Climate Change and the Art of Devotion

Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850

Sugata Ray, Padma Kaimal, K. Sivaramakrishnan, Anand A. Yang, Padma Kaimal, K. Sivaramakrishnan, Anand A. Yang

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780295745374
• eBook ISBN: 9780295745381
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Asian Art

In the enchanted world of Braj, the primary pilgrimage center in north India for worshippers of Krishna, each stone, river, and tree is considered sacred. In Climate Change and the Art of Devotion, Sugata Ray shows how this place-centered theology emerged in the wake of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1550–1850), an epoch marked by climatic catastrophes across the globe. Using the frame of geoaesthetics, he compares early modern conceptions of the environment and current assumptions about nature and culture. A groundbreaking contribution to the emerging field of eco–art history, the book examines architecture, paintings, photography, and prints created in Braj alongside theological treatises and devotional poetry to foreground seepages between the natural ecosystem and cultural production. The paintings of deified rivers, temples that emulate fragrant groves, and talismanic bleeding rocks that Ray discusses will captivate readers interested in environmental humanities and South Asian art history. Art History Publication Initiative. For more information, visit http://arthistorypi.org/books/climate-change-and-the-art-of-devotion

INDEX

Abbasid Caliphate, 4–5, 187n8

Abu’l-Fazl, 45, 46, 74

Abu’l-Hasan, 144

Account of the Manifestation of Shrinathji (Śrīnāthjī kī Prākaṭya Vārtā) (Hariray), 66, 191n22

Adam, Robert, 139, 140fig., 141

Adamson, George, 5

Agra, 13map; deaths from 1613–1615 disasters, 47; fort construction, 77; Govind Dev Temple, Vrindavan, and, 75–76; Jahangiri Mahal, 38, 75; red sandstone in, 32; Taj Mahal, 112

agriculture, 71, 98

Ajmer, 13map; Muin al-Din Chishti, shrine of, 47; Chashma-yi Nur, 47–49, 48fig.

akasa. See ether

Akbar, Jalal al-Din Muhammad: atelier of, 7, 25–26, 43; Fatehpur Sikri abandoned by, 55; History of Akbar (Akbarnāma) (Abu’l-Fazl), 5, 7, 16; hunting grounds and, 97; Millennial History (Tarikh-i Alfi) and, 4–5; presenting himself for view, 37–38; History of Hamza (Hamzanāma), 43, 44fig.; religious policy of, 77; temple bequests, grants, and patronage, 70–71, 72–77

Alberti, Leon Battista, 51

Allah, al-Mutawakkil ‘Ala, 4, 187n8

andola torana (archway), 52

Anthropocene, 17–18, 190n72

Architect of Human Dwellings (Samarāṅganasūtradhāra) (Bhoja), 52, 193n62

architecture. See specific temples and palaces

Aristotle, 154

Arnold, David, 190n67, 208n17

art history: eco art history genealogy and approaches, 17–22; landscape and, 64–66; rock, temples, and, 91–95; transterritorial configurations with ecological crises, in 16th century, 3–7

Asad, Talal, 68–69

Asaf al-Daula, 141–42

Ashta Sakhi Temple, Vrindavan, 158

Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 129

Assi Khamba Mosque, Mahavan, 9

Ataga Khan, tomb of, Delhi, 77

Atmaram, Kavi, 109, 127

Aubin Codex, 3, 4fig.

Aurangzeb, 114, 195n27, 201n43

Ayurveda, 154, 205n59

Babur, Zahir al-Din Muhammad, 19–20, 101–2, 115

Bada’uni, ‘Abd al-Qadir, 45–46

Badal Mahal, Bundi Fort, 160fig.

Bakhtin, Mikhail, 208n24

Banarasidas, 5, 16

bangla baldachin, 106, 107, 110, 115

Barsana, 12, 12map, 97–98, 98fig.

Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa, 149, 149fig.

Bennett, Jane, 17–18, 195n18

Bernier, François, 97

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 148fig., 149, 150, 152

Betwa, river, 13map, 56–57

Bhāgavata Purāṇa: about, 190n1; on bhumandala, 159; rasa mandala in, 81, 157, 1...

Table of contents

• Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Note on Transliteration
• Map of Major Sites in South Asia
• Introduction | Climate Change and Art History
• One | Water
• Two | Land
• Three | Forest
• Four | Ether
• Coda | Geoaesthetics in a Hindu Pilgrimage Town
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index