Jaina and Brahmanical Temples and Political Processes in a Forested Frontier of Early Medieval Southwestern Bengal

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birendra Nath Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Dominant Tendency ◽  
River Valleys

In a significant section of available scholarship on pre-Islamic Bengal, a dominant tendency has been to generalize the patterns of historical trajectories of the great river valleys. This has resulted in many discrepancies, particularly in the context of the plateau-like portions of southwestern Bengal, where, unlike other parts of Bengal, Jainism came to have an entrenched presence during the early medieval period (c.600–1200 ce). Through an analysis of the published archaeological data, this paper attempts to study the social history of Jaina and Brahmanical temples and their linkages with the political processes in a forested frontier of early medieval southwestern Bengal: Purulia. This district, marked with an absence of early historical farming cultures, was an extension of the Chhotanagpur plateau of Jharkhand. During the early medieval period, this district witnessed three coeval and interrelated processes: large-scale construction of Jaina and Brahmanical (primarily Saiva) temples, emergence of a local state, and widespread construction of hero stones. The political elites of the major political centre of the local state that emerged in this area seem to have derived their legitimacy by patronizing Saiva temples, but Jaina temples seem to have provided the primary avenue for the legitimation of local heroes after their death, who were immortalized in hero stones. 

Monumentalising the political landscape: a special class of Anglo-Saxon assembly site

2013 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 147-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Baker ◽  
Stuart Brookes
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Special Class ◽  
The Political ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Assembly Site

This paper outlines the place-name, archaeological and topographical evidence for a special class of Anglo-Saxon open-air assembly site, which we call a ‘hanging promontory’. Discussion of a series of these sites serves to describe the main characteristics of the class as well as their geographical distribution. Consideration is given to the possible functions and dating of the use of hanging promontories. In conclusion, comparisons are drawn with other forms of open-air assembly site to suggest a possible hierarchy of the administrative territories existing in the early medieval period in England.

A NOMADIC STATE? THE ‘BLEMMYEAN-BEJA’ POLITY OF THE ANCIENT EASTERN DESERT

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-407
Author(s):  
Julien Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
The Political ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Urban Regimes ◽  
Nomadic People ◽  
Northeast Africa

AbstractAncient nomadic peoples in Northeast Africa, being in the shadow of urban regimes of Egypt, Kush, and Aksum as well as the Graeco-Roman and Arab worlds, have been generally relegated to the historiographical model of the frontier ‘barbarian’. In this view, little political importance is attached to indigenous political organisation, with desert nomads being considered an amorphous mass of unsettled people beyond the frontiers of established states. However, in the Eastern Desert of Sudan and Egypt, a pastoralist nomadic people ancestrally related to the modern Beja dominated the deserts for millennia. Though generally considered as a group of politically divided tribes sharing only language and a pastoralist economy, ancient Beja society and its elites created complex political arrangements in their desert. When Egyptian, Greek, Coptic, and Arab sources are combined and analysed, it is evident that nomads formed a large confederate ‘nomadic state’ throughout late antiquity and the early medieval period — a vital cog in the political engine of Northeast Africa.

Public Powers, Private Powers, and the Exploitation of Metals for Coinage

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Italian Journal ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

In 1994, an article appeared in the Italian journal Archeologia Medievale, written by Chris Wickham and Riccardo Francovich, entitled ‘Uno scavo archeologico ed il problema dello sviluppo della signoria territoriale: Rocca San Silvestro e i rapporti di produzione minerari’. It marked a breakthrough in the study of the exploitation of mineral resources (especially silver) in relation to forms of power, and the associated economic structure, and control of production between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. On the basis of the data available to archeological research at the time, the article ended with a series of open questions, especially relating to the early medieval period. The new campaign of field research, focused on the mining landscape of the Colline Metallifere in southern Tuscany, has made it possible to gather more information. While the data that has now been gathered are not yet sufficient to give definite and complete answers to those questions, they nevertheless allow us to now formulate some hypotheses which may serve as the foundations for broader considerations as regards the relationship between the exploitation of a fundamental resource for the economy of the time, and the main players and agents in that system of exploitation, within a landscape that was undergoing transformation in the period between the early medieval period and the middle centuries of the Middle Ages.

scholarly journals Redefining the political moment

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Arvanitakis
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
John Howard ◽  
Conservative Media ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
War Protest

On 16 February 2003, more than half a million people gathered in Sydney, Australia, as part of a global anti-war protest aimed at stopping the impending invasion of Iraq by the then US Administration. It is difficult to estimate how many millions marched on the coordinated protest, but it was by far the largest mobilization of a generation. Walking and chanting on the streets of Sydney that day, it seemed that a political moment was upon us. In a culture that rarely embraces large scale activism, millions around Australian demanded to be heard. The message was clear: if you do not hear us, we would be willing to bring down a government. The invasion went ahead, however, with the then Australian government, under the leadership of John Howard, being one of the loudest and staunchest supporters of the Bush Administrations drive to war. Within 18 months, anti-war activists struggled to have a few hundred participants take part in anti-Iraq war rallies, and the Howard Government was comfortably re-elected for another term. The political moment had come and gone, with both social commentators and many members of the public looking for a reason. While the conservative media was often the focus of analysis, this paper argues that in a time of late capitalism, the political moment is hollowed out by ‘Politics’ itself. That is to say, that formal political processes (or ‘Politics’) undermine the political practices that people participate in everyday (or ‘politics’). Drawing on an ongoing research project focusing on democracy and young people, I discuss how the concept of ’politics‘ has been destabilised and subsequently, the political moment has been displaced. This displacement has led to a re-definition of ‘political action’ and, I argue, the emergence of a different type of everyday politics.

scholarly journals The development of international law through the lens of the Italian doctrine

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
Massimo Iovane
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period

Abstract This review essay analyses a very interesting collection of essays providing a fresh examination of international law schools operating in Italy from the early medieval period to current times. The Essay will show that the book adopts a completely new presentation of this subject, offering thus an unbiased assessment of the doctrinal debate developed in between the two World Wars.

Text and Commentary in the Medieval Period

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-yu Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Literary Texts ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Chinese Tradition ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Classical Chinese

In classical Chinese tradition, writing a commentary is a basic way of interpreting texts and teaching classics. A commentator not only speculates on an author’s intent but also cites from various oral or written accounts to annotate a text. Commentary thus becomes a core text for converging knowledge and conserving culture, and sometimes it is many times longer than the original text. This chapter focuses on a series of commentaries on literary texts in the early medieval period and shows that, instead of being secondary to the original text, a commentary constitutes a new text on a par with the urtext in many ways.

Pre-Tang Anthologies and Anthologization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Knechtges
Keyword(s):  
Literary Culture ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Literary Education ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Belles Lettres

In China from ancient times the anthology has occupied an important place in literary culture. During the early medieval period the purely literary anthology comes into its own. The emergence of a large number of anthologies in this period is related to changing conceptions of writing as well as attempts to define genres and to establish an independent category for belles lettres. Only a few of the anthologies from this period have survived, the most famous being the Wen xuan, compiled around 526. Another extant single-genre anthology is the Yutai xinyong. The Wen xuan eventually became the Chinese anthology par excellence, and for several centuries was the primary source from which scholars and writers obtained their literary education; it was also important in Japan and Korea.

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