Papers by Namrata Chaturvedi
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
International Journal of Asian Christianity
This paper intends to contextualise the life of Christianity in British India through the develop... more This paper intends to contextualise the life of Christianity in British India through the developments in military theology in the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century that put forth the image of the ‘soldier saint’- a true Christian soldier, British in blood and in faith. This discourse intensified after the military turned civilian Indian rebellion of 1857 which was immediately coloured in Christian vs heathen terms, and following which, the spiritual needs of Christian soldiers came into focus with the East India Company. The deaths, rituals and continued traditions of burial of the Christian soldiers, officers, and civilians have been marked through some prominent cemeteries and war memorials in India. While studies of these sites of memory have focused on the graves, tombs, and memorials in parts of north, west and south India, the frontier region of northeast India has remained outside the focus of most studies. This paper has chosen the eastern Himalayan territo...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
God Online: Indian Spirituality in the Digital Space, 2022
Indian Astrology, or Jyotish is an integral part of Vedic knowledge system and an inseparable par... more Indian Astrology, or Jyotish is an integral part of Vedic knowledge system and an inseparable part of contemporary everyday spirituality. As noted by Hart de Fouw in the book Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India(1996), Jyotish is considered as one of the
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Yojana, Publications Division, I&B, Govt of India, 2022
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities
Literature that is being composed from or about the politico-geographical category of Northeast I... more Literature that is being composed from or about the politico-geographical category of Northeast India focuses on violence and ethnic movements in major ways (Hazarika, 1996; Barpujari, 1998; Baruah, 2005; Paula, 2008). While Weberian understanding of indigenous cosmology has led to archiving, documenting and research on ethnic epistemologies from Northeast India, in the absence of indigenous literary theories, literature from this region faces the challenges of homogenisation or becoming case studies for ethnographic documentation and anthropological inquiry (Karlsson & Subba, 2006; Subba, 2009; Lepcha et al, 2020 in the context of Sikkim). This paper intends to propose a theory of reading that upholds the role and participation of the poet(ess) as a shaman- a transforming agent and a transformed individual herself. This theory is being named Yemapoetics, deriving its epistemic framework from the figure of shamaness or Yema in the Limboo healing tradition in Sikkim. Yemapoetics is a...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 2, April-June, 2022, Pages 1–11. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n1.02, 2022
Literature that is being composed from or about the politico-geographical category of Northeast I... more Literature that is being composed from or about the politico-geographical category of Northeast India focuses on violence and ethnic movements in major ways (Hazarika, 1996; Barpujari, 1998; Baruah, 2005; Paula, 2008). While Weberian understanding of indigenous cosmology has led to archiving, documenting and research on ethnic epistemologies from Northeast India, in the absence of indigenous literary theories, literature from this region faces the challenges of homogenisation or becoming case studies for ethnographic documentation and anthropological inquiry (Karlsson & Subba, 2006; Subba, 2009; Lepcha et al, 2020 in the context of Sikkim). This paper intends to propose a theory of reading that upholds the role and participation of the poet(ess) as a shaman- a transforming agent and a transformed individual herself. This theory is being named Yemapoetics, deriving its epistemic framework from the figure of shamaness or Yema in the Limboo healing tradition in Sikkim. Yemapoetics is an attempt to propose a new indigenous paradigm for indigenous literary expression around the world. This theory identifies stages of poetic composition as well as reception, ranging from purification, possession, communication to catharsis. An indigenous literary theory like this will provide contexts for locating the poet(ess), examining her/his role as community healer who connects the modern, urban psyche of individuals with communal, archetypal symbols. This enables a process of retracing and re-membering through the poetic act that is essential to healing and recovery. Just as Limboo cosmology recognises women as first humans to be created, this paper argues that women’s psychospiritual agency should be at the centre for poetic theories to accord validity and applicability of feminist spirituality to indigenous literary theorisation. For the purpose, an illustration of the proposed theory will be made with reference to select indigenous poets from Sikkim.
Keywords: Limboo-Literary Theory-Feminist Spirituality- Northeast-Sikkim.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Indian Literature, 2017
Review of The Collected Plays of J P Das
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Triveni, 2006
This article gives a philosophical overview of the mystic verse of Lal-Ded locating her vaakhs in... more This article gives a philosophical overview of the mystic verse of Lal-Ded locating her vaakhs in the context of Kashmir Shaivism.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
JCLA, 2022
This paper aims to examine the dimensions of aesthetic affect of anger in the rasa framework in I... more This paper aims to examine the dimensions of aesthetic affect of anger in the rasa framework in Indian aesthetics. In the postmodern times, as aesthetic emotions are formulated (packaged and predetermined) and with the digital accessibility of new media, the reader/viewer's engagement as proposed in rasa framework becomes relevant and helps to contextualize the debate on what is the nature of art and the aesthetic process itself. To expound on these concerns, this paper reads Omair Ahmad's novel Jimmy the Terrorist (2010) and a particular incident in the narrative to understand the emotion of krodha (anger) and the affective process leading to the protagonist's behavioural and active response. The aesthetic framework referred to is Bharata's treatise on dramaturgy The Nāṭyaśāstra and the interpretations offered by Abhinavagupta with some references to Śankuka's views. In contemporary postmodern aesthetics, these concerns are important as they point to the need for contextualizing the psychological makeup of readers/ spectators which is an integral part of the aesthetic process itself.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Studies in Interreligious Dialogue, 2021
Interspiritual ritual participation as essential to everyday spirituality is a rewarding investme... more Interspiritual ritual participation as essential to everyday spirituality is a rewarding investment in decoding interreligious dialogue. At the current juncture in Indian social-religious history when a monolithic understanding of 'religion' is defining social life at macro levels, it is an urgent need to explore 'indigenous religion paradigm' (Maarif 2019) to understand indigenous ritual aesthetics at micro levels. In the topographical and environmental context of mountain life in Eastern Himalayas in India, the paradigm of indigenous ritual geography is a valid model for understanding how transitions between and across religious/ sectarian boundaries take place through shared yet distinct cosmologies, overlapping cultural symbolism and most importantly, mutually shared and reciprocal participation of human and non-human actors in religious rituals. Through a detailed ethnographic decoding of the Fulpātī ritual in eastern Himalayas, this paper aims to illustrate how exploring the ecoaesthetics of ritual theatre is a powerful way for mapping ecopsychological response to interreligious engagement.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Yeats Journal of Korea, Vol.66, 2021
Thomas Traherne, William Blake and W. B. Yeats are recognized in English literary historiography ... more Thomas Traherne, William Blake and W. B. Yeats are recognized in English literary historiography as mystic poets and sometimes, even as prophets. All three were non-conformist, unconventional and faced obscurity or incredulity in poetic assessments in literary circles. Some writings of Traherne were lost, some were nearly accidentally burnt while only one work survived in his lifetime; many of Yeats's more personal poems were not published and Blake remained an enigma and disturbance considering his theological views. Critics have commented on Traherne's Christianity as leaning towards Celtic mysticism, while Blake's poems sustain the Trahernian beliefs in the pristine innocence of the infant, leading some critics to comment that Traherne anticipated Blake. The influences of Blake on Yeatsian mysticism are well known and established in literary scholarship. This paper will focus on childhood spirituality as reflected in the poetry of Traherne, Blake and Yeats to explore whether any philosophical and/or poetic links can be established in the writings of these mystic poets form the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Towards the end, this paper will draw attention to recent interdisciplinary frameworks such as transpersonal psychological approaches to recontextualize their mystical poetry.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Adivasi and Indigenous Studies, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Memory, Metaphor and Mysticism in Kalidasa’s AbhijñānaŚākuntalam
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Sambhasan, Vol.2: Issue 1 & 2, 2021
The poetic contours of Hindi (Hindavi) are deeply shaped by the literary expressions of spiritual... more The poetic contours of Hindi (Hindavi) are deeply shaped by the literary expressions of spirituality associated with medieval Hindu and Sufi traditions. Readers of bhakti voices in Hindi are familiar with panths, paramparas, silsilas and poetic shapes of pada, doha, chaupai, and musical renditions such as bani, bhajan,
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Adivasi and Indigenous Studies, 2021
The current trends in Indigenous literary scholarship in the West include trans-indigenous and in... more The current trends in Indigenous literary scholarship in the West include trans-indigenous and inter-indigenous comparative studies of literature and art. In Western scholarship, transcomparative frameworks have incorporated research on art and literature from indigenous communities in Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and even parts of Asia. However, in the context of literary knowledge production of the tribal communities of India, such comparative frameworks do not find adequate focus in research. This paper is an attempt to focus on select indigenous women's poetry from the American and Indian contexts to argue for the validity and possibilities in comparative literary criticism. By reflecting on the imagery, cultural and philosophical contours, resonances and distinctions in the poetry of Joy Harjo, Louise Erdrich, Jacinta Kerketta and JoramYalam Nabam, this paper makes a case for recognizing the inter-poetic and trans-ethnic literary solidarities where the works of women writers can guide poetic and critical trajectories across two distinct yet interconnected cultural geographies.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Krupabai Satthianadhan's Saguna (1887-88), initially serialised in the Madras Christian College m... more Krupabai Satthianadhan's Saguna (1887-88), initially serialised in the Madras Christian College magazine is rightfully regarded as the first Indian spiritual autobiographical novel. Any study of this narrative compels one to explore the influence of the Evangelical autobiography on this genre in nineteenth century India as well as to engage with the distinctive aspects of an Indian Christian woman's spiritual quest in British India. This study also argues for focus on the spiritual life of Indian Christianity as a valid way of according recognition to the experiences and struggles of the life of a religion that is outside of mainstream religious discourse in contemporary India.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Memory, Metaphor and Mysticism in Kalidasa’s AbhijñānaŚākuntalam , 2020
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This paper focuses on exploring dhvani as a hermeneutical tool for reading Christian devotional l... more This paper focuses on exploring dhvani as a hermeneutical tool for reading Christian devotional literature. Dhvani is a theory of poetic suggestion proposed by Ānandavardhana in the eighth century and elaborated upon by Abhinavagupta in the eleventh century that posits layers of semantics in poetic language. By focusing on the devotional poetry of the seventeenth-century religious poets of England, this paper argues for Ānandavardhana's proposed poetics of suggestion as an enabling way of reading and cognizing devotion as a psycho emotive process. In the context of Indian Christianity, dhvani has been suggested by certain scholars as also enriching the possibilities of interfaith dialogue. This paper argues for incorporating poetic frameworks like dhvani as modes of interfaith dialogue, especially when reading Christian texts in India.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Namrata Chaturvedi
Keywords: Limboo-Literary Theory-Feminist Spirituality- Northeast-Sikkim.
Keywords: Limboo-Literary Theory-Feminist Spirituality- Northeast-Sikkim.