Hindu Arms and Ritual

Hindu Arms and Ritual PDF Author: Robert Elgood
Publisher: Eburon Academic Publishers, Utrecht
ISBN:
Category : Armor
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Most studies of Indian armor have concentrated on Mughal arms from northern India, and there has been no serious study of Hindu arms since the nineteenth century. Robert Elgood seeks to fill this scholarly gap with Hindu Arms and Ritual, a new and richly illustrated study that examines pieces from the Tanjore Palace Armory in south India. Tanjore arms reveal a wealth of information about Hindu warrior society through the intricate and symbolic iconography carved on them. As Elgood shows, inscribed gods, goddesses, and sacred animals and plants infused the weaponry with divine powers of assistance. Drawing on evidence from various sources, such as ancient manuscripts and contemporary art, Elgood also challenges the commonly held opinion that most south Indian arms date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Instead, he argues, many pieces were made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are attributable to the Vijayanagara and Nayaka courts. This beautifully illustrated work is an invaluable contribution to the historical study of Indian arms and material culture.

Hindu Arms and Ritual

Hindu Arms and Ritual PDF Author: Robert Elgood
Publisher: Eburon Academic Publishers, Utrecht
ISBN:
Category : Armor
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
Most studies of Indian armor have concentrated on Mughal arms from northern India, and there has been no serious study of Hindu arms since the nineteenth century. Robert Elgood seeks to fill this scholarly gap with Hindu Arms and Ritual, a new and richly illustrated study that examines pieces from the Tanjore Palace Armory in south India. Tanjore arms reveal a wealth of information about Hindu warrior society through the intricate and symbolic iconography carved on them. As Elgood shows, inscribed gods, goddesses, and sacred animals and plants infused the weaponry with divine powers of assistance. Drawing on evidence from various sources, such as ancient manuscripts and contemporary art, Elgood also challenges the commonly held opinion that most south Indian arms date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Instead, he argues, many pieces were made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are attributable to the Vijayanagara and Nayaka courts. This beautifully illustrated work is an invaluable contribution to the historical study of Indian arms and material culture.

An Introduction to Indian Arms and Armour

An Introduction to Indian Arms and Armour PDF Author: Hugh Pearce Pearson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780948092572
Category : Armor
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
India is a vast sub-continent, with a complex history and a great array of languages, cultures and religions. This short introduction to one aspect of that great culture is intended merely as an appetiser, and is by no means intended as the last word on any aspect of Indian arms and armour. By 'India' I mean the whole Indian sub-continent rather than any political term. The history which forms a background to the story of Indian arms and armour saw empires rise and fall, but the remarkable constancy in the exquisite weapons used by their defenders and opponents marks Indian arms and armour out as something beyond mere statehood. was the catalyst to all sorts of studies of Indian culture and it is no accident that much of the pioneering work on Indian arms and armour was carried out by English scholars. The most notable of these, and the author of the first serious study of Indian armour and arms, was William Egerton, Lord Egerton of Tatton in Cheshire, whose catalogue of the collection of the Indian Museum in London (a collection now absorbed into the Victoria and Albert Museum) appeared in 1880. Yet despite a few important works in the 20th century, such as Philip Rawson's The Indian Sword and Russell Robinson's Oriental Armour, and new works such as Robert Elgood's Hindu Arms and Ritual in The 21st Century, the scientific study of Indian arms and armour has not advanced to the level, say, of Japanese arms and armour. armour in the Royal Armouries. Almost all the holdings are concentrated in the period from the formation of the Mughal empire in the 16th century to the end of the 19th century when western firearms technology had been widely adopted, and it is hoped that this small publication will help in making an important western collection of Indian armour and arms accessible.

Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies

Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies PDF Author: Jean Antoine Dubois
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hinduism
Languages : en
Pages : 782

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Book Description
For 30 years the author, a French missionary, lived among the Hindus, adopting their dress and customs and studying their social and religious institutions. The English government found this account of the results of his observations valuable enough to translate and publish it for the use of officials and oriental students.

Strong Arms and Drinking Strength : Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India

Strong Arms and Drinking Strength : Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India PDF Author: Jarrod L. Whitaker Assistant Professor of South Asian Religions Wake Forest University
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199857644
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Jarrod L. Whitaker examines the ritualized poetic construction of male identity in the Rgveda, India's oldest Sanskrit text, arguing that an important aspect of early Vedic life was the sustained promotion and embodiment of what it means to be a true man. The Rgveda contains over a thousand hymns, addressed primarily to three gods: the deified ritual Fire, Agni; the war god, Indra; and Soma, who is none other than the personification of the sacred beverage soma. The hymns were sung in day-long fire rituals in which poet-priests prepared the sacred drink to empower Indra. The dominant image of Indra is that of a highly glamorized, violent, and powerful Aryan male; the three gods represent the ideals of manhood. Whitaker finds that the Rgvedic poet-priests employed a fascinating range of poetic and performative strategies--some explicit, others very subtle--to construct their masculine ideology, while justifying it as the most valid way for men to live. Poet-priests naturalized this ideology by encoding it within a man's sense of his body and physical self. Rgvedic ritual rhetoric and practices thus encode specific male roles, especially the role of man as warrior, while embedding these roles in a complex network of social, economic, and political relationships. Strong Arms and Drinking Strength is the first book in English to examine the relationship between Rgvedic gods, ritual practices, and the identities and expectations placed on men in ancient India.

Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies

Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies PDF Author: Jean Antoine Dubois
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 780

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Book Description
his reprint of the third and final edition of this classic work will be welcomed by all readers who want to understand Hinduism as it was and in many ways still is. This book is very valuable for the immense amount of information it gives... For what might be regarded as the workaday world of Hinduism... Information which no student can do without. Nirad C Chauduri, Hinduism (Oxford University Press).

Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia

Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia PDF Author: Kaushik Roy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110701736X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
This book traces the evolution of theories of warfare in India from the dawn of civilization, focusing on the debate between Dharmayuddha (Just War) and Kutayuddha (Unjust War) within Hindu philosophy. This debate centers around four questions: What is war? What justifies it? How should it be waged? And what are its potential repercussions?

Many Heads, Arms and Eyes

Many Heads, Arms and Eyes PDF Author: Doris Meth Srinivasan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004644970
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
One of the first things that strike the Western viewer of Indian art is the multiplicity of heads, arms and eyes. This convention grows out of imagery conceived by Vedic sages to explain creation. This book for the first time investigates into the meaning of this convention. The author concentrates on its origins in Hindu art and on preceding textual references to the phenomenon of multiplicity. The first part establishes a general definition for the convention. Examination of all Brahmanical literature up to, and sometimes beyond, the 1st - 3rd century A.D., adds more information to this basic definition. The second part applies this literary information mainly to icons of the Yaksa, Śiva, Vāsudeva-Kṛsṇa and the Goddess, and indicates how Brahmanical cultural norms, exemplified in Mathurā, can transmit textual symbols. Both Part I and Part II provide iconic modules and a methodology to generate interpretations for icons with this remarkable feature through the Gupta age.

Hindu Rites, Rituals, Customs and Traditions

Hindu Rites, Rituals, Customs and Traditions PDF Author: Prem P. Bhalla
Publisher: Pustak Mahal
ISBN: 812230902X
Category : Hinduism
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Rites, rituals and customs play a major role in the life of every person, irrespective of religious affiliations.Right from the time of birth, till a person's passing away and even after it, rites and rituals follow a Hindu, much like a shadow. This book outlines all these practices from the sunrise to the sunset years. It makes for an enlightening reading for Hindus as well as non-Hindus.

The Cultural Power of Personal Objects

The Cultural Power of Personal Objects PDF Author: Jared Kemling
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486189
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
The Cultural Power of Personal Objects seeks to understand the value and efficacy of objects, places, and times that take on cultural power and reverence to such a degree that they are treated (whether metaphorically or actually) as "persons," or as objects with "personality"—they are living objects. Featuring both historical and theoretical sections, the volume details examples of this practice, including the wampum of certain Native American tribes, the tsukumogami of Japan, the sacred keris knives of Java, the personality of seagoing ships, the ritual objects of Hinduism and Ancient Egypt, and more. The theoretical contributions aim to provide context for the existence and experience of personal objects, drawing from a variety of disciplines. Offering a variety of new philosophical perspectives on the theme, while grounding the discussion in a historical context, The Cultural Power of Personal Objects broadens and reinvigorates our understanding of cultural meaning and experience.

Islamic Arms and Armor in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Islamic Arms and Armor in The Metropolitan Museum of Art PDF Author: David G. Alexander
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588395707
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
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 documented Islamic sword, and is rich in helmets and body armor, decorated with calligraphy and arabesques, that were worn in Iran and Anatolia in the late fifteenth century. Other masterpieces include a jeweled short sword (yatagan) with a blade of "watered" steel that comes from the court of Süleyman the Magnificent, a seventeenth-century gold-inlaid armor associated with Shah Jahan, and two gold-inlaid flintlock firearms belonging to the guard of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. Presenting 126 objects, each handsomely photographed and richly documented with a detailed description and discussion of its technical, historical, and artistic importance, this overview of the Met's holdings is supplemented by an introductory essay on the formation of the collection, and appendixes on iconography and on Turkman-style armor.