COASTAL SHRINES AND TRANSNATIONAL MARITIME NETWORKS ACROSS INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASI
This book breaks new ground by examining transoceanic connectivity through the perspective of coastal shrines and maritime cultural landscapes across the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. It covers a period of expanding networks and cross-cultural encounters from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE .
The book examines the distinctiveness of these shrines and highlights their inter-connections and their role in social integration in South and Southeast Asia. By drawing on data from shipwreck sites, the author elaborates on the material and religious intersections and transmissions between cultures across the seas. Many of these coastal shrines survived into the colonial period, when they came to be admired for their aesthetic value as monuments. As nation states of the region became independent, these shrines were often inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List on account of their Outstanding Universal Values. The book argues that in the 21st century there is a need to promote the cultural connectivity of the past as transnational heritage on UNESCOs global platform to preserve and protect our shared heritage.
The volume will be essential reading for academics and researchers of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, history of South and Southeast Asia, religious studies, cultural studies, and Asian studies.
Himanshu Prabha Ray is Research Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford. She was the first Chairperson of the National Monuments Authority, Ministry of Culture in New Delhi, India from 2012 to 2015, and former Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her research interests include maritime history and archaeology of the Indian Ocean and the archaeology of religion in Asia. Her recent books include Decolonising Heritage in South Asia: The Global, the National and the Transnational (ed. 2019), Archaeology and Buddhism in South Asia (2018), Buddhism and Gandhara: An Archaeology of Museum Collections (ed. 2018), The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The Temple in Western India, 2nd Century BCE to 8th Century CE (with Susan Verma Mishra, 2017), The Return of the Buddha: Ancient Symbols for a New Nation (2014) and The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia, (2003).
First published 2021
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FOR IAN GLOVER, WHO FIRST INTRODUCED ME TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
My interest in the theme of coastal shrines dates to 2007, when I received the Visiting Senior Research Fellow award of the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore. I am grateful to Anthony Reid, then Director of ARI for his support. In 2009, POSCO TJ Park Foundation of Korea followed this with a two-year research award for the project Archaeology of Buddhist Stupas: Shared Traditions, Multiple Histories, which allowed me to travel to Thailand, Singapore, and Korea.
Over the years, I have accumulated many debts. Much-needed academic support has been provided by several colleagues, including John Miksic and Goh Geok Yian, Amara and Taraphong Srisuchat, Le Thi Lien, I. Wayan Ardika, Juhyung Rhi, Peter Skilling, and Bambang Budi Utomo. I feel blessed by the warmth and the hospitality that my husband Debdutta Ray and I have received as we travelled to archaeological sites and museums. We are especially beholden to the Fine Arts Department, Bangkok for hosting us during two conferences in 2018 and 2019 in Bangkok and Surat Thani and especially for the efficiently organized field visits. Travels to archaeological sites provided opportunities for learning from the excavators but also for interacting with colleagues from South and Southeast Asia with shared interests.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director-General of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai has always been welcoming and supportive. I am thankful to Ambassador Shyam Saran for inviting me to deliver the Eminent Persons Lecture in Vietnam in February 2017 and for participation in a conference hosted by Research and Information System for Developing Countries, New Delhi, in July 2015. The Ministry of External Affairs supported a research project on Sailing to Suvarnabhumi, and Susan Verma Mishra helped develop an online bibliography.
Research and travel to Nagapattinam and other coastal sites in Tamilnadu would not have been possible without the active assistance of Ajay Yadav, presently in the Ministry of Culture and officers of the Archaeological Survey of India. I am thankful for the help when I needed it most.
Writing for the book was done in Munich, Oxford and Singapore, in addition to long hours spent on it in Delhi. The five-year Anneliese Maier research award of the Humboldt Foundation hosted by Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Ludwig Maximilians Universitaet allowed me to spend time in Munich and to use resources of the Bayerische Staats Bibliothek. Shaunaka Rishi Das stepped in to invite me to the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies as JP and Beena Khaitan Fellow in October and November 2018. This provided an opportunity to interact with other members of the Centre, including Salila Kulshreshtha, and to jointly coordinate with Shailendra Bhandare for a two-day conference on Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World at the Ashmolean Museum.
The book, however, would not have been possible without the award of the three-month Visiting Senior Research Fellowship, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, from April to June 2019 and the support of Kenneth Dean. The long discussions with other members of the Globalisation and Religion Cluster, especially Marcus Bingenheimer and Carola Lorea, were an important part of the stint at ARI. In addition, I have enjoyed talks with Jayati Bhattacharya and of course participation in the Round Table organized by Jayati Bhattacharya and Carola Lorea during the International Convention of Asia Scholars 11 at Leiden.
I acknowledge editing help from Abha Thapalyal Gandhi and am thankful to Shashank Shekhar Sinha and his team at Routledge for the constant encouragement and support. Chandan has been, as always, an integral part of this book and has also provided the photographs.
