Indigenous Tradition, Reproductive Modernity

Toyoyama Aki

doi:10.11384/jjasas.2012.56

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

「土着の伝統」と「複製の近代」
｢土着の伝統｣と｢複製の近代｣ : ハヴェーリー壁画にみる英領インド期の大衆美術とマールワーリー・アイデンティティー
「ドチャクノデントウ」ト「フクセイノキンダイ」 : ハヴェーリーヘキガニミルエイリョウインドキノタイシュウビジュツトマールワーリー・アイデンティティー
The Haveli Murals, Popular Art and Marwari Identity in Colonial India
―ハヴェーリー壁画にみる英領インド期の大衆美術とマールワーリー・アイデンティティ―

Search this article

Description

The mercantile community Marwaris built their residential mansions called havelis in their　hometowns of the Shekhawati region during the 1830s and 1930s. Most of the havelis are decorated with mural paintings that are divided into two phases-prior/posterior to 1900. It is generally considered that the murals prior to 1900 retain indigenous tradition while most of the murals after 1900 are inferior copies of prints, destructing indigenous tradition.<br> The iconographical analysis of the murals prior to 1900 suggests that they were influenced by contemporary popular culture such as Kalighat painting and Battala woodprint that were common in the colonial port city of Calcutta where the Marwaris had their economical strongholds. A perspective, in which pre-1900 murals are considered indigenous and traditional, can be indeed traced back to the cultural administration of the colonial power.<br> The murals after 1900, on the other hand, are dominated by the copies of newly emerged prints such as oleograph and chromolithograph. In terms of the impact of popular art, the haveli murals both prior/posterior to 1900 are stylistically continuous rather than disconnection of tradition/modernity. This stylistic development may also reflect the changing identity of the Marwaris from merchants to industrialists in colonial India

Journal

Minamiajiakenkyu

Minamiajiakenkyu 2012 (24), 56-80, 2012

JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES