Love, Eroticism & Female Sexuality in Classical Sanskrit Literature

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9788173048319
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (483 download)

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Book Synopsis Love, Eroticism & Female Sexuality in Classical Sanskrit Literature by : Shalini Shah

Download or read book Love, Eroticism & Female Sexuality in Classical Sanskrit Literature written by Shalini Shah and published by . This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an attempt to analyse the conception of kama in the early-medieval classical Sanskrit literary tradition from a gender perspective. By reading against the grain, the author has tried to illuminate the sexual status of women within the different genres of these classical Sanskrit sources. The book highlights that far from being a unitary homogeneous category with only a certain kind of sexual status, women and their sexuality have been conceived differently in different philosophical schools, be they dharmasastra, kamasastra, Lokayata, tantric, ayurvedic and the asceptic philosophies. The author has further made a case for seeking the prostitute sexuality diiferently from that of a kulavadhu, i.e. a household woman. The treatment of the sexual desire of mayavinis, raksasis, dakinis, and svairins too places them in an all-together different category from the other women of patriarchy.. This book also argues in favour of the validity of talking in terms of love (prema) tradition in contra-distinction to an erotic (srngari) tradition in the classical Sanskrit sources of the early-medieval period. The basis for this binary division is predicated on the fact that in the love tradition, in which we include the poetry of the female poets, Bhavabhutis and Jayadevas work deals with reciprocity and emotions in the sexual relations between man and woman, while the masculine erotic tradition authored by the srngari poets is marked by hegemonic masculinity in which women exist solely as fetishized objects for exclusively male erotic stimulation.

The Making of Womanhood

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9788173049774
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (497 download)

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Book Synopsis The Making of Womanhood by : Dr. Shalini Shah

Download or read book The Making of Womanhood written by Dr. Shalini Shah and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Kāmashāstra in Classical Sanskrit Literature

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Kāmashāstra in Classical Sanskrit Literature by : Vishwanath K. Hampiholi

Download or read book Kāmashāstra in Classical Sanskrit Literature written by Vishwanath K. Hampiholi and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Pleasure

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190882492
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Pleasure by : Lisa Shapiro

Download or read book Pleasure written by Lisa Shapiro and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many, the word 'pleasure' conjures associations with hedonism, indulgence, and escape from the life of the mind. However little we talk about it, though, pleasure also plays an integral role in cognitive life, in both our sensory perception of the world and our intellectual understanding. This previously important but now neglected philosophical understanding of pleasure is the focus of the essays in this volume, which challenges received views that pleasure is principally motivating of action, unanalyzable, and caused, rather than responsive to reason. Like other books in the Oxford Philosophical Concepts series, it traces the development of the focal idea from ancient times through the 20th century. The essays highlight points of departure for new lines of inquiry rather than attempting to provide a full picture of how the idea of pleasure has been explored in philosophy. The volume begins by showing how Plato, Aristotle, early Islamic philosophers, and philosophers in the Medieval Latin tradition, such as Aquinas, honed in on the challenge of unifying the variety of pleasures so that they fall under one concept. In the early modern period, philosophers shifted from understanding the logic of pleasure to treating pleasure as a mental state. As the studies of Malebranche, Berkeley and Kant show, the central problem becomes understanding the relation of pleasure to other sensory experiences, and the role of pleasure in human cognition and knowledge. Short interdisciplinary reflections interspersed between essays focus on art of 16th and 17th century textbooks and the difficult music of composers like Bach, which demonstrate translation of these concerns to cultural production in the period. As the essay on Mill shows, the 19th century development of scientific psychology narrowed the definition of pleasure, and so its philosophical focus. Contemporary accounts of pleasure, however, in both philosophy and psychology, are now recognizing the limitations of this narrow focus, and are once again recognizing the complexity of pleasure and its role in human life.

Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231545460
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit by :

Download or read book Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit written by and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classical Sanskrit literature boasts an exquisite canon of poetry devoted to erotic love. In Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit, noted translator and scholar R. Parthasarathy curates a selection in a new verse translation that introduces readers to Sanskrit poetry in a modern English vernacular. The volume features works by seventy-two poets, including seven women poets and thirty-five anonymous poets, primarily composed between the fourth and seventeenth centuries. It includes a detailed introduction that guides readers through Sanskrit poetic forms and explains how to read and appreciate the poems in English. Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit seeks to represent the breadth of Sanskrit poetry through the ages and to present a cohesive, thematically unified selection when read as a whole. The works in this volume depict licit and illicit love, speaking to the joys and sorrows of consummation and separation and a broader cultural celebration of the pleasures of the flesh. Often sexually explicit, they are replete with recurrent scenarios and striking tactile, visual, and olfactory images, whose resonance and use as motifs across eras are expertly explained. Parthasarathy shows that Sanskrit poets are our contemporaries despite the centuries that separate us, as they speak simply and passionately to a wide range of human experience. Erotic Poems from the Sanskrit offers English-speaking readers an enticing and tantalizing initiation into the riches and beauty of this venerable poetic tradition.

Ancient Indian Erotics and Erotic Literature

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Indian Erotics and Erotic Literature by : Sushil Kumar De

Download or read book Ancient Indian Erotics and Erotic Literature written by Sushil Kumar De and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Love and Lust

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Publisher : Virago Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Love and Lust by : Pavan K. Varma

Download or read book Love and Lust written by Pavan K. Varma and published by Virago Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Think Of The Erotic Literature From India And What Immediately Comes To Mind Is Vatsyayana S Kamasutra. This Was Indeed Not The First Study In Erotology Nor Was It The Last. Beginning With The Rig Veda (Written Some 5000 Years Ago) Right Up To The Seventeenth Century, Indian Literature Is Marked By Diverse Genres Replete With Unabashed Eroticism In Which Love, Lust And Life Are Explored To Their Fullest Extent& Today, The Philosophical Acceptance Of Desire And The Erotic Sentiment Has Been Asphyxiated By A Hypocritical Morality That Has Much For Too Long Equated Sex With Sin And Desire With Guilt. The Purpose Of This Anthology Is To Provide Enough Evidence Of An Alternative Vision, So That Readers Can Get A Glimpse Of The Sense Of Maturity And Honesty That Animated Our Ancestors. In This Comprehensive Anthology, The Authors Forcefully Drive Home The Point That The Fascination With Eroticism Is Age-Old. The Absence Of Inhibition And Guilt And The Candour And Boldness With Which Society Set About Seeking Its Pl Easures Find Expression Repeatedly In Writings Over The Past Ages. The Literature Of India, Both Religious And Secular, Is Full Of Sexual Allusions, Sexual Symbolisms And Passages Of Such Frank Eroticism The Likes Of Which Are Not To Be Found Elsewhere In World Literature. For Example, Some Sections Of Ancient Texts Like The Vedas, The Upanishads, The Epics (The Mahabharata And The Ramayana), The Brahmins, The Puranas And Devotional Hymns Like The Saundarya Lahiri (By Adi Shankaracharya) Are Studded With Graphic Sexual Imagery. The Sacred And The Sensuous Were Thus Seen As Integrated Elements Of Human Existence. In This Medieval Period, Writers, Poets, Dramatists, Painters, Sculptors And Artists, Whatever Be Their Language And Idiom, Gave Full Vent To Their Creative Talents, Suffused With The Sexual Metaphor. Kalidasa And Jayadev Stand Out As Exemplars Of This Genre. It Was Basically The Evangelical Fervor Of The Victorian Era That Imposed Severe Structures On The So-Called Heathen Amorous Degradation And Sought To Cleanse The Indian People By Propagating Western Morality And Values . And The Victorian Hangover Still Persists. The Underlying Themes Of This Volume Are That, In The India Tradition, The Relevance Of Desire, With Eroticism As Its Natural Attribute, Was Pragmatically Accepted And That Women Were Given Equal Status As Men In The Pursuit Of Pleasure.

Erotic Literature of Ancient India

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Erotic Literature of Ancient India by : Sandhya Mulchandani

Download or read book Erotic Literature of Ancient India written by Sandhya Mulchandani and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores a number of ancient Indian erotic texts that take the reader through the terrain of the beautiful, the sensual, and the most desirable. The Kama Sutra, Kokashastra, Geeta Govinda, Panchcayala, Anang Ranga, Kama Sambhav and Rasik Priya are all treatises on erotic love, a subject the author explores with grace, subtlety and a generous appreciation of the basic human urge to desire and be desired.

The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

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Publisher : Nmd Books
ISBN 13 : 9781936828005
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by : Vatsyayana

Download or read book The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana written by Vatsyayana and published by Nmd Books. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vatsyayana.The most ancient book on Kamasutra was composed in Abhira Kingdom and is considered by many through the ages to be the definitive tome on the art of sexuality and a practical instruction manual in the art of lovemaking and sensuality. --------This translation from the transkrit consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses. "Kama" means sensual or sexual pleasure, and "sutra" literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual.------Although written in a different century, the Kama Sutra's advice on the techniques of pleasure are every bit as valid in today's modern age as it was in its own time. Today's couples are re-discovering the magic of the Kama Sutra and its wondrous techniques to celebrate their own sexuality in it's most natural and uninhibited form. ------"The Kama Sutra is the most advanced and sensuous of all the ancient texts on sexuality" - Playboy Magazine --"This volume of the interpretation of the Kama Sutra shows the unbridled power and timelessness of sex in its most potent and beautiful expression. A highly recommended read. " - Cosmopolitan ---"Amazingly erotic and powerful" - Newsweek

Love & Eroticism

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Publisher : SAGE
ISBN 13 : 9780761962526
Total Pages : 444 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis Love & Eroticism by : Mike Featherstone

Download or read book Love & Eroticism written by Mike Featherstone and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1999-09-20 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major collection explores the contested nature of love and eroticism, examining the ways in which erotic bodily pleasures have become central to contemporary consumer culture. It investigates the spatial dimension of erotic life through considerations of Bohemian love, the gay city and the ways in which the urban landscape and everyday life have become sexualized - issues which have become central to the emergence of `queer’ as a new form of gender politics and more general questions of sexual citizenship. Drawing on the work of feminists, sociologists and cultural theorists, this book contains a wide-ranging and accessible set of contributions to contemporary debates on sexuality, love and eroticism. Love & Erotici

Foucault and the Kamasutra

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022634844X
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

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Book Synopsis Foucault and the Kamasutra by : Sanjay K. Gautam

Download or read book Foucault and the Kamasutra written by Sanjay K. Gautam and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-06-22 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gautam has here laid out the first serious reading of Michel Foucault in relation to key Sanskrit texts, and--what may be a surprise to many--he has written the first book-length work in English on the nature and origin of the Kamasutra. Gautam also takes up the Natyasastra (the Kamasutra's twin), locating in the first the themes of sexual-erotic pleasure, and locating in the second the classical Indian view of theater, music, dance, and aesthetic pleasure. The book shows how closely intertwined the history of erotics in ancient Indian culture is with the history of theater-aesthetics. Foucault provides a framework for opening up the intellectual horizon of Indian thought; it is his distinction between ars erotics (erotic arts) and scientia sexualis (science of sexuality) that fuels Gautam's exploration of the courtesan as symbol of both erotic and aesthetic pleasure, particularly in her role as a wife to her patron, which entails the morphing of erotics into a form of theater. The scope broadens ambitiously, to an inquiry on the nature of knowledge formation, erotics, theater, and gender relations in premodern Indian society and culture--as they converged on the historical figures of the courtesan and her male counterpart, the dandy. Gautam's twining of aims and subjects--Foucault's western philosophy of pleasure and India's classic text on eros (anchored in art and aesthetics)--transforms both the modern and the ancient texts with new understandings, and as new forms of investigating erotics and subjectivity itself.

A Companion to Global Gender History

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119535786
Total Pages : 672 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis A Companion to Global Gender History by : Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Download or read book A Companion to Global Gender History written by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a completely updated survey of the major issues in gender history from geographical, chronological, and topical perspectives This new edition examines the history of women over thousands of years, studies their interaction with men in a gendered world, and looks at the role of gender in shaping human behavior. It includes thematic essays that offer a broad foundation for key issues such as family, labor, sexuality, race, and material culture, followed by chronological and regional essays stretching from the earliest human societies to the contemporary period. The book offers readers a diverse selection of viewpoints from an authoritative team of international authors and reflects questions that have been explored in different cultural and historiographic traditions. Filled with contributions from both scholars and teachers, A Companion to Global Gender History, Second Edition makes difficult concepts understandable to all levels of students. It presents evidence for complex assertions regarding gender identity, and grapples with evolving notions of gender construction. In addition, each chapter includes suggestions for further reading in order to provide readers with the necessary tools to explore the topic further. Features newly updated and brand-new chapters filled with both thematic and chronological-geographic essays Discusses recent trends in gender history, including material culture, sexuality, transnational developments, science, and intersectionality Presents a diversity of viewpoints, with chapters by scholars from across the world A Companion to Global Gender History is an excellent book for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students involved in gender studies and history programs. It will also appeal to more advanced scholars seeking an introduction to the field.

Kama Sutra (With Illustrations)

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Publisher : DigiCat
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis Kama Sutra (With Illustrations) by : Vatsyayana

Download or read book Kama Sutra (With Illustrations) written by Vatsyayana and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-11-13 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Man should study the Kama Sutra and the arts and sciences subordinate thereto, in addition to the study of the arts and sciences contained in Dharma and Artha. Even young maids should study this Kama Sutra along with its arts and sciences before marriage, and after it they should continue to do so with the consent of their husbands." Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse.Contrary to popular perception, especially in the western world, Kama sutra is not exclusively a sex manual; it presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life and other aspects pertaining to pleasure oriented faculties of human life. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) was a British explorer, geographer, translator and diplomat. Burton's best-known achievements include a well-documented journey to Mecca, in disguise; an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (commonly called The Arabian Nights in English); the publication of the Kama Sutra in English and an expedition with J. H. Spake to discover the source of Nile. TABLE OF CONTENTS Book Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Biography Life of Sir Richard Burton by Thomas Wright Romance of Isabel Lady Burton: The Story of Her Life (Vol.1&2)

The Cambridge World History of Sexualities: Volume 2, Systems of Thought and Belief

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108901298
Total Pages : 806 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cambridge World History of Sexualities: Volume 2, Systems of Thought and Belief by : Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Download or read book The Cambridge World History of Sexualities: Volume 2, Systems of Thought and Belief written by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume II focuses on systems of thought and belief in the history of world sexualities, ranging from early humans to contemporary approaches. Comprising eighteen chapters, this volume opens with a chapter on the evolutionary legacy and then delves into the sexualities of ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, and Rome, continuing with pre-modern South Asia, China, and Japan, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. Chapters include an examination of sexuality in the religious traditions of Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and also look at more recent approaches, including scientific sex, sexuality in socialism and Marxism, and the intersections between sexuality, feminism, and post-colonialism.

Muslim Bodies

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Publisher : LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN 13 : 364312810X
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis Muslim Bodies by : Susanne Kurz

Download or read book Muslim Bodies written by Susanne Kurz and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2016 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Der Sammelband ist aus einem Panel beim Deutschen Orientalistentag in Marburg 2010 hervorgegangen und beleuchtet aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven Körpererfahrungen, -kulturen, -diskurse und -techniken in islamisch geprägten Kulturen der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Leitgedanke ist dabei die Frage danach, wie Individuen ihr Wissen über Körper/Sexualität im sozialen Feld konstruieren und welche Deutungssysteme (z. B. Islam, graeco-islamische Medizin) dabei wirksam werden. The present volume, product of a conference panel at the German Orientalists' Conference in Marburg 2010, aims at throwing light on the experiences, discourses and body techniques prevailing in Muslim bodily culture. It combines historical with contemporary case studies and explores the individual and collective patterns of knowledge construction related to body and sexuality, in a social field where different and sometimes conflicting knowledge systems (e.g. Islam, Graeco-Islamic Medicine) can be found at work.

Medieval Indian Mindscapes

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Publisher : Primus Books
ISBN 13 : 9380607199
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (86 download)

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Book Synopsis Medieval Indian Mindscapes by : Evgenii͡a I͡Urʹevna Vanina

Download or read book Medieval Indian Mindscapes written by Evgenii͡a I͡Urʹevna Vanina and published by Primus Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medieval Indian Mindscapes: Space, Time, Society, Man centres on how Indians in pre-colonial times perceived their world. It compares the specific features of their 'mental programmes' with that of their counterparts in other pre-modern societies. While analysing the importance of space in the medieval world view, the book discusses how medieval Indians comprehended their territories and the landscape as 'their own' vis-a-vis the 'alien' space; the development of territorial-cultural and territorial-political identities, and knowledge about other lands and peoples. In a discussion of medieval temporality, the book also studies the ways of perceiving and reckoning time, attitudes to the historical past and the manifold ways of recording it. A special chapter on 'Society' deals with socio-ethical values and behavioural stereotypes of major estate and caste groups like the feudal landlords, priests and officials, merchants and craftsmen, peasants and the lower castes in villages. The book also has a chapter on the medieval Indian perception of Man, his appearance and peculiarities as they pertained to the a≥ behaviour, social status, and the steady development of individuality. Medieval Indian Mindscapes will be of interest to medievalists as well as general readers, keen to know more about the dynamics of pre-modern history and culture.

Locating Pleasure in Indian History

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 935435288X
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (543 download)

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Book Synopsis Locating Pleasure in Indian History by :

Download or read book Locating Pleasure in Indian History written by and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Locating Pleasure in Indian History is one of the first works on the subject of the 'discourse of pleasure' in Indian history and culture. A rigorous, source-based work, it examines the cultural practices and the underlying philosophic matrix of pleasures, big or small. It recovers the production and consumption of beauty, desire and gratification in the world of pleasure, pleasurable pursuits and pleasant experiences of viewing, performing, thinking, debating, cooking, eating, listening, writing, creating and procreating. The contributions retrieve the discourse of pleasure in visual and literary cultures-in elite and popular spheres, including the public and private domains of the bazaar, the temple, the household, the court and the garden. Further, it is examined in the urbane art of Mathura, Ravana's palace in the art of 7th CE western Deccan, the suratkhana of Rajput royalty or domestic pleasures of women in the labyrinths of the Puranas. With over 40 photographs, it historicises ideological and experiential conundrums thrown up by the idea of pursuing alimentary, carnal and even pious desires in visual and literary cultures. The reflexivity inherent in the work of artists, poets, dramatists and even shastrins is brought out through moments of pleasure and counter-pleasure as revealed through anecdotes, narratives, artefacts and objects of aesthetic gratification.