You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Textiles and clothing are interwoven with Islamic culture. In Islamicate Textiles, readers are taken on a journey from Central Asia to Tanzania to uncover the central roles that textiles play within Muslim-majority communities. This thematically arranged book sheds light on the traditions, rituals and religious practices of these regions, and the ways in which each one incorporates materials and clothing. Drawing on examples including Iranian lion carpets and Arabic keffiyeh, Faegheh Shirazi frames these textiles and totemic items as important cultural signifiers that, together, form a dynamic and fascinating material culture. Like a developing language, this culture expands, bends and devel...
In Mughal Occidentalism, Mika Natif elucidates the meaningful and complex ways in which Mughal artists engaged with European art and techniques from the 1580s-1630s. Using visual and textual sources, this book argues that artists repurposed Christian and Renaissance visual idioms to embody themes from classical Persian literature and represent Mughal policy, ideology and dynastic history. A reevaluation of illustrated manuscripts and album paintings incorporating landscape scenery, portraiture, and European objects demonstrates that the appropriation of European elements was highly motivated by Mughal concerns. This book aims to establish a better understanding of cross-cultural exchange from the Mughal perspective by emphasizing the agency of local artists active in the workshops of Emperors Akbar and Jahangir.
Textiles have been the binding factor in the cultural history of India and Southeast Asia from times immemorial. As the foremost currency they were carried by the traders from the banks of river Ganga to the fertile areas around the river Mekong and to the rich spice islands of Suvarnadwipa, Indonesia. Over the centuries, these textiles turned into vehicles of culture that built the foundation for an enduring multi-layered and multi-coloured relationship. The painted textiles from the Coromandel coast, the block-printed fabrics and the doubleikat patola from Gujarat enticed Southeast Asian royalty and masses alike. These trade textiles, considered ritually powerful and imbued with magical qualities played an integral role in binding India with Southeast Asia while becoming a part of the regional folklore, ceremonies and rituals. Over time they were seamlessly assimilated into the local culture. This cultural amalgam was here to stay as solid as the rocks of Borobudur and Konark and as intricately woven as the double-ikat patola which is the cultural legacy of India in Southeast Asia.
Armor and weaponry were central to Islamic culture not only as a means of conquest and the spread of the faith, but also as symbols of status, wealth, and power. The finest arms were made by master craftsmen working with the leading designers, goldsmiths, and jewelers, whose work transformed utilitarian military equipment into courtly works of art. This book reveals the diversity and artistic quality of one of the most important and encyclopedic collections of its kind in the West. The Metropolitan Museum's holdings span ten centuries and include representative pieces from almost every Islamic culture from Spain to the Caucasus. The collection includes rare early works, among them the oldest...
The idea of Māyā pervades Indian philosophy. It is enigmatic, multivalent, and foundational, with its oldest referents found in the Rig Veda. This book explores Māyā's rich conceptual history, and then focuses on the highly developed theology of Māyā found in the Sanskrit Bhāgavata Purāṇa, one of the most important Hindu sacred texts. Gopal K. Gupta examines Māyā's role in the Bhāgavata's narratives, paying special attention to its relationship with other key concepts in the text, such as human suffering (duḥkha), devotion (bhakti), and divine play (līlā). In the Bhāgavata, Māyā is often identified as the divine feminine, and has a far-reaching influence. For example, Māyā is both the world and the means by which God creates the world, as well as the facilitator of God's play, paradoxically revealing him to his devotees by concealing his majesty. While Vedānta philosophy typically sees Māyā as a negative force, the Bhāgavata affirms that Māyā also has a positive role, as Māyā is ultimately meant to draw living beings toward Krishna and intensify their devotion to him.
Contributed articles.
This book shows how India has been the centre for the global textile trade from the middle ages to today.
None
CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements Maps Introduction A Felicitous Conjunction Part 1 THE FIBRE Chapter 1 Pashm and Other Animal Fibres Toosh and the Tibetan Antelope Chapter 2 Changra and Changpa: The Goats and Their Herders Monisha Ahmed Chapter 3 From Changthang to Srinagar: The Pashm Trade The Trade in History The Contemporary Trade Monisha Ahmed Part 2 THE TEXTILE Chapter 4 Spinners, Weavers, and Needleworkers Assembled and Recycled Shawls Chapter 5 Design and Designers Part 3 THE HISTORY Chapter 6 Early History: Conjecture and Speculation Chapter 7 The Mughal Period Chapter 8 The Iran Connection: the Termeh Chapter 9 The Business in the 19th Century Shawls in the Punjab Part 4 BY LAN...