H332 Body, Power and Society in Early India (I)
- Course Code:
- 154800225
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 1
- Taught in:
- Full Year
This course will provide an intensive focus on the body, widely conceived, in pre-colonial Indian society. A certain amount of emphasis will be placed on wider comparative and theoretical approaches to the study of the human body in history, drawing on the disciplines of sociology, religious studies and gender studies, but the chief focus will be on gaining familiarity with the Indian materials.
It will place materials on the body against particular historical and cultural backdrops including the evolution of religious doctrines and rituals, cosmological and astronomical thinking, courtly and urban culture, military societies, and village and peasant life, ranging in time from early historical India to the eighteenth century.
Topics treated will include theories of physiology, health, and illness; the social construction of gesture and movement, sartorial codes, sumptuary regulations, and 'body culture'; gender and sexuality; the representation of the body in art and literature. In addition to contextual and thematic readings, the course will expose students to a wide variety of primary sources, including religious and ritual texts, courtly literature, art (painting, sculpture, material culture), as well as inscriptions and normative treatises.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
- To famliarise students with established and new trends in the study of the relation of individuals and societies
- To develop a keen awareness of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of early India
- To present students with an both an overview of the early Indian materials relating to the body, widely conceived, in relation to society, as well as greater familiarity with several in depth case studies
- to develop critical skills in analysing texts and artifacts as sources of social history
Suggested reading
- Cowell, E.B. and F.W. Thomas (translators). The Harsa-Carita of Bana (Delhi, 1968);
- Rhys Davids, T.W. (ed.).The Dxga Nikaya (Oxford, 1995);
- Doniger, W. (tr.). The Laws of Manu (Harmondsworth, 1991);
- Gosh, M. (tr.). The Natyasastra Ascribed to Bharatamuni (Calcutta, 1961);
- O'Flaherty, W. (tr.). The Rig Veda: an Anthology (Harmondsworth, 1981)
