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The 35Th Annual Conference on South Asia (2006) Paper Abstracts 35th Conference on South Asia October 20 – 22, 2006 Accardi, Dean Lal Ded: Questioning Identities in Fourteenth Century Kashmir In this paper, I aim to move beyond tropes of communalism and syncretism through nuanced attention to Indian devotional forms and, more specifically, to the life and work of a prominent female saint from fourteenth century Kashmir: Lal Ded. She was witness to a period of great religious fermentation in which various currents of religious thought, particularly Shaiva and Sufi, were in vibrant exchange. This paper examines Lal Ded’s biography and her poetic compositions in order to understand how she navigated among competing traditions to articulate both her religious and her gender identity. By investigating both poetic and hagiographic literatures, I argue that Lal Ded’s negotiation of Shaivism and Sufism should not be read as crudely syncretic, but rather as offering a critical perspective on both devotional traditions. Finally, I also look to the reception history of Lal Ded’s poetry to problematize notions of intended audience and the communal reception of oral literature. Adarkar, Aditya True Vows Gone Awry: Identity and Disguise in the Karna Narrative When read in the context of the other myths in the Mahabharata and in the South Asian tradition, the Karna narrative becomes a reflection on the interdependency of identity and ritual. This paper will focus on how Karna (ironically) negotiates a stable personal identity through, and because of, disguised identities, all the while remaining true to his vows and promises. His narrative reflects on the nature of identity, self-invention, and the ways in which divinities test mortals and the principles that constitute their personal identities. Taking the vow as a form of ritual speech-act, we see that when the participants' identities are ambiguous or veiled, the vow often goes awry: gifts turn into punishments, blessings into curses. Conversely, in a world where vows and rituals are exploited, maintaining an identity can be dangerous, subversive, and even courageous. This ethico-social fabric and its constitutive rituals depends upon true vows and on stable, sincere, and socially-defined identity; that fabric becomes fragile when individuals assert personal identities for themselves. Conversely, more radically, this narrative shows how necessary it is for individuals to invent and assert their own selves -- in Karna's case through his spectacular vows -- when that social fabric falls apart. Ahmad, Junaid The Political Quietism of Islamic Revivalism(s) in Pakistan: Between Farhat Hashmi’s Neo- Conservatism and Javed Ghamdi’s Accomodationist Liberalism This paper will look into the politics of two emerging theological strands developing in Pakistan. Associated with Farhat Hashmi’s neo-conservative and Javed Ghamdi’s neo-liberal religious philosophies, these two respective Islamic worldviews seem to have the social function of providing a convenient mechanism for the middle classes of Pakistan to reconcile their Muslim identity with modernity and all of the fruits it provides for these privileged sections of Pakistani society. What is not noticed by most commentators who see the ideologies as complete poles apart is the deep similarity in the ways in which these movements translate politically. This paper dissects the political quietism that is the hallmark of both of these movements. What is questioned is the degree of relevance these religious persuasions have for the social majorities in Pakistan, and how the proponents of each respective worldview strengthen the politico-economic ideology and processes associated “globalization.” Ahmed, Manan From Diwan to Database: Digital Archives of South Asia The impact of digitization and archiving on the scholarship and pedagogy in South Asia has yet to receive due attention. Technologies like database-based archives, wikis and blogs have opened new methods of interactivities between primary sources, researchers and students. Yet, in a sense, it is the return to the scrolls and manuscripts of pre-print era when the margins of the text gave us both commentary and community. This furthering of the community – a number of researchers point to Walter Ong’s ‘secondary orality’ here – via the means of blogs and wikis not only raises important methodological questions for our field but also point to ways in which we can incorporate the advances of technology for collaborative and conscientious scholarship. This paper will highlight the ways in which these technologies create knowledge- based communities with new insights and techniques for doing research. It will showcase the effect of Wikipedia [and other wiki-based projects] on the creation and consumption of historical knowledge. It will highlight some examples of the use of blogs for pedagogy and research. Finally, it will put forth an agenda for a substantial undertaking to introduce digital humanities to the next generation of South Asian scholars. Ali, Ali Archaeological Surveys and Exploration in the Northwest Frontier Provinces, Pakistan Recent surveys conducted by the University of Peshawar and the Department of Archaeology, NWFP have begun to shed new light on the complex history of the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan. Archaeological sites ranging from the Palaeolithic to the Early Historic period now require new frameworks for interpreting the history of this region and of South Asia as a whole. This paper will present the major new discoveries to highlight the important new directions of current research. Ali, Ihsan Archaeological Surveys and Exploration in the Northwest Frontier Provinces, Pakistan Recent surveys conducted by the University of Peshawar and the Department of Archaeology, NWFP have begun to shed new light on the complex history of the Northwest Frontier Provinces of Pakistan. Archaeological sites ranging from the Palaeolithic to the Early Historic period now require new frameworks for interpreting the history of this region and of South Asia as a whole. This paper will present the major new discoveries to highlight the important new directions of current research. Allendorf, Teri Ecoregional conservation: a step forward or back? The concept of ecoregional conservation is increasingly popular in conservation planning. In some ways, it has been a polarizing concept, with conservation biologists and environmental NGOs viewing it as a way to plan conservation proactively and more logistically, while others critique it as a branding or marketing ploy that shifts emphasis away from community-based conservation paradigms. Using WWF’s Terai Arc Landscape project as a case study, we explore ecoregional planning and its pros and cons as a conservation tool. While there are potential drawbacks to ecoregional planning, which will only become clear as ecoregional planning is practiced, it does represent an attempt to conserve biodiversity while recognizing and understanding the larger political, economic, and social contexts. Amar, Abhishek Singh Social Base of Buddhism: Investigating Bodhgaya and Buddhist Network in Ancient Magadha Bodhgaya, being the site of enlightenment of the Buddha, has been the prime Buddhist site with a major Buddhist establishment in early historic India, attested by pilgrim’s accounts, epigraphic data and the size of the mound surrounding the modern Mahabodhi temple complex, spread over approximately one sq. kilometer. For the emergence and sustenance of such an establishment, from third century BC to twelfth century CE, this paper argues, that it was essential for the sangha to spread the tenets of Buddhism in the region to develop a support base by developing a network of Buddhist establishments. Therefore this paper attempts to examine the religious motivation and social mechanics employed by the sangha to spread Buddhism in the ancient Magadha region. The archaeological survey of early historic sites within ancient Magadha region indicates the interaction between the sangha and the laity. The observations of the positioning of the monastic establishments and the water conservation mechanisms, situated within the general orbit of neighboring settlements, indicates to the involvement of the sangha in water management, thereby bring out the social role of the sangha in regulating man-land relationship which had far reaching implications for the socio-economic and religious practices of the contemporary society. Amarasinghe, Oscar The Ambiguous Impact of a Natural Disaster on Legal Pluralism: a Case Study of the Fishing Community in the Tsunami-stricken Hambantota District of Sri Lanka This paper describes how a natural disaster could influence an existing legal pattern, especially through its impact on livelihoods. The study is based on information obtained from field studies carried out in coastal marine fishing communities in the Hambantota District of Sri Lanka, one of the most seriously affected districts by the Tsunami of 26th December 2004. The paper first describes the nature and functions of different legal systems that were in existence in the Hambantota District in the pre-Tsunami situation. The legal pattern consisted of community legal systems such as barriers to entry, beachseine net sequence, “shaving off the beard”, etc, while the state legal system consisted of Fisheries Acts and Ordinances enforced at the village level by the Fisheries Inspector. Moreover, the existence of various public-private partnerships was also noted. The Tsunami of 26th December 2004 completely destroyed the fisheries
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