Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland最新文献

{"title":"Slaves of the lord: the path of the Tamil saints . By Vidya Dehejia. pp. xi, 206, 89 illus. New Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1988. Rs. 300.","authors":"A. Gaur","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108871","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108871","url":null,"abstract":"of the opening passage on the Govardhanpur temple at Banaras, this was done with the intention of stressing the participation of non-smarta groups in the expression of bhakti attitudes today. The fact that Ravidas certainly followed Kablr in time deserved to be made clear. The irrelevance to Kablr of both Hindu and Muslim attitudes and observances is rightly stressed and the notion that he may have urged Hindu-Muslim reconciliation properly rejected. More might have been usefully said in the Kablr section about the main elements of sant teachings: the sabda, the Name, the poet's mystical love of God, etc., rather than deferring such topics to various points later in the book. By contrast to Kablr's own teachings those of Nanak, more practical, less mystical and more accessible, receive generous attention. Turning to the three Vaisnava bhaktas, Hawley outlines first the character of their devotion as sagunis: looking towards this world as well as beyond it, hence ready to accept aspects of received tradition, yet in their separation from the loved entity akin to the nirgums. In presenting Surdas he summarises the results of his research on the MS. tradition indicating an early expansion of a nucleus of \" Surdas verses \", and the preempting of the poet's fame, and in part his verse, by the Vallabhan community: with resultant discrepancies between the content and style of early and later verses attributed to Surdas. Topics discussed in the further sections on Mirabai and Tulsldas include the significance of MTrabaTs identity as a woman for the understanding of her passionate bhakti, and the \"ecumenical intent\" of Tulsldas. The credentials of certain early Mirabai MSS. are queried. Since the contents of these MSS. would indicate, if they are authentic, a smaller Mirabai nucleus than has been available hitherto, and a more consistent use on MfrabaTs part of RajasthanI language, this matter deserves further investigation. The character of Tulsldas' ecumenism could have been more closely defined in referring to the Krsna-influenced Bhusundiramayana and the Krsna-gitavall, for, though indeed a \"saint-for-all-sides\" (p. 158), Tulsldas clearly used such works to gain assent for his syncretising religion of Ram; his support for Krsna being, in the last resort, only \"qualified\". The translations, partly colloquial and informal in tone and style, partly literary and allusive, read very well and to my mind do most acceptable justice to the spirit of the originals. Clearly much, and well-spent, effort has been given to them. They also succeed generally in conveying the literal sense of the originals: sometimes with legitimate expansion to suggest the point of an allusion, or with rearrangement of the elements of a verse. The translations are thus a serviceable guide for those wishing to approach the originals. With the other materials in this excellent book, they go far to indicating the interest and pleasure, as well as the rewards to be found in the study of ","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"411 - 412"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108871","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57103842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Malay society in the late nineteenth century: the beginnings of change . By J. M. Gullick. (East Asian Historical Monographs.) pp. vii, 417. Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1987. £28.00.","authors":"I. Brown","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108949","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108949","url":null,"abstract":"The disintegration of indigenous societies under the impact of colonial administration has long been a major theme in the historiography of modern Africa and Asia: the intervention of international commodity markets, the activities of Christian missions, the establishment of western education and the demotion (if not destruction) of indigenous political structures is each said to have profoundly undermined the stability and cohesiveness of the local community. The Malays of peninsular Malaya are commonly held to be an exception here; for in the opening decades of British administration (the period from the mid-1870s through to around 1910) Malay society, it is said, experienced only the most slow change, and thus preserved its essential character and institutions. It is this phenomenon which John Gullick seeks to explore and substantiate in this book. He does so by examining, chapter-by-chapter, various aspects of Malay society in the late nineteenth century-for example, the ruler in public life; the ruler in private life; the village community; the village economy; the Malay style of living; the maintenance of order; medicine and education; the organisation of Islam; sports, amusements and recreations. His examination is built upon the assembly of a truly vast body of contemporary comment and observations scattered through the official colonial records (annual reports, journals, council proceedings and papers, official correspondence, reports and memoranda) and the large number of books and articles published by officials and other Europeans resident in the Malaya of this period and by contemporary visitors. His approach, in essence, is to allow this material, very skilfully organised, to speak for itself. The result is a richly detailed and informative study: it is a delight to read. In only one respect does it seriously disappoint: and that is that the final discussion is too brief (it extends over less than five pages) to allow for an adequate concluding consideration of the book's central concern the comparative stability of Malay society in this period. It is tempting to see this issue as primarily a political question, for it was the firm policy of the colonial administration to secure the position of the Malay sultans in the eyes of the Malay population (on ceremonial and other public occasions, British officials treated the sultans with full deference) and to avoid intervention in matters of Malay custom and religion. And yet the experience of other parts of the colonial world suggests that a close accommodation between indigenous rulers and their colonial overlords would undermine the traditional authority of the former. Why did the collaboration of the Malay ruling elite with British power (the word is employed simply as a description, and carries no pejorative implications) not destroy the structure of indigenous authority? Perhaps the comparative stability of Malay society under British administration should therefore be seen as prim","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"11 1","pages":"419 - 419"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108949","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57104353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Meaning and power in a Southeast Asian realm . By Shelly Errington. pp. xiv, 322, 6 pl., 2 maps. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1989. US $35.00.","authors":"R. Ellen","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108986","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108986","url":null,"abstract":"course highly pertinent to theoretical discussions in contemporary anthropology. It will not, however, be considered here, since it is by its contribution to understanding Islam in Java rather than by comments on its general methodology that the book will be judged. The case against Geertz that Woodward politely makes is devastating, so much so that it causes our previous acceptance of Geertz's ideas to appear embarrassingly naive. Did we really believe in those neat divisions, santri, orthodox, pious Muslim, and abangan, animistic, nominal Muslim? The answer is of course that a lot of us did, because Geertz wrote so persuasively and authoritatively, with such obvious good sense. Even when his ideas did come in for a severe scrutiny, we tended to play down the criticisms. Now after Woodward's convincing demonstration that the religious set of practices and beliefs, which Geertz mistook as indicating only minimal adherence to Islam on the part of the abangan, is in fact profoundly imbued with Muslim ideas and principles which have developed in a line of direct continuity of Muslim Sufi traditions, we must rethink our position. The demonstration is conducted by a painstaking and meticulous analysis of texts — the neglect of texts is something Geertz is taken to task for and ritual performances which are found to be significant and important in Yogyakarta. The latter has in the eyes of scholars, particularly since the spread of Geertz's influential ideas, been associated with that Hindu-Javanese set of beliefs and practices which in the Indonesian context are considered to be most remote from orthodox Islam. To show, then, as Woodward dramatically does, that the intellectual pedigree of court ritual, the regular pilgrimages to ancestral graves, the critical historical texts and even the wayang shadow play itself, is traceable not to Hindu-Javanese beliefs, but to Islamic traditions is an extraordinary tour deforce, far-ranging in its scope and breathtaking in its assertions. Of course a critique such as Woodward's invites, and, indeed, from its tone would appear to welcome, critical response. There is not the space here to dwell on the details that such responses might take. The philologists will argue over the interpretation of the crucial textual passages; the historians may quarrel about the weight attached to certain events; and the anthropologists are certain to ask questions about the status and persuasion of Woodward's informants and their analysis of ritual symbolism. That is as it should be. For the moment, however, the account given here, so conscientiously fashioned from the materials of both anthropological and historical studies, must surely supersede anything else we have outside Indonesia as an introduction to understanding Islam in central Java.","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"423 - 425"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108986","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57104402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The green archipelago: forestry in preindustrial Japan. By Conrad Totman. (A Philip E. Lilienthal Book.) pp. xiii, 297, 8 maps. Berkeley etc., University of California Press, 1989.","authors":"A. Smith","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00109116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00109116","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"436 - 437"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00109116","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57104987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"C. A. Storey's Persian Literature: an interim report","authors":"F. Blois","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108603","url":null,"abstract":"C. A. Storey's Persian Literature, A Bio-bibliographical Survey is the lifework of a meticulous and dedicated scholar and its hitherto published sections have proved an indispensable reference work for Persian studies. Its first volume, covering Qur'anic Literature, History and Biography, was published in five fascicules between 1927 and 1953 and was followed in 1958 by the first fascicule of Volume II, devoted to Mathematics, Weights and Measures, Astronomy and Astrology and Geography.","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"370 - 375"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108603","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57100764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ethiopian biblical interpretation: a Study in exegetical tradition and hermeneutics . By Roger W. Cowley. (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, No. 38.) pp. xvi, 488, Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1988. £35.00.","authors":"Getatchew Haile","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108639","url":null,"abstract":"from Babylon (95). Another refers to an unidentifiable Marduk-nasir (110,1. 6 read nu-up-tum, a mandatory additional payment rather than a \"gratuity\"). There are a number of standard contracts (126—36). While this book will primarily interest specialist Assyriologists it should help any researching in diverse aspects of Babylonian literature. It claims to have been \" typeset by the author\" and is remarkably free from errors.","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"378 - 382"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108639","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57101337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The concise encyclopaedia of Islam. By Cyril Glassé. pp. 472, illus. in col. and bl. and wh., maps. London, Stacey International, 1989. £27.00.","authors":"I. Netton","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108652","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"383 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108652","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57102245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sufismus in Turkmenien: Evolution und Relikte . By S. M. Demidov, German translation by Reinhold Schletzer. (Turkmenenforschung, Band 11.) pp. 142. Hamburg, Reinhold Schletzer Verlag, 1988. DM 38.","authors":"W. Madelung","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X0010869X","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X0010869X","url":null,"abstract":"the lack of critical text is urgently even, painfully felt. From a strictly academic point of view, a critical edition of al-Risala as the first step is more logical than its translation founded on rather precarious textological ground. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that most scholars and the general public will welcome the latter and enormously benefit from the translator's labours. So, he must accept our congratulations and sincere gratitude. One wonders what Sufi writing will attract the scholar's attention next? Will it be Abu Talib al-Makki, or al-Sarraj?","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"111 3S 1","pages":"388 - 388"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X0010869X","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57103017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gadyarāja: a fourteenth century Marathi version of the Kṛṣṇa legend . Translated from the Marathi with annotations by Ian Raeside. pp. xxxv, 312. Bombay, Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd; London, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1989. £20.00.","authors":"R. S. Mcgregor","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00108822","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00108822","url":null,"abstract":"been defined, but it needs to be reconsidered in view of the sectarian and stylistic factors. The dating of Elephanta in light of the stylistic and political uncertainties has differed by hundreds of years among scholars\" (p. 1). Collins sets out to redress this situation. His study is divided into six major chapters. The first chapter (pp. 4-15) looks at the historical background in order to justify the establishment of a firm date for the construction of the rock temple. It re-examines both the political situation in the Deccan between the fifth and the seventh centuries and the position of the Kalacuris, members of the Pasupatu sect of Saivism, who are the most likely patrons of Elephanta. The following chapter (pp. 16-30) chronicles the visitors and their descriptions of the cave temple, the sculptures and their surroundings. The first traveller who wrote about the area after the completion of the temple seems to have been Xuan Zang who visited India between 633 and 641 (p. 16). European references date from the sixteenth century onward; the earliest record of a visit to Elephanta can be found in Gracia da Orta's Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India which was published in Goa in 1563. Da Orta, a Portuguese physician and scientist, visited the rock-temple in 1534 and thought it a \" sight well worth seeing\" though he felt that both the devil and the Chinese might have had a hand in its construction (p. 17). In the nineteenth century \"a new and more consistent approach by individuals trained in the scientific methods and sensitive to Indian culture brought penetrating insight to the study of Elephanta\" (p. 23). At the beginning of the twentieth century the island was placed under the Indian Archaeological Department and, in addition to scholarly accounts, guide books began to appear for the assistance of the ever increasing number of tourists. Chapters three (\"Mythological sources for the Elephanta sculptures\" pp. 31-40) and four (\"Iconographical analysis of the Elephanta sculptures\" pp. 41-94) assess and analyse literary sources, both religious and secular, to define more clearly the \"iconography of the sculptural program at Elephanta, and also to explore the contextual significance or iconology of the reliefs\" (p. 3). No precise chronology exists for these writings but Collins successfully establishes a relative sequence in relation to the construction of the temple. Chapter five (\"Artistic sources and parallels of the Elephanta sculptures\" pp. 95-120) represents the first systematic attempt to \"relate literary sources in the chronological framework to Elephanta's relief-panels\" (p. 41). The next chapter (pp. 121-48) looks at artistic sources and stylistic parallels to determine the direction of influence on the sculptors. The final chapter examines two important, rediscovered, ritual texts of the Saivite Lakullsa Pasupati cult, the Pasupata sulra and the Ganakarika, in the context of Elephanta. The Kalacuri rulers were followers of the Pas","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"403 - 405"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00108822","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57104052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Peace, war, and trade along the Great Wall: nomadic-Chinese interaction through two millennia . By Sechin Jagchid and Van Jay Symons. pp. xiii, 266, chronological table. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1989. US $29.95.","authors":"D. Morgan","doi":"10.1017/S0035869X00109025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00109025","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":81727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland","volume":"122 1","pages":"426 - 427"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/S0035869X00109025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"57104096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}