Papers by Aloka Parasher Sen
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 2005
In historical time individual travelers have always had to face a complex array of social and pol... more In historical time individual travelers have always had to face a complex array of social and political situations over terrains that they have had to travel through. From very early times moving beyond boundaries, travelers from and to the subcontinent met each other in locales that were alien to all of them. However, it is through them that civilizations have been cemented and, despite war and greed, human relations have been fostered within the warmth of tradition since traveling away from home, for whatever reasons, also entailed interactions at various other levels-of learning different languages and of communicating across lineage and country. This paper is about people who traveled more than a thousand years before our time and about whom we only know through the names they inscribed on rock surfaces during the course of their journeys. Some of the names indicate that they may have been local elite of the region. Scholarly writing has not sufficiently captured the histories emanating from these fragments of information. Either, histories of invasions and political conquest or, those of trade and commerce have largely been written. For the present we do not dwell on this historical literature 2 that has quite effectively captured the sub-continental relations, primarily political, with both West Asia and Central Asia prior to the contact of Islam with Al Hind. Some of these works, especially those beginning with the early 20 th century, have also been concerned with the economic and religious dimensions of these contacts. 3 It is interesting to point out that for the period between roughly the 2 nd century BC and the 4 th century AD the names of foreigners coming to the subcontinent have been noted in various inscriptions of the country and we are familiar with them. The earliest 1
In this paper I focus on an archaeological site called Kondapur that has been excavated on the De... more In this paper I focus on an archaeological site called Kondapur that has been excavated on the Deccan Plateau twice in the last fifty years highlighting its character and nature. The data thus far collected reveals complex structural remains along with artifacts that sometimes defy the application of convenient labels –‘Buddhist’, ‘Roman’, ‘Satavahana’ – that mark the early historic period [c. 200 BCE – 300 CE] in South India. We posit tentative interpretations about the difference and diversity of settlement patterns in hinterland societies which compels us to re-think issues around the unraveling of their permanence and totality. This further critically rests on the way we define community configurations in a given locality that could have been, to use Springborg’s words, “more transactional” than the ones we use as models to discuss more concrete manifestations of city life.
Grappling with the ‘realities’ thrown up by this archaeological data to discuss the profile and possible configuration of a ‘city’ in the larger context of the settlement patterns on the ancient volcanic landscape of the Deccan Plateau, this paper also brings to focus how interpretation of the archaeological data has often led to divergent conclusions. Illustrating this with descriptions and interpretations of archaeological data found at Kondapur we endeavor to stress that absences too need to be addressed while conflating discussions around the city in the ancient world.
The early Indic context saw the evolution and transformation of a number of languages. Beginning ... more The early Indic context saw the evolution and transformation of a number of languages. Beginning with the eighteenth century translations of ancient texts focusing primarily on those written in Sanskrit have given an erroneous impression that ancient society was monolingual. On the contrary not only was it a multilingual society, it was one in which the different languages negotiated with each other to create a complex textures of power, exchange and identity. We begin with a discussion on the power of vāc (speech) in the Vedic context to reflect on the urgency of retaining pure or good speech. This is followed by its interaction with hā ās (languages) wherein we discuss the inclusion and exclusion of languages in the context of the Sramanic tradition. We end with the debates and discussions in the Indic context that engaged with the validity of the meanings of words in the Mīṁāmsa tradition.
In early Buddhist thought friendship is understood as mettā emphasizing on a 'feeling of friendli... more In early Buddhist thought friendship is understood as mettā emphasizing on a 'feeling of friendliness' highlighting on compassion or karuṇā that can be inculcated in a human being through meditative practice. This paper, in its first part, elaborates on these ideas as found in different early Buddhist texts. In the second part, both the ontological and historical understanding of reality is discussed to argue that the Buddhist notion of friendship tries to straddle spiritual experience and social experience in enabling a better relationship with the social and cultural 'Other'. There are few existing studies on this theme. We suggest that the concept of mettā emerged out the experiential world of the times-a period when the socio-political order was ridden with war and conflict that hampered the existence of harmony and stability.
Books by Aloka Parasher Sen
Through a series of case studies taken from everyday experiences of people following a variety of... more Through a series of case studies taken from everyday experiences of people following a variety of religions, this book interrogates the supposed epistemological dualism between modernity and religion in India. Through a study of oral and textual traditions, examining the perspectives of women and other marginal social and regional groups, as well as the diaspora, the book presents dynamically interacting textures of society—historically and in our contemporary times—engaging with modernity in divergent ways.
Uploads
Papers by Aloka Parasher Sen
Grappling with the ‘realities’ thrown up by this archaeological data to discuss the profile and possible configuration of a ‘city’ in the larger context of the settlement patterns on the ancient volcanic landscape of the Deccan Plateau, this paper also brings to focus how interpretation of the archaeological data has often led to divergent conclusions. Illustrating this with descriptions and interpretations of archaeological data found at Kondapur we endeavor to stress that absences too need to be addressed while conflating discussions around the city in the ancient world.
Books by Aloka Parasher Sen
Grappling with the ‘realities’ thrown up by this archaeological data to discuss the profile and possible configuration of a ‘city’ in the larger context of the settlement patterns on the ancient volcanic landscape of the Deccan Plateau, this paper also brings to focus how interpretation of the archaeological data has often led to divergent conclusions. Illustrating this with descriptions and interpretations of archaeological data found at Kondapur we endeavor to stress that absences too need to be addressed while conflating discussions around the city in the ancient world.