Visualizing Space in Banaras: Images, Maps, and the Practice of RepresentationMartin Gaenszle, Jörg Gengnagel The city of Banaras is widely known as a unique, impressive and particularly ancient historical place. But for many it is above all a universal, cosmic, and in a sense timeless sacred space. Both of these seemingly contrasting depictions contribute to how the city is experienced by its inhabitants or visitors, and there is a great variety of sometimes competing views: Kasi the Luminous, the ancient Crossing, the city of Death, the place of Hindu-Muslim encounter and syncretism, the cosmopolitan centre of learning, etc. The present volume deals with the multiple ways this urban site is visualized, imagined, and culturally represented by different actors and groups. The forms of visualizations are manifold and include buildings, paintings, drawings, panoramas, photographs, traditional and modern maps, as well as verbal and mental images. The major focus will thus be on visual media, which are of special significance for the representation of space. But this cannot be divorced from other forms of expressions which are part of the local life-world ("Lebenswelt"). The contributions look at local as well as exogenous constructions of the rich topography of Kasi and show that these imaginations and constructions are not static but always embedded in social and cultural practices of representation, often contested and never complete. |
Contents
Introduction | 7 |
Social Practice and Everyday Life | 15 |
Ravi S Singh and Rana P B Singh | 41 |
Annette Wilke | 69 |
Sunthar Visuvalingam and Elizabeth ChalierVisuvalingam | 95 |
Maps | 126 |
Jörg Gengnagel | 145 |
Sumathi Ramaswamy | 165 |
Niels Gutschow | 191 |
Joachim K Bautze | 209 |
Sandria B Freitag | 233 |
Stefan Schütte | 279 |
Martin Gaenszle in collaboration with Nutandhar Sharma | 303 |
Vasudha Dalmia | 325 |
Contributors | 349 |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century aniconic Annapūrṇā Banaras Benares Bhairava Bharat Mata Bharat Mata Mandir Bourne Brahmans British Cartography celebration centre colonial cosmic cremation ground cultural Dehalīvināyaka deities Delhi Devī devotees Dhobi Durgā edition festival Gangā Gaurīs Gengnagel Ghat ghāts Ghāzī Miya goddess Gupta Hariścandra Hindi Hindu Hinduism holy identity illustration Islam James Prinsep Kāla Kālī Kashi Kāśī Kāśīdarpaṇa Kāśīkhaṇḍa krośa kṣetra Lāṭ Lat Bhairõ linga lithograph located London Madhyameśvara map of India mārga marriage Mātṛkās modern Mosque Muslim names nation nationalist Navadurgā Navaratri Nepali Newar Niels Gutschow Pañcakrośī Pañcakrośīyātrā panorama Pārvatī photographs pilgrimage pilgrims pillar Prasad present printed published religious represented ritual river road Rousselet route sacred city sacrifice Śailaputrī Śaktis Śarmā Śāstrī shrine Singh Śiva Skandamātā Skandapurāṇa social South space spatial Śrī Sukula Suman Svāmī symbolic temple territory tīrtha tradition Varaṇā Varanasi Vīrabhadra visual Visuvalingam woodcut worship yātrā Yoginīs का