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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: March 25, 2020 at 6:07:13 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Asia]: Curley on Ray, 'Climate Change and the Art > of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Sugata Ray. Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in > the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850. Seattle University of Washington > Press, 2019. 264 pp. $70.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-295-74537-4. > > Reviewed by David Curley (Western Washington University) > Published on H-Asia (March, 2020) > Commissioned by Sumit Guha > > Curley on Ray, _Climate Change_ > > Sugata Ray's brilliant book, _Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: > Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna_, proposes new questions for the > discipline of art history. Using concepts and methods taken from > material culture studies as well as from art history, Ray proposes > reciprocal relations among the earth's changing environment, > ecological transformations brought about by the ways humans have > lived upon the land and sea, and "theology, art practice, and an > aesthetics of the natural world" (p. 20). As a case study, Ray has > chosen the region of Braj in north India, first, because of repeated, > disastrous droughts and famines in north India that seem to have been > particularly severe from the mid-sixteenth century to the early > eighteenth century, and second, because in the same period Gaudiya > Vaishnavas made the whole region of Braj a sacred landscape. > > In the 1540s, about a decade earlier than the first severe recorded > famine of the Little Ice Age, Gaudiya Vaishnava scholars residing in > Braj began producing theologies of what Barbara Holdrege has called > Krishna's "mesocosmic embodiment" in the locality as a whole. The > whole region of Braj, the Yamuna River, Govardhan Hill, sacred pools > and groves, and indeed every living being in Braj were considered > parts of the "manifest body" of Krishna.[1] Ray's thesis is that a > theology of Krishna's embodiment in the land of Braj, together with > climatic, political, and economic changes to the environment, led to > changes in devotional disciplines of Vaishnava pilgrims in Braj, and > to changes in visual practices of art and architecture. > > One should note at the outset, however, that his project is not > limited to artistic and architectural changes in Braj that were > related to climate changes of the Little Ice Age. Rather, Ray has > undertaken a case study in a more comprehensive discipline of > "geoaesthetics" as an "approach within art history." Ray describes > the subject matter of geoaesthetics expansively: "artistic and > architectural practices that were shaped through human interactions > with geographical, geological, botanical, zoological, mineralogical, > astronomical and climatic formations" (p. 22). > > Ray also describes his subject matter as an "interweaving," > "interplay," or "interconnectedness" between "nature and culture," or > "the natural world and human life," or "matter and life," or "the > human and the environmental" (pp. 20, 23, 57-9), suggesting practical > goals and a dimension of environmental ethics in his geoaesthetics. > In a coda we are encouraged to compare a miniature titled "Krishna's > Water Sport" from the Isarda _Bhāgavata Purāṇa_, ca. 1560-70 (p. > 26, plate 1.1) with an installation called "The Water Diviner," 2008, > by Sheba Chhachhi (pp. 185, 186, plates C.11 and C.12). The former > shows the whole, beautiful living environment of the sacred Yamuna > River. In in the second we see a dimly lit room filled with bundles > and shelves of old books, and a small light box that displays Radha > and her companions playing in the Yamuna River, but they are > surrounded and obscured by the river's floating burden of garbage, > and Krishna cannot be seen. Disconsolate birds and a deer look on > from an otherwise lifeless shore. > > One of Ray's strategies of mediation between "nature" and "culture" > (p. 58) is to develop a dialectical relation between more direct, > sensual experiences of environmental "matter" made sacred as > Krishna's living body, and more abstract cultural representations of > bodies of water and features of the landscape. Early works of Gaudiya > Vaishnava theology, archival records of property claims, temple > inscriptions, and accounts of travelers and pilgrims are just some of > his sources, as are records of droughts and famines; together they > help provide contexts for an "eco art history" (p. 20). Ray's most > important primary sources, however, are visual artifacts that remain > in Braj. He analyzes them with careful attention to detail, and by > wide-ranging and insightful comparisons to other works. One hundred > and fifteen figures, almost all of which are full-color photographs, > provide invaluable visual evidence to support his text. > > Ray's arguments are dense, and complex, and always worth pondering. I > can only suggest the range of connections Ray makes in each of his > four chapters. > > With obvious relevance to climate change, chapter 1 takes up the > theme of a liturgical practice of "seeing the flowing [Yamuna] river" > (p. 29). Ray links this theme to works of art, and to acts of > redistributive piety and charity during two prolonged droughts and > famines in north India, the first beginning in 1554, and the second > in 1614. He explores a new way of painting the Yamuna River in > Vaishnava art to show its living environment of plants, animals, and > humans. He links this artistic practice to a new liturgical practice > of "seeing" the flowing water of the Yamuna River, rather than > bathing in or imbibing its water (pp. 13, 29). He links architectural > symbols of water to conspicuous acts of piety and charity by emperors > Akbar and Jahangir. Finally, he notes imperial Mughal influence on > the aesthetics of the soaring Sati Burj temple, constructed on the > Yamuna River at Vishram Ghat in Mathura in 1570 (p. 32, plate 1.3), > and on the Torana built by Bir Singh Dev of Orcha at the same site > (p. 50, plate 1.17). Both afforded architectural perspectives on the > flowing Yamuna River, and the Torana has a motif of the "undulation > of waves" (p. 52), and was designed as a balance for the weighing > ceremony of Bir Singh Dev against immense charitable gifts of gold. > > Chapter 2 turns to the topic of land, and continues a contrast > between more direct, sensual experiences of Govardhan Hill, > considered a part of Krishna's manifest body, and more abstract > relations to the mountain, for example, as it was represented in > icons or landscapes, and when it was disputed as legal property. Ray > first describes a series of disputes in the 1570s that resulted in > Akbar's acknowledging the claim of Pushtimarg Vaishnavas to Govardhan > Hill, and the forced removal of Gauriya Vaishnavas. Their expulsion > was followed by the construction of a compensatory temple, the > largest and most important work of architecture ever constructed by > Gaudiya Vaishnavas in Braj. > > This temple is the Govind Dev temple in Vrindavan, begun in 1565 by > Bhagwandas of Amber, and completed in 1590 by his son, Raja Man Singh > I (p. 73, plate 2.7). It is located on a small hill in the town of > Vrindavan, a hill that Gaudiya theologians claimed is the _yogapitha_ > where Krishna and Radha were united in love. For Gaudiya Vaishanvas > the site was the center of the "lotus mandala" of Braj and the most > sacred site in all of Braj (p. 89). Ray argues that within the temple > an icon of Govardhan Hill personified as Krishna, together with a > fully envisioned landscape of the mountain he is holding, move > Govardhan Hill to a liminal presence outside the temple's cave-like > sanctum, and transform the mountain's sanctity to a liminal and > subordinate status, compared to the temple's sanctum and its images > of Krishna and Radha (p. 79, plate 2.13). Finally, he notes that the > material from which the icon was carved, the same red quartzite stone > that forms Govardhan Hill, still is thought to be material having > "vital energy" and capable of communicating with devotees (pp. 91, > 95), quite apart from any artistic use. > > Chapter 3 turns to the more prosperous eighteenth century, and takes > up the theme of forests. This chapter explores an imagined space for > the meetings of Radha and Krishna that became important in Braj along > with the contemporary clearing of actual "forests"--semi-arid > grasslands, scrub forest, and savannahs. The imagined space was > called a _kunja, _a "dense bower overgrown with creepers and vines" > (p. 102). The term _kunja_ in turn inspired a new kind of garden, a > new kind of Vaishnava temple, and new ways for pilgrims to experience > Radha's search for Krishna in hidden groves. The first example of > this new kind of temple in Braj is the Gangamohan Kunj, a temple in > Vrindavan built in the 1750s by Ganga Rani, the wife of Suraj Mal, > ruler of the kingdom of Bharatpur (pp. 104, 106, plates 3.5, 3.6). > For this temple, and later temples of this type, as pilgrims crossed > courtyards before entering the sanctum, they would have brushed > against carefully pruned arches in dense clusters of jasmine vines > and other flowering bushes associated with Krishna. Thus, Ray > concludes, a "corporeal aesthetics" of intimacy between humans and > plants was given "tactile and sensorial immediacy" (p. 117). Enclosed > by walls, _kunjas_ were a place where "the devotee could viscerally > feel Radha's encounter with the sentient plants of a poetic Braj" > (pp. 130-1). > > Finally, chapter 4 takes up the theme of ether, the element that > connects all other elements over vast distances, and the medium of > sound and music. In this chapter Ray turns to art and architecture of > the nineteenth century, when the hegemony of British rule was at its > peak, and when globally modern technologies and novel forms of > colonial subjectivity and masculine identity threatened the > "theophanic praxis of immanence" or "geoaesthetics of immanence" of > Gaudiya Vaishnavas (p. 174). Chapter 4 explores the first > nineteenth-century Vaishnava temple in Braj that borrowed from > neoclassical motifs of British colonial architecture. The temple is > the Shahji temple (p. 134, plate 4.1), built in Vrindavan in 1868 by > the patronage of Shah Kundanlal. Kundanlal was a Vaishnava merchant > from Lucknow and a close associate of the last monarch of Awadh, > Wajid Ali Shah, who was deposed by the British in 1856. > > Ray first explores motifs of neoclassical architecture that might > have reminded viewers of imperial British "domination" (p. 136), but > he notes their juxtaposition with other motifs that suggest > "entanglements and encounters on a global scale," and a strategy of > colonial "cosmopolitanism" (pp. 139, 151) modeled on the architecture > of precolonial Lucknow. Music and other arts and pleasures are > another theme. Inside on the walls of the central pavilion one sees > _pietra dura_ images of female figures: musicians, a woman painting a > scene, and a woman feeding pigeons, all in Lucknow dress. Kundanlal > has included in this group an image of himself playing a drum; he is > dressed as a man, but wears the ornaments of a woman. Thus, playing > the role of a _sakhi_, one of Radha's friends, who experience the > sweetest form of love for Krishna, is still a third theme. High above > the ground floor of the temple, and in the past clearly visible from > the central pavilion, an image of Wajid Ali Shah enacts the character > of a dancing woman, as he customarily had done in celebrations of the > _rasa_-_lila_ before his forced exile from Lucknow. Ray argues that > as Kundanlal's temple resisted imperial domination, it also resisted > a new "hyper-masculine" ideal for colonial male subjects. Instead the > Shahji temple represents "the male body as a demasculinized site of > spiritual aesthetics" (p. 166). > > Important themes in Ray's book call to mind contemporary issues of > climate change, and conceptual and ethical problems that have been > caused by conceiving human "culture" as separate from and in control > of "nature" (p. 58). By opening art history to questions about how > humans have thought about the earth, and how art and religion have > been shaped by human changes and natural disruptions to the earth, > Ray's brilliant book guides us to new problems, and to new ways of > thinking about art in relation to the "three ecologies" of "land, > human subjectivity, and social relations."[2] > > Notes > > [1]. Barbara A. Holdrege, _Bhakti and Embodiment: Fashioning Divine > Bodies and Devotional Bodies in Krsna Bhakti_ (New York: Routledge, > 2015), 29, 76-79, cited by Ray, 8n26. > > [2]. Félix Guattari, _The Three Ecologies_, trans. Ian Pindar and > Paul Sutton (London: Bloomsbury, 2000 [1989]), 19-20, 23-25, cited by > Ray, 22n82. > > Citation: David Curley. Review of Ray, Sugata, _Climate Change and > the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, > 1550-1850_. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. March, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54359 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
