2 research outputs found
Figurations of Time in Asia
The experience and the ensuing structuring of time
forms a constitutive part of human cultures. There are
many ways of coming to terms with time, calendars
and historiographies being its most common cultural
representations. The contributions to this volume deal
with lesser known figurations that result directly from
the various perceptions about time and phenomena
related to time. Diachronous investigations in various
parts of Asia (predominantly South Asia) reveal a
broad spectrum of such visual and literary figurative
manifestations.
While Hinduism recognizes a divine personification
of time and allocates the ominous factor time in an
ontological proximity to death, other cultures of Asia
have developed their own specific concepts and strategies.
This collection of essays combines perspectives
of various disciplines on figurations in which time
congeals, as it were. These figurations result from local
time regimes, and beyond demonstrating their diversity
of forms this volume offers coordinates for a comparison
of cultures.
The topics include chronograms as well as early Buddhist
topoi of the vastness of time, the Indian Jaina representation
of both temporality and non-temporality and
the teachings of a Mediaeval Zen master hinting at the
more stationary aspects of time
Political players: Courtesans of Hyderabad
Important recent works on the Mughal state and women in the Indo-Muslim world have not considered courtesans or tawa’ifs, the singing and dancing women employed by Indo-Muslim states and nobles, to be significant participants in politics and society. Drawing on detailed archival data from late nineteenth century Hyderabad state and other historical materials, I argue that courtesans were often elite women, cultural standard-setters and wielders of political power. Women whose art and learning gained them properties and alliances with powerful men, they were political players in precolonial India and in the princely states. They successfully negotiated administrative reforms in princely states like Hyderabad, continuing to secure protection and patronage while in British India they began to be classified as prostitutes. Colonial and modern India have been less than kind to courtesans and their artistic traditions, and more research needs to be done on the history of courtesans and their communities