Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter

by Finbarr Barry Flood

Overview

Objects of Translation offers a nuanced approach to the entanglements of medieval elites in the regions that today comprise Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north India. The book—which ranges in time from the early eighth to the early thirteenth centuries—challenges existing narratives that cast the period as one of enduring hostility between monolithic "Hindu" and "Muslim" cultures. These narratives of conflict have generally depended upon premodern texts for their understanding of the past. By contrast, this book considers the role of material culture and highlights how objects such as coins, dress, monuments, paintings, and sculptures mediated diverse modes of encounter during a critical but neglected period in South Asian history.

The book explores modes of circulation—among them looting, gifting, and trade—through which artisans and artifacts traveled, remapping cultural boundaries usually imagined as stable and static. It analyzes the relationship between mobility and practices of cultural translation, and the role of both in the emergence of complex transcultural identities. Among the subjects discussed are the rendering of Arabic sacred texts in Sanskrit on Indian coins, the adoption of Turko-Persian dress by Buddhist rulers, the work of Indian stone masons in Afghanistan, and the incorporation of carvings from Hindu and Jain temples in early Indian mosques. Objects of Translation draws upon contemporary theories of cosmopolitanism and globalization to argue for radically new approaches to the cultural geography of premodern South Asia and the Islamic world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691180748
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Finbarr Barry Flood is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Art History and the Institute of Fine Arts, and founder-director of Silsila: Center for Material Histories at New York University. His books include Piety and Politics in the Early Indian Mosque and The Great Mosque of Damascus.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

A Note on Translations and Transliterations xv





Introduction 1

Roots or Routes? 1

Networks, Translation, and Transculturation 5

Things and Texts 9





Chapter 1: The Mercantile Cosmopolis 15

Polyglot Frontiers and Permeable Boundaries 15

Gifts, Idolatry, and the Political Economy 26

Heteropraxy, Taxonomy, and Traveling Orthography 37





Chapter 2: Cultural Cross-dressing 61

Prestigious Imitation 61

Fractal Kingship and Royal Castoff s 75

The Raja's Finger and the Sultan's Belt 84





Chapter 3: Accommodating the Infi del 89

Sunni Internationalism and the Ghurid Interlude 89

From King of the Mountains to the Second Alexander 93

Homology, Ambiguity, and the Rule of Sri Hammira 107





Chapter 4: Looking at Loot 121

Signs of Sovereignty 121

Looting and Diff erence 123

Trophies and Transculturation 126





Chapter 5: Remaking Monuments 137

Taxonomies, Anomalies, and Visual Pidgin 137

Rupture and Reinscription 152

Noble Chambers and Translated Stones 160

Patrons and Masons 184

Markets, Mobility, and Intentional Hybridity 189





Chapter 6: Palimpsest Pasts and Fictive Genealogies 227

A World within a World 227

Monuments and Memory 247

The Fate of Hammra' 255





Conclusion: In and Out of Place 261

Appendix: Principal Dynasties and Rulers Mentioned 269

Notes 271

Bibliography 311

1. Primary Sources 311

2. Secondary Sources

(a) History and Material Culture 317

(b) Conceptual and Theoretical 347

Index 353

What People are Saying About This

Eaton

With nuance and subtlety, Objects of Translation joins other recent books in challenging the validity of projecting present-day conflicts onto the earliest encounters between Indians and Persianized Turks. The author cites from an enormous range of materials and evidence, and he brings them all together in an intelligent synthesis.
— Richard M. Eaton, University of Arizona

From the Publisher

"Complete, intelligent, and original, Objects of Translation is a remarkable achievement. This book is of such importance for the histories of India and the Islamic world, as well as for theories of culture and language, that it will be essential to all those who want to understand how different cultures interact with one another."—Oleg Grabar, professor emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study

"With nuance and subtlety, Objects of Translation joins other recent books in challenging the validity of projecting present-day conflicts onto the earliest encounters between Indians and Persianized Turks. The author cites from an enormous range of materials and evidence, and he brings them all together in an intelligent synthesis."—Richard M. Eaton, University of Arizona

"Objects of Translation demonstrates the complex variability of cultural interaction between Muslims and Hindus in medieval India. It is Flood's willingness to tell the whole story—rightly stressing the creativity, but not ignoring the conflicts—that makes the book such a compelling and important work of historical scholarship."—Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University

"This smart and engaging book will be invaluable to readers who seek an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of art and culture, especially in border zones where the most exciting artistic breakthroughs often occur. Comprehensive, creative, and lively, it will be read by scholars of Indian and Islamic art, and educate our next generation of undergraduate and graduate students in a more holistic context."—Eva R. Hoffman, Tufts University

Oleg Grabar

Complete, intelligent, and original, Objects of Translation is a remarkable achievement. This book is of such importance for the histories of India and the Islamic world, as well as for theories of culture and language, that it will be essential to all those who want to understand how different cultures interact with one another.
— Oleg Grabar, professor emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study

Hoffman

This smart and engaging book will be invaluable to readers who seek an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of art and culture, especially in border zones where the most exciting artistic breakthroughs often occur. Comprehensive, creative, and lively, it will be read by scholars of Indian and Islamic art, and educate our next generation of undergraduate and graduate students in a more holistic context.
— Eva R. Hoffman, Tufts University

Wagoner

Objects of Translation demonstrates the complex variability of cultural interaction between Muslims and Hindus in medieval India. It is Flood's willingness to tell the whole story—rightly stressing the creativity, but not ignoring the conflicts—that makes the book such a compelling and important work of historical scholarship.
— Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University

Editorial Reviews

"This brilliant book does many things well, but two stand out. It is an overview of the art, especially architecture and architectural decoration, of what is now northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries—from the arrival of Islam to the eve of the Mongol conquests. It is also a trenchant essay of interpretation, substituting a richly textured consideration of cultural dynamics and cultural change on a theoretical level for the traditional dichotomy of Hindu versus Muslim. . . . Nothing is comparable to this deeply learned, engrossing, and well-written albeit often challenging work, which is full of compelling discussions of important monuments. It deserves a wide readership."—-L. Nees, Choice


"[A] brilliant, far-ranging study. . . . This book is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the medieval 'Hindu-Muslim' encounter."—-John E. Cort, Religious Studies Review


"Flood's is an outstanding book and its level of scholarship is far in excess of any other work on medieval Indian history that I am aware of. It is a book that gladdens one's heart as much as it enriches one's mind."—-Harbans Mukhia, Medieval History Journal


"This book will not only be of interest to scholars of material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and medieval history, but is also entirely relevant to scholars of modern South Asia. In its insistence on mobility—of objects, people, and ideas—and resistance to boundaries, Flood's book is a timely reminder that global mobility is hardly a new phenomenon."—-Preeti Chopra, Contemporary South Asia


"This book is a most welcomed addition to the still meager though growing number of studies in Islamic art and material culture, which are based on theoretical premises and on a close, comparative scrutiny of multiple visual objects and texts. . . . [D]ue to its rich material and novel ideas, this book is a necessary asset in the library of historians and art historians of the Muslim world and India, and a useful text-book in academic teaching, hard to read but fully rewarding."—-Rachel Milstein, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam


"Complete, intelligent, and original, Objects of Translation is a remarkable achievement. This book is of such importance for the histories of India and the Islamic world, as well as for theories of culture and language, that it will be essential to all those who want to understand how different cultures interact with one another."—Oleg Grabar, professor emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study


"With nuance and subtlety, Objects of Translation joins other recent books in challenging the validity of projecting present-day conflicts onto the earliest encounters between Indians and Persianized Turks. The author cites from an enormous range of materials and evidence, and he brings them all together in an intelligent synthesis."—Richard M. Eaton, University of Arizona


"Objects of Translation demonstrates the complex variability of cultural interaction between Muslims and Hindus in medieval India. It is Flood's willingness to tell the whole story—rightly stressing the creativity, but not ignoring the conflicts—that makes the book such a compelling and important work of historical scholarship."—Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University


"This smart and engaging book will be invaluable to readers who seek an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of art and culture, especially in border zones where the most exciting artistic breakthroughs often occur. Comprehensive, creative, and lively, it will be read by scholars of Indian and Islamic art, and educate our next generation of undergraduate and graduate students in a more holistic context."—Eva R. Hoffman, Tufts University

From the Publisher

This book is a most welcomed addition to the still meager though growing number of studies in Islamic art and material culture, which are based on theoretical premises and on a close, comparative scrutiny of multiple visual objects and texts. . . . [D]ue to its rich material and novel ideas, this book is a necessary asset in the library of historians and art historians of the Muslim world and India, and a useful text-book in academic teaching, hard to read but fully rewarding.

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam - Rachel Milstein

This book will not only be of interest to scholars of material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and medieval history, but is also entirely relevant to scholars of modern South Asia. In its insistence on mobility—of objects, people, and ideas—and resistance to boundaries, Flood's book is a timely reminder that global mobility is hardly a new phenomenon.

Contemporary South Asia - Preeti Chopra

Flood's is an outstanding book and its level of scholarship is far in excess of any other work on medieval Indian history that I am aware of. It is a book that gladdens one's heart as much as it enriches one's mind.

Medieval History Journal - Harbans Mukhia

[A] brilliant, far-ranging study. . . . This book is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the medieval 'Hindu-Muslim' encounter.

Religious Studies Review - John E. Cort

This brilliant book does many things well, but two stand out. It is an overview of the art, especially architecture and architectural decoration, of what is now northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries—from the arrival of Islam to the eve of the Mongol conquests. It is also a trenchant essay of interpretation, substituting a richly textured consideration of cultural dynamics and cultural change on a theoretical level for the traditional dichotomy of Hindu versus Muslim. . . . Nothing is comparable to this deeply learned, engrossing, and well-written albeit often challenging work, which is full of compelling discussions of important monuments. It deserves a wide readership.

Choice - L. Nees

Flood's is an outstanding book and its level of scholarship is far in excess of any other work on medieval Indian history that I am aware of. It is a book that gladdens one's heart as much as it enriches one's mind.
— Harbans Mukhia

Medieval History Journal

This book will not only be of interest to scholars of material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and medieval history, but is also entirely relevant to scholars of modern South Asia. In its insistence on mobility—of objects, people, and ideas—and resistance to boundaries, Flood's book is a timely reminder that global mobility is hardly a new phenomenon.
— Preeti Chopra

Contemporary South Asia

This book is a most welcomed addition to the still meager though growing number of studies in Islamic art and material culture, which are based on theoretical premises and on a close, comparative scrutiny of multiple visual objects and texts. . . . [D]ue to its rich material and novel ideas, this book is a necessary asset in the library of historians and art historians of the Muslim world and India, and a useful text-book in academic teaching, hard to read but fully rewarding.
— Rachel Milstein

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam

[A] brilliant, far-ranging study. . . . This book is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the medieval 'Hindu-Muslim' encounter.
— John E. Cort

Religious Studies Review

This brilliant book does many things well, but two stand out. It is an overview of the art, especially architecture and architectural decoration, of what is now northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries—from the arrival of Islam to the eve of the Mongol conquests. It is also a trenchant essay of interpretation, substituting a richly textured consideration of cultural dynamics and cultural change on a theoretical level for the traditional dichotomy of Hindu versus Muslim. . . . Nothing is comparable to this deeply learned, engrossing, and well-written albeit often challenging work, which is full of compelling discussions of important monuments. It deserves a wide readership.
— L. Nees

Choice