Description
Book SynopsisDraws on reader-response literary theory and anthropological approaches to the study of objects in society in order to trace the biographies of Indian religious images. This book shows that Hindu priests and worshipers are not the only ones to enliven images.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1999 Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize, South Asia Council of the Association of Asian Studies "This book offers a new way of discussing images in Indian history that goes beyond the formal analysis of traditional art history."--Choice "This is the best kind of scholarly book: literate, not without a sense of humor, genuinely informative, pertinent and consequential, and accessible yet highly erudite. A triumph."--The Times Higher Education Supplement "Davis writes with an elegance not common in scholarly books."--Journal of Asian Studies "Davis masterfully explores the intersections among possible frames for understanding Indian images... Essential reading not only for anyone interested in the ways in which cultural interactions have changed over the centuries."--Religious Studies Review "Richard Davis has again produced a book that is rich with many layers of meaning and beauty, a book that causes the reader to give pause to previous notions about Indian art and the ways in which we view it... This is a book that could only have been created with vigorous, meticulous research and the pulling together of sources not ordinarily converging in one study."--Critical Review of Books in Religion
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsTranslation and TransliterationAbbreviationsIntroduction31Living Images152Trophies of War513Images Overthrown884Visnu's Miraculous Returns1135Indian Images Collected1436Reconstructions of Somanatha1867Loss and Recovery of Ritual Self222Conclusion: Identities and Manifestations261Notes265Bibliography293Bibliographic Appendix317Index319
