scholarly journals Ever the Handmaid? A Consideration of What a Medieval Archaeology in South Asia Might Be

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 130-170
Author(s):  
Jason D. Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Central India ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Land Grants ◽  
New Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Hindu Temples ◽  
Medieval Archaeology ◽  
Archaeological Objects

This article shifts discussion of the medieval in South Asia away from conversations about ‘what’ took place towards ‘how’ it is studied. Following a brief review of what defines the South Asian medieval, this article starts with the premise that the entire period has not been studied archaeologically and that there is a great deal of potential in doing so. This potential is explored with reference to recent work in Central India, which has investigated a particular set of developments in which socio-economic histories first located the transition from the ancient to the medieval in South Asia, namely, royal grants of land to Hindu temples in the fourth to seventh centuries ce. Considering these land grants as archaeological objects and situating them in the very landscapes they existed within reveal a great deal of new information about early medieval social formation and the transition to the early medieval in this region. In presenting this research, I demonstrate not only the potential value of an archaeological approach to the study of the period but also the necessity of it. Consideration then turns to the directions and form(s) that a ‘medieval archaeology’ might usefully take in the study of South Asia, which by no means shares the same empirical (text–object) and theoretical (historical–archaeological) relationships as the study of the medieval elsewhere in the world.

scholarly journals Antisemitism in the Muslim Intellectual Discourse in South Asia

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navras J. Aafreedi
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Global Impact ◽  
Intellectual Discourse ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
The World ◽  
Islamist Movements

South Asia (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) has produced some of the greatest Islamic thinkers, such as Shah Wali Allah (sometimes also spelled Waliullah; 1702–1763) who is considered one of the originators of pan-Islamism, Rahmatullah Kairanwi (1818–1892), Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), Syed Abul A’la Mawdudi (also spelled Maududi; 1903–1979), and Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (1914–1999), who have all played a pivotal role in shaping political Islam and have all had global impact. Islamism is intertwined with Muslim antisemitism. Some of the greatest Islamist movements have their bases in South Asia, such as Tablīghi Jamā’at—the largest Sunni Muslim revivalist (daw’a) movement in the world—and Jamā’at-i-Islāmi—a prototype of political Islam in South Asia. The region is home to some of the most important institutions of Islamic theological studies: Darul Ulūm Deoband, the alleged source of ideological inspiration to the Taliban, and Nadwātu’l-’Ulamā and Firangi Mahal, whose curricula are followed by seminaries across the world attended by South Asian Muslims in their diaspora. Some of the most popular Muslim televangelists have come from South Asia, such as Israr Ahmed (1932–2010) and Zakir Naik (b. 1965). This paper gives an introductory overview of antisemitism in the Muslim intellectual discourse in South Asia.

Institutions of International Law and the Development of Regional Forum for Peaceful Dialogue in South Asia

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javaid Rehman
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
International Law ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Substantial Risk

AbstractSince 11 September 2001, international law and the community it governs are at a crossroads. While the world appears to be besieged by terrorist threats from non-state actors such as the Al-Qaeda, there is also a substantial risk of super-power unilateralism and arrogance. Amidst these crises, South-Asia occupies a sensitive and vulnerable position. The region is also beset with ethnic, religious, and domestic political conflicts which provide substantial threats to regional peace and security. Against the backdrop of the enormous complications faced by South Asia, the present article considers the role of international and regional institutions in developing forums for establishing peace and security for the region, as well greater promotion of human rights. A particular focus is upon the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which, it is contended, is an organisation capable of providing a suitable platform for peaceful dialogue within South-Asia.

China and the Emergence of Bangladesh: Role of Great Power Global Perceptions

1983 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.N. Mahanty
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The Real ◽  
The World

China's attitude to the Bangladesh Question has evoked a great deal of interest among China watchers. Its professed aim to end exploitation all over the world while extending assistance to West Pakistani exploiters expectedly provoked both academics and activists. Here an attempt is made to examine China's strategic thinking on a vital region, that is South Asia, and the real-politik that pushes into irrelevance the revolutionary pledges. China's failure to forestall the birth of Bangladesh forced it initially to fabricate a fake rationale and finally to reverse, through quick recognition, a hostile population into a friendly nation. History ends where politics begins; history, however, explains the present South Asian political scenario—the emerging triangle of China-Pakistan-Bangladesh, favourably disposed to the United States, while fetching sustenance from an anti-Indian prejudice.

History as Memory: Alexander in South Asian Demotic Literature and Popular Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-188
Author(s):  
Syed Ejaz Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Art History ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Nationalist Discourse ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
The World ◽  
The Media

Abstract The diversity and range of existing archives on the history and romance of Alexander have projected on him a multiplicity of images. Alexander’s conquests, military achievements, romance, myths, and legends have fascinated writers, scholars, historians, poets, filmmakers, the media, and designers of websites around the world. His invasion of India in 326 BCE left an indelible influence on Indian art, history, and literature. The present essay takes up a theme on which not much work has been done in modern scholarship. It focuses on the nature and diversity of the historical memory of Alexander in modern South Asia, particularly as reflected in modern Urdu and Hindi, the two major languages of the subcontinent. It also examines how Alexander is portrayed in popular culture and India’s nationalist discourse.

scholarly journals Charity and Philanthropy in South Asia: An introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
FILIPPO OSELLA
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
South Asians ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Charitable Donations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Causes

There are no reliable figures to help us measure the volume of charitable donations in South Asia but, according to the 2014 World Giving Index, Sri Lanka is ranked ninth in the world for the charitable efforts of its citizens, while other South Asian countries figure in the top 75 out of 135 countries surveyed. According to the same index, India comes first in the world for the overall number of people donating money to charities and volunteering for social causes; Pakistan is ranked sixth for the number of charitable donations; India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are within the top ten countries for the number of people who have ‘helped a stranger’ in the 12 months prior to the survey. According to a 2001 survey by the Sampradaan Centre for Indian Philanthropy, among members of the A–C socio-economic classes, 96 per cent of respondents donated annually an average of Rs 1,420. The total amount donated was Rs 16.16 billion. Two surveys conducted in West Bengal and Sri Lanka suggest that South Asians across the social spectrum contribute readily to charity.

scholarly journals An Appalling Scenario Growing Corruption and Its Obnoxious Impacts on Public Lives -With Special Reference of South-Asian Stigma

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Atindra Dahal
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Erosion ◽  
Public Lives

Despite reiterated commitment from government and other stakeholders everywhere in the world, curbing corruption has been a seriously ticklish and almost next to an impossible effort, especially in south Asia. The failure to remarkably detain corruption not only left the countries financially crumbled but also transfigured them into zone of psychological and mental degradation followed with cultural erosion as well. This paper has revealed a surreal and sordid scene of growing corruption in south Asia and severe stigmatization of public life fashioned on ground of corruption. For the purpose, the author consulted plenty of relevant literature related to corruption theories, corruption realties and its suffocation to demonstrate the plague that the corruption has crowned to people. This research adopted a descriptive strategy with paradigm of interpretive analysis for building the proposition. 

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 355-367
Author(s):  
Usha Sanyal
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Women's Education ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
The World

The book concludes by asking ‘Why Now?’ How do we make sense of the contemporary surge in Muslim women’s religious education across South Asia and elsewhere in the world? To start, we must recognize that the growth of Muslim women’s education is part of a wider phenomenon that crosses religious boundaries. This is not an exclusively Muslim phenomenon. Beyond that, I situate the ethnographies presented here in their national contexts, both Indian and Pakistani, to illustrate the growing trend of South Asian Muslim women’s religious education across all social classes. The comparative focus of this book, I argue, encourages us to discard unhelpful binaries such as ‘Sufi’ and ‘Wahhabi’, and to think of the efforts of Muslims across different ideological and class categories as shared, albeit different, responses to the precarious conditions of modernity.

scholarly journals The economic power of women in early South Asian Buddhism

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-76
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Milligan
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Central India ◽  
First Century ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Formative Years

This article serves as a contribution to the financial primacy of Buddhist women in early historic South Asia. Presented here is a single case study from the first century bce monastic stūpa site from Central India called Sanchi whereby gender demographics are analysed over two subsequent stages of funding. Investments by women not only fuelled the construction of the built landscape but, as time went on, female donors were crucial to the economic solvency of the monastic institution at Sanchi. Such a micro-history of Buddhist women from classical India illustrates the agency of women during Buddhism’s formative years.

Dialogism and Territoriality in a Mughal History of the Islamic Millennium

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 220-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Anooshahr
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
European Literature ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Information ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe sixteenth century witnessed the flowering of European literature that claimed to describe the encounter between Western travelers and the indigenous population of the rest of the world. Similarly, some Persianate writings of the same period present a dialogical encounter, not so much with the Europeanother, but with rival Muslim empires. One of the writers in this genre was Jaʿfar Beg Qazvīnī, sole author of the third part of theTaʾrikh-i alfī(Millennial History), supervised by the Mughal emperor Akbar. In his book, Jaʿfar Beg drew on an unprecedented store of sources from rival courts and treated the Ottomans, Mughals, and Safavids as essentially equal political and cultural units following identical historical trajectories. He also developed one of the earliest Mughal expressions of “Hindustan” encompassing South Asia in its entirety. While most analyses of this outstanding example of dialogical historiography have downplayed its value because of its paucity of new information, the present article will seek instead to demonstrate its significance for its unusual worldview.

scholarly journals 304 - Mental healthcare services and advocacy for older people amidst the COVID crisis: Voices from South Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 27-27
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older People ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The South ◽  
Unique Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Trained Manpower

AbstractAsia has some of the fastest developing economies and largest conglomerations of populations in the world. One such geographically unique region is South Asia, which accounts for nearly 25% of the global population and one-fifth of the psychiatric morbidity worldwide. This region is also ageing rapidly compared to rest of the world due to modifications in healthcare facilities, hygiene, and lifestyle as well as improved sanitation and infection control. Besides, some of the South Asian countries have also been worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to an exaggerated psychosocial crisis among their older people. Many of these nations face issues with community psychiatric care, trained manpower, socio-economic resources, legislation catering to psychological care and health inequalities. However, recent years have also witnessed paradigm shift in mental health policies, infrastructure and technology among these nations. Climate changes, migration, displacement and ecological characteristics further make South Asia unique in mental health needs and challenges.With this background, leaders in the field of psychogeriatric care from some of the South Asian nations come together to discuss and highlight upcoming strategies for mental health advocacy and service delivery among older people in these regions. Mutual collaboration and cross-country research are globally called upon.Panelists:1. Dr. Gautam Saha (President, Indian Psychiatric Society) [email protected]. Dr. G.Prasad Rao (President, Indian Association of Geriatric Mental Health) [email protected]. Dr. Sudarshan Narsingh (President, Psychiatrists’ Association of Nepal & President, SAARC Psychiatric Federation) [email protected]. Dr. Wazizul Alam Chowdhury (President, Bangladesh Associa tion of Psychiatrists) [email protected]. Dr. Afzal Javed (President, World Psychiatric Association and Chairman, Pakistan Psychiatric Centre, Fountain House, Lahore) [email protected]:Dr. Debanjan Banerjee (Old Age Psychiatrist, NIMHANS, Bangalore; Member, IPA Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee) [email protected]

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