dancing figures.
{"title":"Encapsulating Dance in Sculpture: The Story of “Arjuna and the Hunter” as Represented in the Hoysaḷa Temples","authors":"A. Tosato","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2023.2235120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2023.2235120","url":null,"abstract":"This article assesses the topic of theatrical performances and sculpture in medieval India through an analysis of the relationship between narrative sculptures, literary works of poetry (kāvya), and theatrical performances, as these are described in the manuals on dance/theatre (nāṭya), such as the Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata, with the commentary Abhinavabhāratī by Abhinavagupta, Saṅgītaratnākara, and Nṛttaratnāvalī. The sculptures included in this study are found in four temples built by the Hoysaḷa dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries and represent the story of “Arjuna and the Hunter (kirāta)”, told in the Mahābhārata and in later literary works that were well-known in the courts of South India, including the Hoysaḷa court. After providing a detailed description of the sculptures based on the śilpa and nāṭya śāstras (treatises on sculpture and theatre), the study suggests that the sculptors carving these images adopted the technical language of nāṭya according to its theatrical usage (viniyoga), as an instrument to convey specific meanings and to express the emotions (bhāvas and rasas) evoked in the story, in both dancing and non-dancing figures.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81277171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2163067
Nayanjot Lahiri, M. Rajani, Debdutta Sanyal, Samayita Banerjee, Satyendra Tiwari
This article arises out of a disquiet about the archaeology of historical India which has largely been concerned with cities and villages. Forests and wilderness rarely figure there, except in passing when the expanding agricultural terrain is described in relation to forest lands being domesticated or when there is an exploration of lines of communication, some of which pass through forested tracts. Because of this gap in engaging with lands beyond agrarian tracts and city sites, large expanses that carry markers of ancient human use have not centrally figured in such research. Here, we describe our field work in the Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve and its implications. The earliest remains go back in the form of caves to the 2nd century CE. Shrines of early medieval antiquity, sculptures, and reservoirs begin in the time of Kalachuri kings (7th century CE till the 13th century CE) and continue into the high medieval with Vaghela fortifications and palace remains (13th century CE onwards). What these can tell us when they are immersed in the hills and meadows of Bandhavgarh, in its forests and around its water bodies, is explored here.
{"title":"Tracing Ancient Itinerants and Early Medieval Rulers in the Forests of Bandhavgarh","authors":"Nayanjot Lahiri, M. Rajani, Debdutta Sanyal, Samayita Banerjee, Satyendra Tiwari","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2163067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2163067","url":null,"abstract":"This article arises out of a disquiet about the archaeology of historical India which has largely been concerned with cities and villages. Forests and wilderness rarely figure there, except in passing when the expanding agricultural terrain is described in relation to forest lands being domesticated or when there is an exploration of lines of communication, some of which pass through forested tracts. Because of this gap in engaging with lands beyond agrarian tracts and city sites, large expanses that carry markers of ancient human use have not centrally figured in such research. Here, we describe our field work in the Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve and its implications. The earliest remains go back in the form of caves to the 2nd century CE. Shrines of early medieval antiquity, sculptures, and reservoirs begin in the time of Kalachuri kings (7th century CE till the 13th century CE) and continue into the high medieval with Vaghela fortifications and palace remains (13th century CE onwards). What these can tell us when they are immersed in the hills and meadows of Bandhavgarh, in its forests and around its water bodies, is explored here.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86726611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2163071
Jiajing Mo
Believed to be an eye-witnessed report by Xuanzang 玄奘 (c.602–664 CE), the Datang Xiyu ji has long been held up in the western scholarship as a handy guide for the historical geography of South Asia and a standard source for identifying archaeological sites since the pioneer archaeologist Alexander Cunningham (1814–1893). Strangely, over a century of using the Xiyu ji has generated little critical awareness among archaeologists who have too often taken the text for face values. Indeed, an examination of the text will demonstrate that not all the description from the text is firsthand, at least so for around one-fifth of the countries not visited by Xuanzang. Yet it does not mean that Xuanzang is to be blamed. The production of the Xiyu ji was more complex than that of a general travelling record, which associates the text to the genre of official geographical writing. It was brought into being in response to an expanding empire. The edited ‘itinerary’ and the incorporation of secondary sources thus pose outstanding questions for researchers who might assume that they were following the steps of the pilgrim and urge us to reconsider the current conception of and approach to this document.
{"title":"The Told and Untold","authors":"Jiajing Mo","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2163071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2163071","url":null,"abstract":"Believed to be an eye-witnessed report by Xuanzang 玄奘 (c.602–664 CE), the Datang Xiyu ji has long been held up in the western scholarship as a handy guide for the historical geography of South Asia and a standard source for identifying archaeological sites since the pioneer archaeologist Alexander Cunningham (1814–1893). Strangely, over a century of using the Xiyu ji has generated little critical awareness among archaeologists who have too often taken the text for face values. Indeed, an examination of the text will demonstrate that not all the description from the text is firsthand, at least so for around one-fifth of the countries not visited by Xuanzang. Yet it does not mean that Xuanzang is to be blamed. The production of the Xiyu ji was more complex than that of a general travelling record, which associates the text to the genre of official geographical writing. It was brought into being in response to an expanding empire. The edited ‘itinerary’ and the incorporation of secondary sources thus pose outstanding questions for researchers who might assume that they were following the steps of the pilgrim and urge us to reconsider the current conception of and approach to this document.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90693334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2023.2224621
Isabella Nardi
This study brings together written and visual evidence of an imposing religious event in the Vallabha sampradāy history: a liturgical performance known as the Festival of the Seven Svarūps. Officiated at the Śrī Nāthjī temple of Nathdwara in 1739–40, it was attended by priests, royalty, and devotees to launch a new period of prosperity and well-being after challenging historical times. This study integrates diverse materials to create a vivid picture of the sumptuous festivity, its organizer (Tilkāyat Govardhanesh, b. 1707), its sponsor (Maharao Durjan Sal of Kota, r. 1723–56), and its sacred participants, the svarūps – the most treasured Krishna icons of the sect. A detailed analysis of the sources will reveal important elements, such as the intertwined network, the Rajput political allies, and the relevance and range of action of the sampradāy in the eighteenth century.
这项研究汇集了Vallabha sampradāy历史上一个引人注目的宗教事件的书面和视觉证据:一个被称为七人节的礼拜表演Svarūps。1739年至1740年，在Śrī Nāthjī纳特瓦拉神庙举行了这一仪式，由牧师、皇室成员和信徒参加，在充满挑战的历史时期之后，开启了一个新的繁荣和幸福时期。这项研究整合了各种材料，以创造一个生动的画面，丰盛的节日，它的组织者(Tilkāyat Govardhanesh, b. 1707)，它的赞助商(哥打的Maharao Durjan Sal, r. 1723-56)，和它的神圣参与者，svarūps -该教派最珍贵的奎师那圣像。对来源的详细分析将揭示重要的因素，如交织的网络，拉杰put政治盟友，和相关性和行动范围sampradāy在18世纪。
{"title":"Mobility and Festivity: Krishna Icons and the Reunion of the Seven Svarūps of 1739–40","authors":"Isabella Nardi","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2023.2224621","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2023.2224621","url":null,"abstract":"This study brings together written and visual evidence of an imposing religious event in the Vallabha sampradāy history: a liturgical performance known as the Festival of the Seven Svarūps. Officiated at the Śrī Nāthjī temple of Nathdwara in 1739–40, it was attended by priests, royalty, and devotees to launch a new period of prosperity and well-being after challenging historical times. This study integrates diverse materials to create a vivid picture of the sumptuous festivity, its organizer (Tilkāyat Govardhanesh, b. 1707), its sponsor (Maharao Durjan Sal of Kota, r. 1723–56), and its sacred participants, the svarūps – the most treasured Krishna icons of the sect. A detailed analysis of the sources will reveal important elements, such as the intertwined network, the Rajput political allies, and the relevance and range of action of the sampradāy in the eighteenth century.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87478576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2023.2231671
Elisa Iori
By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens approach to the investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.
{"title":"An Urban Approach to the Archaeology of Buddhism in Gandhara: The Case of Barikot (Swat, Pakistan)","authors":"Elisa Iori","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2023.2231671","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2023.2231671","url":null,"abstract":"By moving beyond the walls of monumental religious architecture, this article adopts a city-lens approach to the investigation of lived Buddhism in the third century cities of northern Gandhara. Based on the evidence available for the city of Barikot (Swat, N Pakistan), the layered complexity of urban religiosity is approached here through a contextual analysis of the built-up environment and intra-site spatial distribution of religious artefacts. By focusing on the interaction of three distinct urban realms (household, inter-household, Buddhist saṃgha) in two specific urban spaces, domestic spaces and urban temples, an argument is made for both the existence of a multi-layered household religiosity with compartmentalised forms of religious communication as well as for the appropriation of urban forms of religious communication by the urban Buddhist communities.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85694118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-11DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2137974
Pushkar Sohoni
Stories that explain the origins of cities are often memorialised in architectural or natural monuments. Often, these man-made or natural formations are created or imagined respectively, to suit a particular narrative. In the case of Mumbai, the story of the city goddess Mumbadevi is central to the early imagined history of the city. Her canonical story is a relatively late creation, representing a literary and religious solution in the absence of an architectural marker. The shrine dedicated to her today anchors the narrative of the foundation of the city, but historically was built around the same time as the Sanskrit telling of the foundation of the city. In the Mumbai-Mahatmya, several storytelling strategies are used to create a synthetic city-goddess, but the form of the narrative is the trope of the timeless epic. The narrative is more important than the architectural creation for the foundation of Mumbai, and supplants any physical vestige as the centre of the city, including the shrine of Mumbadevi. This article will demonstrate that the history of the city and the goddess are deeply intertwined, with strands of multiple narratives that combine elements which would otherwise seem incongruous, much like the architectural pastiche that is seen at the site of the goddess temple.
{"title":"A Story Without Architecture: The Mythical Origins of Mumbai","authors":"Pushkar Sohoni","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2137974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2137974","url":null,"abstract":"Stories that explain the origins of cities are often memorialised in architectural or natural monuments. Often, these man-made or natural formations are created or imagined respectively, to suit a particular narrative. In the case of Mumbai, the story of the city goddess Mumbadevi is central to the early imagined history of the city. Her canonical story is a relatively late creation, representing a literary and religious solution in the absence of an architectural marker. The shrine dedicated to her today anchors the narrative of the foundation of the city, but historically was built around the same time as the Sanskrit telling of the foundation of the city. In the Mumbai-Mahatmya, several storytelling strategies are used to create a synthetic city-goddess, but the form of the narrative is the trope of the timeless epic. The narrative is more important than the architectural creation for the foundation of Mumbai, and supplants any physical vestige as the centre of the city, including the shrine of Mumbadevi. This article will demonstrate that the history of the city and the goddess are deeply intertwined, with strands of multiple narratives that combine elements which would otherwise seem incongruous, much like the architectural pastiche that is seen at the site of the goddess temple.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79392031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2137981
Ifqut Shaheen
This paper investigates the role ordinary people have played in archaeological field research during the late nineteenth century. Its geographical focus is on the Taxila valley in Pakistan. It was in the early later nineteenth century that Alexander Cunningham carried out extensive explorations in the area. He engaged local people during the course of his explorations aiming at gathering information about the valley’s archaeological landscape and previous diggings at many sites. Of particular importance was a resident of Shah-dheri village, called Nur. Notwithstanding their potential contribution during the surveys, Cunningham still failed to credit them for it. He rather maligned his local informants and guides as ignorant and destroyers. This paper argues that we need a discovery as well as reappraisal of the role ordinary local people have played in archaeological investigations in the subcontinent. The category of ordinary people under discussion here is different from what native scholarship embodies, viz. scholars, pundits and learned informants. It includes people who are imperceptible, or even absent, in the margins and bottoms of the pages of colonial knowledge. Such researches would not only reveal novel aspects of colonial archaeology but would, at the same time, lead to devise ways for potential engagements between archaeologists and local populations in present-day South Asian archaeology.
{"title":"The Other Archaeologists: The Ignorant Villagers and the Colonial Archaeology of Taxila in the Late Nineteenth Century","authors":"Ifqut Shaheen","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2137981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2137981","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the role ordinary people have played in archaeological field research during the late nineteenth century. Its geographical focus is on the Taxila valley in Pakistan. It was in the early later nineteenth century that Alexander Cunningham carried out extensive explorations in the area. He engaged local people during the course of his explorations aiming at gathering information about the valley’s archaeological landscape and previous diggings at many sites. Of particular importance was a resident of Shah-dheri village, called Nur. Notwithstanding their potential contribution during the surveys, Cunningham still failed to credit them for it. He rather maligned his local informants and guides as ignorant and destroyers. This paper argues that we need a discovery as well as reappraisal of the role ordinary local people have played in archaeological investigations in the subcontinent. The category of ordinary people under discussion here is different from what native scholarship embodies, viz. scholars, pundits and learned informants. It includes people who are imperceptible, or even absent, in the margins and bottoms of the pages of colonial knowledge. Such researches would not only reveal novel aspects of colonial archaeology but would, at the same time, lead to devise ways for potential engagements between archaeologists and local populations in present-day South Asian archaeology.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91249208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2111092
P. Gokhale
Harappan script scholarship is an archaeological discourse debating on the linguistic nature of the undeciphered signs, popularly known as Indus script. The article argues existence of linguistic hegemony in this scholarship and explicates its root causes, phases, consequences, and the present state of research. The phases are a result of combined influence of multiple parallel developments in the socio-political atmosphere, archaeological theory, technological innovations and changing mindsets. Following the antiquarianism during colonial time, the post-independence motion of imbibing ‘scientific’ approach in all academic faculties persuaded the archaeology domain to become more ‘processual’ and thus produce more ‘reliable’ knowledge. Harappan script decipherment studies based on statistical analysis of sign concordances manifest this scientific turn. These were rooted in the ideas of language and nation relationship, notional needs of developed past, and script considered as ‘essential feature’ of civilisation. The consequence is latency in typology studies of the artefacts which generally forms the basis for material interpretation epistemologies in archaeology. The recent advances in technology, accompanied by postmodern thought elaborate on the materiality, contextuality and typology to some extent. Thus, the hegemonic position assumed by the linguistics has posed serious constraints in this scholarship. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
{"title":"Linguistic Hegemony and Latent Typology: The Case of Harappan Script Scholarship","authors":"P. Gokhale","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2111092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2111092","url":null,"abstract":"Harappan script scholarship is an archaeological discourse debating on the linguistic nature of the undeciphered signs, popularly known as Indus script. The article argues existence of linguistic hegemony in this scholarship and explicates its root causes, phases, consequences, and the present state of research. The phases are a result of combined influence of multiple parallel developments in the socio-political atmosphere, archaeological theory, technological innovations and changing mindsets. Following the antiquarianism during colonial time, the post-independence motion of imbibing ‘scientific’ approach in all academic faculties persuaded the archaeology domain to become more ‘processual’ and thus produce more ‘reliable’ knowledge. Harappan script decipherment studies based on statistical analysis of sign concordances manifest this scientific turn. These were rooted in the ideas of language and nation relationship, notional needs of developed past, and script considered as ‘essential feature’ of civilisation. The consequence is latency in typology studies of the artefacts which generally forms the basis for material interpretation epistemologies in archaeology. The recent advances in technology, accompanied by postmodern thought elaborate on the materiality, contextuality and typology to some extent. Thus, the hegemonic position assumed by the linguistics has posed serious constraints in this scholarship. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72719935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/02666030.2022.2143882
R. Bose
This ethnographical paper re-explores the ancient remains of Sultanganj, Bihar, reports new findings of interest to archaeologists and art historians of eastern India and attempts to explain the historical context for the emergence of the site. Intervowen are prevailing popular conceptions of recovered old images and their place in the living traditions of a complex socio-religious pilgrimage town. It explores the local community’s response to a recent threat to this cultural heritage and demonstrates how popular conceptions of the life and location of ancient images offer a complementary model for the protection and preservation of ancient heritage in India.
{"title":"Sultanganj Re-Visited: Encountering the Past Through Living Traditions","authors":"R. Bose","doi":"10.1080/02666030.2022.2143882","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2022.2143882","url":null,"abstract":"This ethnographical paper re-explores the ancient remains of Sultanganj, Bihar, reports new findings of interest to archaeologists and art historians of eastern India and attempts to explain the historical context for the emergence of the site. Intervowen are prevailing popular conceptions of recovered old images and their place in the living traditions of a complex socio-religious pilgrimage town. It explores the local community’s response to a recent threat to this cultural heritage and demonstrates how popular conceptions of the life and location of ancient images offer a complementary model for the protection and preservation of ancient heritage in India.","PeriodicalId":52006,"journal":{"name":"South Asian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77908368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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