Lives of Indian images / Richard H. Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Richard H., 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu gods in art.

Hindu sculpture.

Art and anthropology--India.

Art and anthropology.

Art.

Hindu gods.

India.

Physical Description:

xiii, 331 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [1997]

Summary:

For many centuries, Hindus have taken it for granted that the religious images they place in temples and home shrines for purposes of worship are alive. Hindu priests bring them to life through a complex ritual "establishment" that invokes the god or goddess into material support. Priests and devotees then maintain the enlivened image as a divine person through ongoing liturgical activity: they must awaken it in the morning, bathe it, dress it, feed it, entertain it, praise it, and eventually put it to bed at night. In this linked series of case studies of Hindu religious objects, Richard Davis argues that in some sense these believers are correct: through ongoing interactions with humans, religious objects are brought to life. Davis draws largely in reader-response literary theory and anthropological approaches to the study of objects in society in order to trace the biographies of Indian religious images over many centuries.

Contents:

Living Images

Trophies of War

Images Overthrown

Visnu's Miraculous Returns

Indian Images Collected

Reconstructions of Somanatha

Loss and Recovery of Ritual Self

Conclusion: Identities and Manifestations.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-315) and index.

ISBN:

069102622X

9780691026220

OCLC:

34839683

Online:

Publisher description