Material Culture and Asian Religions

Benjamin J. Fleming is Visiting Scholar in Religious Studies, Cataloger of Indic Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania. He has published articles in Numen, BSOAS, and Religion Compass on pilgrimage and ritual in South Asia. His manuscript preservation and digitization work includes the Rāmamālā Library Project (Bangladesh) through the British Library’s Endangered Archive Program.Richard D. Mann is Associate Professor, Religion Program, College of the Humanities, Carleton University. He has worked on Indian numismatics, the early history of the deity Skanda-Karttikea and epic narratives. Most recently, he is the author of The Rise of Mahasena (2012).

• 1. Introduction: Material Culture and Religious Studies Benjamin J. Fleming and Richard D. Mann Part I: The Materiality of Writing 2. Bamboo and the Production of Philosophy: A Hypothesis about a Shift in Writing and Thought in Early China Dirk Meyer 3. Seeing in Between the Space: The Aura of Writing and the Shape of Artistic Productions in Medieval South Asia Jinah Kim 4. Manuscripts and Shifting Geographies: The Dvādaśajyotirlingastotra from the Deccan College as Case Study Benjamin J. Fleming 5. Representations of Religion in The Tibet Mirror: The Newspaper as Religious Object and Patterns of Continuity and Rupture in Tibetan Material Culture Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa Part II: Amulets, Talismans, and Religious Economies 6. An Ingestible Scripture: Qur'ānic Erasure and the Limits of “Popular” Religion Travis Zadeh 7. Buddhism on the Battlefield: The Cult of the "Substitute Body" Talisman in Imperial Japan (1890-1945) Kevin Bond 8. The Material Turn: An Introduction to Thai Sources for the Study of Buddhist Amulets Justin McDaniel Part III: Image in Context 9. Ninshô, Ryôhen, and the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas of Hakone Hank Glassman 10. Encountering Ascetics On and Beyond the Indian Temple Wall Tamara I. Sears 11. Goddesses in Text and Stone: Temples of the Yoginīs in Light of Tantric and Purānic Literature Shaman Hatley Part IV: Trade, Travel, and Hybridity 12. Material Culture and Ruler Ideology in South Asia: The Case of Huviska’s Skanda-Kumāra with Viśākha Coinage Richard D. Mann 13. Literary and Visual Narratives in Gandhāran Buddhist Manuscripts and Material Cultures: Localizations of Jātakas, Avadānas, and Previous-birth Stories Jason Neelis 14. Reimagining the "East": Eurasian Trade, Asian Religions, and Christian Identities Annette Yoshiko Reed 15. Seeing the Religious Image in the Historical Account: Icons and Idols in the Islamic Past Jamal J. Elias

"The last few years have seen growing efforts in attempting to reconstruct the social context in which ideas have been produced. This great collection of articles powerfully demonstrates how religions, philosophical doctrines, and literary works cannot be understood any longer as abstract entities developing in a vacuum, but rather as human products that have a tangible dimension and speak of the same complex realities documented in the material culture of Asia." – Pia Brancaccio, Drexel University, USA