ART 512: Ethnography and Art History Michael W. Meister
RS 562/SARS 563: The Temple: Guy R. Welbon
Ritual, Art and Pilgrimage
Thursday, 3-5 (3-6 on days with outside visitors), Jaffe 201
Visiting lectures in this class are sponsored by the Center for the
Advanced Study of India as part of a thematic seminar open to the public
and Penn community. Visitors will meet first with class members for
discussion from 3-4:15 and then lecture from 4:30-6.
General reference books for this course include Romila Thapar, A
History of India, James Harle,Art and Architecture of the Indian
Subcontinent, Joanne Waghorne and Norman Cutler, Gods of Flesh/Gods
of Stone (see Bibliography).
Student reports on readings and issues will be part of the discussions
prior to public talks.
Sept. 7: Introduction
Reading:
Davis, "Loss and Recovery of Ritual Self" and "Indian Art Objects
as Loot."
Sept. 14: The Temple as a House for the Divine [MM]
Reading:
Meister, "Fragments of a Divine Cosmology" and "Symbology and
Architectural Practice"; and Williams, "The Holy Man as the
Abode of God," in Waghorne
Sept. 21: The Temple in Life and Ritual [GW]
Reading:
Hanchett, "The Festival Interlude," in Welbon and Yocum; and
Courtright, "On This Holy Day," and Preston, "Creation of the Sacred
Image," in Waghorne
Sept. 28: Visiting Speaker Prof. Irene Winter, Dept. of Fine Arts,
Harvard University:
"OPENING THE EYES AND OPENING THE MOUTH: THE RITUAL AWAKENING
OF IMAGES IN INDIA AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST"
(preceded by student-led discussion of readings)
Reading:
Ashley, "Art in Ritual Context" and Winter, "'Idols of the King':
Royal Images," in Ashley and Winter; [R. Gombrich, "eye ceremony"
article, Journal of Asian Studies, 1966, and reply]
Oct. 5: Ethnography, Art History, and Display [MM/GW]
[plus Altar of Fire, film and commentary]
Reading:
Meister, introductory section of "Sweetmeats and Corpses";
[Fritz Staal, exchange with Schechner]
Oct.12: Visiting Speaker Prof. Ann Gold, Department of Religion,
Syracuse University:
"SHARED BLESSINGS: WOMANLY ARTS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICE
IN RAJASTHAN"
[preceded by Joe Miller discussing his film, "Tales of Pabuji"]
Reading:
Gold, Fruitful Journeys; R. Schechner, Between Theater and
Anthropology, Chapter 2; [article on pathas]
Oct.19: CASE STUDY: "Sweetmeats and Corpses" [MM]
Reading:
Meister, "Temples, Tirthas, and Pilgrimage" and "Sweetmeats and
Corpses"
Oct.26: Visiting Speaker Prof. L. A. Babb, Dept. of
Anthropology-Sociology, Amherst College:
"FOOTPRINTS: THE LIVES OF JAIN ASCETICS AS RITUAL CHARTER"
Reading:
Babb, "Monks and Miracles" and "Giving and Giving Up"; Cort,
"Following the Jina" and "Jain Questions"
Nov. 2: CASE STUDY: "A Man for All Seasons" [GW]
Reading:
Welbon, "Person, Text, Tradition"; Parker, "Contemporary Temple
Construction" and "The Matter of Value"
Nov. 9: Visiting Speaker Prof. Richard Davis, Religious Studies,
Yale University,
"THE LIVES OF A HINDU RELIGIOUS IMAGE: DIVINIZED, DESECRATED,
REDEEMED"
Reading:
Davis, Intro. to "Lives of Indian Images" (mss.) and
"Indian Art Objects as Loot"
Nov.16: Cooking for the Gods: Art, Ritual and Display [MM]
Reading:
Meister, "Display as Structure and Revelation" and "Categories of
Utility"
Nov.23: Thanksgiving holiday
Nov.30: Case-Study Discussions
Dec. 1: Case-Study Discussions
Dec. 7: Wrap-up [GW]
REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY
** Harle, Gold, Thapar, and Waghorne are available for purchase at the
Penn Book Center.
Ashley, Kathleen and Irene J. Winter, eds., "Art in Ritual Context,"
Special Issue of Journal of Ritual Studies 6, 1992.
Babb, Lawrence A. The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central
India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975.
----. "Giving and Giving Up: the Eightfold Worship Among
Svetambar Murtipujak Jains,"Journal of Anthropological Research,
44 (1988) 67-86.
----. "Monks and Miracles: Religious Symbols and Images of
Origin Among Osval Jains,"Journal of Asian Studies,
52 (1993):3-21.
----. Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu
Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Cort, John E. "Following the Jina, Worshiping the Jina: An Essay
on Jain Rituals," in Pal (1994), pp. 39-54.
----. "Jain Questions and Answers: Who is God and How is He
Worshiped?," in Lopez (1995), pp. 598-608.
----. "The Rite of Veneration of Jina Images," in Lopez (1995),
pp. 326-32.
----. "Svetambar Murtipujak Jain Mendicant,"Man, 26 (1991): 651-71.
Davis, Richard H. "Indian Art Objects as Loot,"Journal of Asian
Studies 52 (1993):22-48.
-----. "Loss and Recovery of Ritual Self Among Hindu Images,"
Journal of Ritual Studies 6 (1992):43-62.
-----. Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshiping Siva in
Medieval India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
Desai, Vishakha N. and Darielle Mason, eds. Gods, Guardians, and
Lovers: Temple Sculptures from North India A. D. 700-1200.
New York:the Asia Society Galleries, 1993.
Feldhaus, Anne. "Maharashtra as a Holy Land: a Sectarian
Tradition," Bulletin, School of Oriental and African Studies,
London, 49 (1986):532-48.
--------. Water and Womanhood: Religious Meanings of Rivers in
Maharashtra. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Gold, Ann Grodzins. Fruitful Journeys: the Ways of Rajasthani
Pilgrims. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Gombrich, Richard. "The Consecration of a Buddhist Image," Journal
of Asian Studies 26 (2966): 23-36.
Harle, J. C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent.
New York: Penguin Books, 1986.
Hiltebeitel, Alf. "Hinduism," in Mircea Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia
of Religion
Lopez, Donald S., ed., Religions of India in Practice, Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Madan, T. N. Religion in India. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1991.
Meister, Michael W. "Categories of Utility," in Cooking for the
Gods: The Art of Home Ritual in Bengal, Newark: Newark Museum,
1995 (in press).
-------."Display as Structure and Revelation: On Seeing the
Shiva Exhibition,"Studies in Visual Communication 7.4
(1981):84-89.
-------."Fragments of a Divine Cosmology: Unfolding Forms on
India's Temple Walls," in Desai & Mason (1993), pp. 94-115.
-------."On the Development of a Morphology for a Symbolic Architecture,"
Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 12 (1986):33-50.
-------."Sweetmeats or Corpses? Art History and Ethnohistory,"
Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 27 (1995):118-132.
-------."Symbology and Architectural Practice in India," in
Emily Lyle, ed.,Sacred Architecture in the Traditions of India,
China, Judaism and Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburg University Press,
1992, pp. 5-24.
-------."Temples, Tirthas, and Pilgrimage: The Case of Osiań," in D. Handa
& A. Agrawal, eds.,Ratna-Chandrika , New Delhi: Harman
Publishing House, 1989, pp. 275-82.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India.
Los Angeles: LACMA, 1994.
Parker, Samuel K. "Contemporary Temple Construction in South
India: the Srirangam rajagopuram," Res: Anthropology and
Aesthetics 21 (1992):110-23.
------. "The Matter of Value Inside and Out: Aesthetic Categories in
Contemporary Hindu Temple Arts, " Ars Orientalis
22 (1992):98-109.
Schechner, Richard. Between Theater and Anthropology.
Thapar, Romila. A History of India. Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1966.
Waghorn, Joanne Punzo and Norman Cutler, eds. Gods of Flesh/Gods
of Stone. Chambersburg, PA: Anima, 1985.
Welbon, Guy R., and Glenn E. Yocum, eds. Religious Festivals in
South India and Sri Lanka. New Delhi: Manohar, 1982.
Welbon, G. R. "Person, Text, Tradition: India's Acarya, " History
of Religions, 25 (1986):368-77.
Wetering, Ernst van de, Fighting a Tiger: Stability and Flexibility
in the Style of Pabuji Pars, South Asian Studies 8 (1992):
33-52.
Winter, Irene. "'Idols of the King': Royal Images as Recipients
of Ritual." Journal of Ritual Studies 6 (1992):13-42.