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Author : Osmund Bopearachchi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)
Download or read book Ruhuna, an Ancient Civilisation Re-visited written by Osmund Bopearachchi and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author : Zoltán Biedermann
Publisher : UCL Press
ISBN 13 : 1911307835
Total Pages : 357 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (113 download)
Download or read book Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History written by Zoltán Biedermann and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2017-06-07 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The peoples of Sri Lanka have participated in far-flung trading networks, religious formations, and Asian and European empires for millennia. This interdisciplinary volume sets out to draw Sri Lanka into the field of Asian and Global History by showing how the latest wave of scholarship has explored the island as a ‘crossroads’, a place defined by its openness to movement across the Indian Ocean.Experts in the history, archaeology, literature and art of the island from c.500 BCE to c.1850 CE use Lankan material to explore a number of pressing scholarly debates. They address these matters from their varied disciplinary perspectives and diverse array of sources, critically assessing concepts such as ethnicity, cosmopolitanism and localisation, and elucidating the subtle ways in which the foreign may be resisted and embraced at the same time. The individual chapters, and the volume as a whole, are a welcome addition to the history and historiography of Sri Lanka, as well as studies of the Indian Ocean region, kingship, colonialism, imperialism, and early modernity.
Author : Himanshu Prabha Ray
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000220737
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (2 download)
Download or read book The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World written by Himanshu Prabha Ray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-11-18 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the premodern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in archaeological and historical documentation. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies and cultural studies.
Author : Matthew Adam Cobb
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351732447
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (517 download)
Download or read book The Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity written by Matthew Adam Cobb and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period from the death of Alexander the Great to the rise of the Islam (c. late fourth century BCE to seventh century CE) saw a significant growth in economic, diplomatic and cultural exchange between various civilisations in Africa, Europe and Asia. This was in large part thanks to the Indian Ocean trade. Peoples living in the Roman Empire, Parthia, India and South East Asia increasingly had access to exotic foreign products, while the lands from which they derived, and the peoples inhabiting these lands, also captured the imagination, finding expression in a number of literary and poetic works. The Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity provides a range of chapters that explore the economic, political and cultural impact of this trade on these diverse societies, written by international experts working in the fields of Classics, Archaeology, South Asian studies, Near Eastern studies and Art History. The three major themes of the book are the development of this trade, how consumption and exchange impacted on societal developments, and how the Indian Ocean trade influenced the literary creations of Graeco-Roman and Indian authors. This volume will be of interest not only to academics and students of antiquity, but also to scholars working on later periods of Indian Ocean history who will find this work a valuable resource.
Author : Peter Francis
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824823320
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (233 download)
Download or read book Asia's Maritime Bead Trade written by Peter Francis and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating study is the first detailed description of the ancient and enduring trade in beads that spans more than two millennia and once stretched from the Middle East to East Asia and affected areas as far apart as West Africa and the American Pacific coast. Beads are universal and among the earliest art forms. Made of glass, semiprecious stone, or precious organic materials such as amber and coral, they were ubiquitous in the ancient world, serving as decorations, magical charms, mnemonic and counting devices, symbols of wealth and status. Much of the ancient bead trade was incorporated in Asian maritime commerce, and many of the beads involved have Asian origins. Peter Francis, Jr., a pioneer in bead studies, incorporates firsthand knowledge of beads and beadmaking in the field with years of solid, scholarly research, effectively eliminating much of the hearsay and speculation that so often characterizes works on beads. In addition to the production, use, and provenance of beads, he examines the importance of the bead trade for the economies of the countries involved and provides insights into the lives of its many participants: artisans, mariners, and merchants. He covers the widely-dispersed Indo-Pacific beads (sometimes called Trade Wind beads or mutisalah), Chinese glass beads, Middle Eastern glass beads, Indian stone beads, heirloom beads in Southeast Asia and Micronesia, and other minor beads and bead industries involved in the trade.
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004281045
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)
Download or read book Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages (1405-1433) and China’s Relations with the Indian Ocean World written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages (1405-1433) and China’s Relations with the Indian Ocean World: A Multilingual Bibliography provides a multidisciplinary guide to publications on this great navigator’s activities and their impact on Chinese and world history. Admiral Zheng He commanded the fifteenth-century world’s largest fleet. In the course of seven voyages made between 1405 and 1433, his massive ships visited over thirty present-day countries in Asia and Africa. Those voyages reflected and reinforced the development of complex networks of trade, migration, cultural exchange, and political interactions between China and the Indian Ocean world. This bibliography lists sources in thirteen languages, including both scholarly studies and popular works like Gavin Menzies’s controversial bestsellers claiming the Chinese sailed around the world before Columbus. Relevant translations, transliterations and annotations are provided to aid the reader.
Author : K.S. Mathew
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351997513
Total Pages : 517 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (519 download)
Download or read book Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris written by K.S. Mathew and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The battle of Actium waged in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt in 30 BC to the Roman Empire opened up avenues for increased commercial contact between the Roman Empire, South Asia in general and India in particular and the port of Muziris was the premier trading post of India. In this volume, eminent international scholars from the USA, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Italy as well as India provide detailed analysis of maritime trade in the Indian Ocean region in the early historic period.
Author : Himanshu Prabha Ray
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000166511
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (1 download)
Download or read book Coastal Shrines and Transnational Maritime Networks across India and Southeast Asia written by Himanshu Prabha Ray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2020-07-26 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book breaks new ground by examining trans-oceanic connectivity through the perspective of coastal shrines and maritime cultural landscapes across the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. It covers a period of expanding networks and cross-cultural encounters from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. The book examines the distinctiveness of these shrines, and highlights their interconnections, and their role in social integration in South and Southeast Asia. By drawing on data from shipwreck sites, the author elaborates on the material and religious intersections and transmissions between cultures across the seas. Many of these coastal shrines survived into the colonial period when they came to be admired for their aesthetic value as ‘monuments’. As nation states of the region became independent, these shrines were often inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on account of their Outstanding Universal Values. The book argues that in the 21st century there is a need to promote the cultural connectivity of the past as transnational heritage on UNESCO’s global platform to preserve and protect our shared heritage. The volume will be essential reading for academics and researchers of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, history of South and Southeast Asia, religious studies, cultural studies, and Asian studies.
Author : Tansen Sen
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442220929
Total Pages : 561 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)
Download or read book India, China, and the World written by Tansen Sen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pathbreaking study provides the first comprehensive examination of India-China interactions in the broader contexts of Asian and world history. By focusing on material exchanges, transmissions of knowledge and technologies, networks of exchange during the colonial period, and little-known facets of interactions between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, Tansen Sen argues convincingly that the analysis of India-China connections must extend beyond the traditional frameworks of nation-states or bilateralism. Instead, he demonstrates that a wide canvas of space, people, objects, and timeframe is needed to fully comprehend the interactions between India and China in the past and during the contemporary period. Considering as well the contributions of people and groups from beyond India and China, Sen also explores the interactions between Indians and Chinese outside the Asian continent. The author’s formidable array of sources, pulled from archives and libraries around the world, range from Chinese travel accounts to Indian intelligence reports. Examining the connected histories of the two regions, Sen fills a striking gap in the study of India and China in a global setting.
Author : Alok Kumar Kanungo
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9811636567
Total Pages : 567 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (116 download)
Download or read book Ancient Glass of South Asia written by Alok Kumar Kanungo and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive research on Ancient Indian glass. The contributors include experienced archaeologists of South Asian glass and archaeological chemists with expertise in the chemical analysis of glass, besides, established ethnohistorians and ethnoarchaeologists. It is comprised of five sections, and each section discusses different aspects of glass study: the origin of glass and its evolution, its scientific study and its care, ancient glass in literature and glass ethnography, glass in South Asia and the diffusion of glass in different parts of the world. The topic covered by the different chapters ranges from the development of faience, to the techniques developed for the manufacture of glass beads, glass bangles or glass mirrors at different times in south Asia, a major glass producing region and the regional distribution of key artefacts both within India and outside the region, in Africa, Europe or Southeast Asia. Some chapters also include extended examples of the archaeometry of ancient glasses. It makes an important contribution to archaeological, anthropological and analytical aspects of glass in South Asia. As such, it represents an invaluable resource for students through academic and industry researchers working in archaeological sciences, ancient knowledge system, pyrotechnology, historical archaeology, social archaeology and student of anthropology and history with an interest in glass and the archaeology of South Asia.
Author : Gananath Obeyesekere
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN 13 : 8120802136
Total Pages : 665 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (28 download)
Download or read book The Cult of the Goddess Pattini written by Gananath Obeyesekere and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pattini-goddess, virgin, wife and mother; folk deity of Sinhala Buddhists and Jains; and assimilated goddess of the Hindu pantheon-has been worshiped in Sri Lanks and South India for fifteen hundred years or more, as she still is today. This long-awaited book is the culmination of Gananath Obeyesekere's comprehensive study of the Pattini cult and its historical, sociological, and psychoanalytical role in the culture of South Asia. A well-known anthropologist and a native of Sri Lanka, Obeyesekere displays his impeccable scholarship and a stunning range of theoretical perspectives in this work, the most detailed analysis of a single religious complex in South Asian ethnography (and possibly in all of anthropology). Since 1955 Obeyesekere has observed and participated in modern performances of the rituals of worship, healing, and propitiation in the Pattini cult, particularly the postharvest ritual known as the gammaduva. He presents detailed texts of the gammaduva, placing them in their historical and mythic traditions. Using the texts, he formulates a cultural analysis of the Buddhist pantheon and a critique of empiricist notions of South Asian historiography. Obeyesekere shows that some seemingly historical figures of South India and Sri Lanka are mythic characters and that their historical significance can best be understood by an anthropological analysis of myth rather than through a reification of myth in history. The concurrent Hindu worship of Pattini with its myths and rituals is described in detail. Obeyesekere documents the Sanskritization of Pattini, the changing physical structures of the goddess's shrines from the 1930s to the present, the assumption by Brahman priests of ritual functions formerly carried out by folk priest, and the sociocultural causes of these changes. He traces, too, the origins and diffusion of the cult throughout its entire history, as well as its survival today. Of psychological interest is the problematic status of Pattini as virgin, wife, and mother and her relationship with her god-husband Palanga and his courtesan Madevi. Obeyesekere discusses the psychodynamics of this relationship in detail and explains its role in Hindu-Buddhist socialization and family structure. Further, he uses this analysis to account for local variations in the performance and structure of the ritual. The ritual of the killing and resurrection of Pattini's husband and her role as mater dolorosa will interest scholars of comparative religion.
Author : Himanshu Prabha Ray
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 0429802854
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (298 download)
Download or read book Decolonising Heritage in South Asia written by Himanshu Prabha Ray and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume cross-examines the stability of heritage as a concept. It interrogates the past which materialises through multi-layered narratives on monuments and other objects that sustain cultural diversity. It seeks to understand how interpretations of “monuments” as “texts” are affected at the local level of experience, even as institutions such as UNESCO work to globalise and fix constructs of stable and universal heritage. Shifting away from a largely Eurocentric concept associated with architecture and monumental archaeology, this book reassesses how local and regional heritage needs to be balanced with the global and transnational. It argues that material objects and monuments are not static embodiments of culture but are, rather, a medium through which identity, power and society are produced and reproduced. This is especially relevant in South and Southeast Asian contexts, where debates over heritage often have local, regional and national political implications and consequences. Reevaluating how traditional valuation of monuments and cultural landscapes could help aid sustainability and long-term preservation of the heritage, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of South and Southeast Asian history, heritage studies, archaeology, cultural studies, tourism studies and political history as well.
Author : Michael Keevak
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9811039720
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)
Download or read book Embassies to China written by Michael Keevak and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-06-21 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text is a timely and wide-ranging study providing essential background to the development of global modernity through the European encounter with China. Considering differing notions of peace, empire, trade, religion, and diplomacy as touchstones in the relations between China and Europe on mutuality, the book examines five encounters with France, Portugal, Holland, the pope, and Russia between 1248 and 1720, and reflects on concepts that the West took for granted but which did not successfully cross over into the Chinese world. This cutting edge text provides key insights into the cultural and political conflict which lay at the heart of early Chinese-European relations, as the West's understanding of the truth and appropriateness of its cultural norms was confronted by China's norms and beliefs.
Author : Ralf Hertel
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317147197
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (171 download)
Download or read book Early Encounters between East Asia and Europe written by Ralf Hertel and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-07-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While inquiries into early encounters between East Asia and the West have traditionally focused on successful interactions, this collection inquires into the many forms of failure, experienced on all sides, in the period before 1850. Countering a tendency in scholarship to overlook unsuccessful encounters, it starts from the assumption that failures can prove highly illuminating and provide valuable insights into both the specific shapes and limitations of East Asian and Western imaginations of the Other, as well as of the nature of East-West interaction. Interdisciplinary in outlook, this collection brings together the perspectives of sinology, Japanese and Korean studies, historical studies, literary studies, art history, religious studies, and performance studies. The subjects discussed are manifold and range from missionary accounts, travel reports, letters and trade documents to fictional texts as well as material objects (such as tea, chinaware, or nautical instruments) exchanged between East and West. In order to avoid a Eurocentric perspective, the collection balances approaches from the fields of English literature, Spanish studies, Neo-Latin studies, and art history with those of sinology, Japanese studies, and Korean studies. It includes an introduction mapping out the field of failures in early modern encounters between East Asia and Europe, as well as a theoretically minded essay on the lessons of failure and the ethics of cross-cultural understanding.
Author : Jim Sykes
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190912049
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)
Download or read book The Musical Gift written by Jim Sykes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-31 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Musical Gift tells Sri Lanka's music history as a story of giving between humans and nonhumans, and between populations defined by difference. Author Jim Sykes argues that in the recent past, the genres we recognize today as Sri Lanka's esteemed traditional musics were not originally about ethnic or religious identity, but were gifts to gods and people intended to foster protection and/or healing. Noting that the currently assumed link between music and identity helped produce the narratives of ethnic difference that drove Sri Lanka's civil war (1983-2009), Sykes argues that the promotion of connected music histories has a role to play in post-war reconciliation. The Musical Gift includes a study of how NGOs used music to promote reconciliation in Sri Lanka, and it contains a theorization of the relations between musical gifts and commodities. Eschewing a binary between the gift and identity, Sykes claims the world's music history is largely a story of entanglement between both paradigms. Drawing on fieldwork conducted widely across Sri Lanka over a span of eleven years--including the first study of Sinhala Buddhist drumming in English and the first ethnography of music-making in the former warzones of the north and east--this book brings anthropology's canonic literature on "the gift" into music studies, while drawing on anthropology's recent "ontological turn" and "the new materialism" in religious studies.
Author : Andrea Manzo
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004362320
Total Pages : 661 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)
Download or read book Stories of Globalisation: The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from Late Prehistory to Early Modernity written by Andrea Manzo and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-11-26 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a selection of papers presented at the Red Sea VII conference titled “The Red Sea and the Gulf: Two Maritime Alternative Routes in the Development of Global Economy, from Late Prehistory to Modern Times”. The Red Sea and the Gulf are similar geographically and environmentally, and complementary to each other, as well as being competitors in their economic and cultural interactions with the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The chapters of the volume are grouped in three sections, corresponding to the various historical periods. Each chapter of the book offers the reader the opportunity to travel across the regions of the Red Sea and the Gulf, and from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean from prehistory to the contemporary era. With contributions by Ahmed Hussein Abdelrahman, Serena Autiero, Mahmoud S. Bashir, Kathryn A. Bard, Alemsege, Beldados, Ioana A. Dumitru, Serena Esposito, Rodolfo Fattovich, Luigi Gallo, Michal Gawlikowski, Caterina Giostra, Sunil Gupta, Michael Harrower, Martin Hense, Linda Huli, Sarah Japp, Serena Massa, Ralph K. Pedersen, Jacke S. Phillips, Patrice Pomey, Joanna K. Rądkowska, Mike Schnelle, Lucy Semaan, Steven E. Sidebotham, Shadia Taha, Husna Taha Elatta, Joanna Then-Obłuska and Iwona Zych
Author : Nathanael J. Andrade
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108317790
Total Pages : 315 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (83 download)
Download or read book The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity written by Nathanael J. Andrade and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Christianity make its remarkable voyage from the Roman Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent? By examining the social networks that connected the ancient and late antique Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, central Asia, and Iran, this book contemplates the social relations that made such movement possible. It also analyzes how the narrative tradition regarding the apostle Judas Thomas, which originated in Upper Mesopotamia and accredited him with evangelizing India, traveled among the social networks of an interconnected late antique world. In this way, the book probes how the Thomas narrative shaped Mediterranean Christian beliefs regarding co-religionists in central Asia and India, impacted local Christian cultures, took shape in a variety of languages, and experienced transformation as it traveled from the Mediterranean to India, and back again.
