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

Flood, Finbarr Barry

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BOOKObjects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter

Finbarr Barry Flood

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18546

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.

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Print publication date January 2018 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780691180748

EISBN 9780300249750

Illustrations 184

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Burzuya and the Indian sage, Kalīla wa Dimna
Map showing the major political formations of South Asia during the ninth and tenth centuries
Plan of Banbhore, Indus Delta
Ship crossing the Persian Gulf. Al-Harīrī, "Makāmāt (The Assemblies)," fol. 119v
A ninth- or tenth-century stone mihrab now preserved on the exterior wall of Gwalior fort, central India
Bull and horseman jital
Commemorative coin of al- Muqtadir Billah
Brahma excavated from the Ghaznavid palace at Ghazni
Brahma excavated from the Ghaznavid palace at Ghazni, detail
Habbarid damma from Sind compared with a modern dime
Damma issued in the name of ‘Abd Allah, the Habbarid amir of Mansura
Obverse and reverse of eight bilingual dammas from Multan
Adivaraha damma bearing an anthropomorphized image of the boar incarnation of Vishnu
Bilingual dirham/tanka struck in the name of Mahmud of Ghazni in Mahmudpur (Lahore)
Great Mosque of Banbhore (probable site of Daybul), plan as excavated, with find of Shiva linga marked at main entrance
Reconstruction drawing of a nine-bayed mosque, Thambo Wari, Sind
Tomb of Ibrahim, entrance portico
Tomb of Ibrahim, interior showing arched mihrab opening and corbeled dome
Hindu Shahi Temple
Blocked arched entrance, Chhoti Masjid
Door knockers excavated at Mansura
Foliated Kufic inscription from the Great Mosque of Banbhore
Mansura bronze and Banbhore inscription, details
Rubbing of a tombstone incised with a foliated Kufic inscription
Elephant, primary view
Elephant, alternate view
Elephant, alternate view
Bottom of Elephant sculpture with Arabic inscription carved on the base
Elephant
Elephant
Portable Buddhist diptych, closed
Portable Buddhist diptych, open
The monk Kalaka in conversation with two Shahis
A royal scene, Dukhang Temple
Turkic ghulāms of the Ghaznavid sultan
Bowl showing enthroned ruler
A royal rider, Dukhang Temple
A royal rider, Dukhang Temple, detail
An enthronement, Dukhang Temple
An enthronement, Dukhang Temple, detail
Tile from Ghazni with a pseudoepigraphic border compared with the pseudo-Arabic inscription in Kufic scrift on the armbands of royal figures
A royal scene, Church of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar
Medallion of Caliph al-Muqtadir
Frontispiece from a manuscript commissioned by Gagik-Abbas, Kars
Mahmud ibn Sebuktegin donning a robe of honor from Caliph al-Qadir Bi’llah
Mahmud of Ghazni receiving Indian elephants as tribute
Map showing the approximate extent and location of the Ghaznavid and Chandella polities
Map showing the approximate eastern and western boundaries of the Ghurid sultanate at its zenith
Ghurid Qur’an of 584/1189, sūra 113, the penultimate chapter of the Qur’an
Colophon of a Ghurid Qur’an, detail
Shah-i Mashhad Madrasa, general view from the south
Minaret of Jam, general view from the southeast
Minaret of Jam, detail of lower shaft showing arched panel with rhomboid knot above and star below
Minaret of Jam, schematic diagram of the epigraphic bands containing Surat Maryam
Chisht, domed structures
Epigraphic dirham struck at Ghazni
Dirham of “bull’s-eye” type, struck at Ghazni
Dinar of “square in circle” type, struck at Ghazni
Great Mosque of Herat, brick īwān with remains of Ghurid inscription
Pale gold dinar minted at Firuzkuh with trident motif on obverse
Coin minted at Bayana in the name of Sultan Mu‘izz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam, with a stylized image of Lakshmi on the obverse
Bull-and-horseman coin bearing the name of Sultan Mu‘izz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam in Sanskrit
Ring with the name of Sultan Mu‘izz al-Din ibn Sam inscribed on the interior in Sanskrit
Ring with the name of Sultan Mu‘izz al-Din ibn Sam inscribed on the interior in Sanskrit, detail
Tipu Sahib Sultan Enthroned
Humā bird from the throne of Tipu Sahib Sultan
Tomb of Shaykh Sadan Shahid
Two fragmentary stone foundation texts of a mosque bearing the name of the Ghurid sultan Mu‘izz al-Din
Stone foundation text, detail
Qutb Mosque, schematic plan
Qutb Mosque, eastern entrance
Mihrab from Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque
Shahi Masjid, schematic plan
Mihrab from Shahi Masjid
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, main entrance from the southeast
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, schematic plan with ceiling decorations marked
Qutb Mosque, corbeled dome at eastern entrance
Qutb Minar, Qutb Complex
Qutb Mosque, screen added to the façade of the prayer hall
Friday Mosque, view of prayer hall and main īwān
Qutb Mosque, detail of northern riwāq
Shahi Masjid, detail of prayer hall
Ribat-i-Sharaf
Qutb Mosque, schematic plan showing domed chambers (bottom left and right) and the royal chamber (mulūk khāna), top right
Qutb Mosque, remains of the royal chamber (mulūk khāna) in the northwestern corner of the courtyard
Qutb Mosque, exterior of the entrance to the royal chamber (mulūk khāna) with the Qutb Minar and qibla screen visible in the background
Qutb Mosque, entrance to the royal chamber (mulūk khāna)
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, northern wall, projecting porch of the royal chamber (mulūk khāna)
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of entrance to royal chamber
Qutb Mosque, carved lion on threshold of the royal chamber
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, carved lion on threshold of the royal chamber
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of elephant pillar
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of elephant carving on an interior pillar
Qutb Mosque, defaced anthropomorphic and zoomorphic carvings on column
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, prayer hall, detail of richly carved column of upper register
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of reused pilaster
Qutb Mosque, reused pilaster
Chaurasi Kambha Mosque, reused pilaster
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, detail of reused column
Lion face, detail on stucco fragment
Lion face, detail on fragments of stucco ornament
Shahi Masjid, detail of corbeled dome
Candlestick
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, detail of prayer hall
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, details of upper registers of columns
Shahi Masjid, detail of mihrab
Qutb Mosque, detail of surviving pilaster
Qutb Mosque, view of prayer hall
Qutb Mosque, prayer hall
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, mihrab
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of capital flanking mihrab
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, Kaman, view of ceilings along mihrab aisle
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, concave ceiling above the exterior porch of the royal enclosure
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, ceiling of minbar
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, Kaman, dome covering minbar
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, view from main entrance
Qutb Mosque, detail of stone ornament in the spandrels of the central arch of the screened façade
Hazār-bāf brickwork in the spandrels of an īwān Ribat-i Sharaf
Shahi Masjid, exterior of qibla wall showing three mihrab projections
Qutb Mosque, alterations to a group of reused capitals in the southeastern riwāq
Carved stone relief
Cenotaph
Cenotaph, detail
Cenotaph
Fragmentary cenotaph
Carving, detail
Cenotaph
Fragment of a dado from the palace of Mas‘ud III
Jain relief showing the parents of Prime Minister Kapardi, with stylized pūrnaghata capitals, Mount Abu
Mihrab
Vishnu Temple, showing twisted columns flanking the entrance
Fragments of a funerary relief
Funerary relief
Ceiling panel with tōrana arches, Vimala-Vasahi Temple, detail
Tombstone with arch framed by columns with ratna capitals and bases, detail
Ornament with two distinct styles of vegetal ornament flanking a stylized vegetal frieze, detail from tomb of Sadan Shahid
Vegetal ornament on Tomb of Sadan Shahid
Masjid-i Sangi, exterior view from the northeast
Masjid-i Sangi, interior view showing remains of a corbeled dome
Masjid-i Sangi, remains of āmalaka and finial
Masjid-i Sangi, exterior of north wall
Masjid-i Sangi, entrance
Masjid-i Sangi, detail of entrance carvings
Masjid-i Sangi, detail of entrance carvings
Masjid-i Sangi, detail of lotus threshold
Kumbharia, detail of lotus threshold of Neminatha temple
Mahavira Temple, exterior shrine
Masjid-i Sangi, carvings surrounding the entrance compared with those framing the niche opening
Masjid-i Sangi, detail of entrance with crescent motif
Crescent motif
Masjid-i Sangi, interior view
Masjid-i Sangi, mihrab showing remains of lamp/vase motif above its apex
Mihrab with lamp above apex, detail
Cenotaph with lamps in the interstices of arches
Sacciyamata Temple, showing finials with terminal kalaśas
Shahi Masjid, entrance with kalaśa motifs carved on either side
Lamp/vase motif above the apex of the Larvand mihrab compared with the kalasha motif flanking the entrance to the Shahi Masjid
Masjid-i Sangi, interior showing kīrttimukha motif at center of beam supporting dome
Lashkari Bazar, South Palace, detail of carved stucco
Chaurasi Khambha Mosque, detail of stone inscription framing the mihrab
Chisht mausoleum, detail of stucco inscription
Inscription on stone screen
Inscription on stone tombstone, detail
Qutb Mosque, details of screen added to the prayer hall with knot motifs amidst vegetal friezes
Chisht, funerary momument, detail of inscription with knot motifs
Qutb Minar, detail of Ghurid stone inscription on fourth band of first story showing heart-shaped knot motif
Dinar minted in the name of Sultan Mu‘izz al-Din, with prominent knot motif visible at top, obverse
Knot motifs
Rubbing showing a detail of a Kufic inscription on a cenotaph from Bhadreshvar
Qutb Mosque, detail of southernmost pier of Iltutmish’s extended screen
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra, screen added to the façade of the prayer hall by Iltutmish
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, southeast corner bastion
Qutb Mosque, detail of bastion at south entrance
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, main gateway
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, detail on gateway showing knot motifs at center of lintel
Iltutmish’s tomb, detail of carved ornament with knot motif, interior eastern façade
Qutb Mosque, detail of screen added by Qutb al-Din Aybek
Fragment of stamped, resist-dyed blue cotton textile, northern India
Qutb Mosque, detail of screen extensions added by Iltutmish
Arhai-din-ka-Jhompra Mosque, detail of screen added by Iltutmish
Reconstruction of the Qutb Mosque, after its enlargement by ‘Ala’ al-Din Khalji
Qutb Mosque, iron pillar erected by Iltutmish
Firuzabad, detail of palimpsest inscriptions on an Ashokan pillar

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Contents

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

Contents

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18547

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Acknowledgments

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

~More than any other project that I have undertaken, this has been a collaborative endeavor, and my debt to colleagues and friends who gave freely and generously of their opinions, time, research materials, and photographs during the decade that it was under way is immense. In addition to the individuals named below, I would like to thank all those whose numerous...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18548

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A Note on Translations and Transliterations

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

~For the sake of simplicity, diacriticals have been kept to a minimum. Where a foreign word has entered English usage (for example, mihrab, sufi, etc.), it is neither italicized nor provided with diacriticals. However, where a term is transliterated from Arabic, Persian, or Sanskrit, appropriate diacritical marks have been used following the...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18549

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Introduction

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

In the spring of 2006, an article appeared in the Guardian, a liberal British newspaper, in which an Oxford historian considered the intercultural tensions affl icting contemporary Europe...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.1-14

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18550

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1. The Mercantile Cosmopolis

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

In the first decades of the eighth century, the armies of the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus, the first Islamic dynasty, defeated the indigenous rulers of the Iberian Peninsula...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.15-59

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18551

Chapter subject tags:Medieval IndiaIslamic ArchitectureIslamic CoinsIndus River Delta (Pakistan)Paleography, Arabic (Cufic)

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2. Cultural Cross-dressing

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

In a groundbreaking study published in 1996, Phillip Wagoner analyzed the role of dress in the public ceremonial of the Hindu rulers of Vijayanagara...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.61-87

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18552

Chapter subject tags:Islamic ArchitecturePaleography, Arabic (Cufic)Medieval IndiaClothing and dress--History--Medieval, 500-1500Islamic Coins

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3. Accommodating the Infidel

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

In 545/1150 the armies of ‘Ala’ al-Din Husayn, chief of the Shansabanid clan of Ghur, a remote mountainous area of what today is west-central Afghanistan...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.89-119

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.007

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18553

Chapter subject tags:Islamic CoinsMedieval IndiaPaleography, Arabic (Cufic)Islamic ArchitectureHindu architecture

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4. Looking at Loot

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

The opening passage of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim sees the eponymous hero sitting in front of the Lahore Museum astride an object that still stands in the same location today...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.121-135

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.008

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18554

Chapter subject tags:Hindu architectureIslamic ArchitectureIslamic CoinsPaleography, Arabic (Cufic)Medieval India

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5. Remaking Monuments

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

The idea that temple and mosque represent two extremes of a bipolar cultural history is an axiom of South Asian historiography...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.137-226

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.009

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18555

Chapter subject tags:Islamic ArchitectureHindu architecturePaleography, Arabic (Cufic)Medieval IndiaIslamic Coins

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6. Palimpsest Pasts and Fictive Genealogies

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

Today, eight centuries after its emergence as the cultural and political capital of northern India, the preeminent status of Delhi is a given...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.227-259

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.010

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18556

Chapter subject tags:Medieval IndiaCenotaphsHindu architectureIslamic Architecture

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Conclusion: In and Out of Place

Finbarr Barry Flood

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

To enter the entangled worlds of Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Indic artisans, merchants, political elites, and soldiery living in the northwestern regions of South Asia...

Author

Finbarr Barry Flood

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.261-268

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00088.011

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18557

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