Shrines in South Asia: Art, Ritual and Text

Shrines are often spaces marking dynamic interactions and exchanges between divine and devotee. The material culture found at these places can be vast-- from paintings, metal statuary, and photographs to dried fish, grains, and relics. The materiality of the shrine—what it is made of, as well as the material objects left at these sites—is only part of the story. Some shrines have rich histories and deep connections with communities of faith. In some cases, shrines are places people have visited for centuries to increase fertility, to ask for forgiveness, to gain favor, to earn protection, and much more. Textually, altars and shrines can be carefully described and discussed in both ritual texts and hagiographic accounts where shrines often serve as backdrops for religious rites and spaces to express gratitude, among many other functions.

Organic, interactive, and layered, these pastiche-like constructions are indices of the ever-evolving and deeply meaningful relationships between shrines and their communities.This panel invites papers that investigate these relationships and strata of material found at these complex sites throughout South Asia within its numerous religious expressions. Of particular interest are papers that include, but are not limited to, analyses of aesthetics, art history, ethnographic survey, space production, material culture, & ritual

To submit read about the panel and/or to submit an abstract go to https://ecsas2020.univie.ac.at/panels/rwnxc/
Abstracts should include:
--Name/institution
--Title
--1,700 characters

More information about the conference can be found at https://ecsas2020.univie.ac.at/#mainwrapper