Epigraphy and Islamic Culture


Book Description

Architectural inscriptions are a fascinating aspect of Islamic cultural heritage because of their rich and diverse historical contents and artistic merits. These inscriptions help us understand the advent of Islam and its gradual diffusion in Bengal, which eventually resulted in a Muslim majority region, making the Bengali Muslims the second largest linguistic group in the Islamic world. This book is an interpretive study of the Arabic and Persian epigraphic texts of Bengal in the wider context of a rich epigraphic tradition in the Islamic world. While focusing on previously untapped sources, it takes a fresh look into the Islamic inscriptions of Bengal and examines the inner dynamics of the social, intellectual and religious transformations of this eastern region of South Asia. It explores many new inscriptions including Persian epigraphs that appeared immediately after the Muslim conquest of Bengal indicating an early introduction of Persian language in the region through a cultural interaction with Khurasan and Central Asia. In addition to deciphering and editing the epigraphic texts, the information derived from them has been analyzed to construct the political, administrative, social, religious and cultural scenario of the period. The first survey of the Muslim inscriptions in India ever to be attempted on this scale, the book reveals the significance of epigraphy as a source for Islamic history and culture. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Asian History and Islamic Studies.




Epigraphy and Islamic Culture


Book Description

Architectural inscriptions are a fascinating aspect of Islamic cultural heritage because of their rich and diverse historical contents and artistic merits. These inscriptions help us understand the advent of Islam and its gradual diffusion in Bengal, which eventually resulted in a Muslim majority region, making the Bengali Muslims the second largest linguistic group in the Islamic world. This book is an interpretive study of the Arabic and Persian epigraphic texts of Bengal in the wider context of a rich epigraphic tradition in the Islamic world. While focusing on previously untapped sources, it takes a fresh look into the Islamic inscriptions of Bengal and examines the inner dynamics of the social, intellectual and religious transformations of this eastern region of South Asia. It explores many new inscriptions including Persian epigraphs that appeared immediately after the Muslim conquest of Bengal indicating an early introduction of Persian language in the region through a cultural interaction with Khurasan and Central Asia. In addition to deciphering and editing the epigraphic texts, the information derived from them has been analyzed to construct the political, administrative, social, religious and cultural scenario of the period. The first survey of the Muslim inscriptions in India ever to be attempted on this scale, the book reveals the significance of epigraphy as a source for Islamic history and culture. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Asian History and Islamic Studies.







Islamic Inscriptions


Book Description

Introducing Islamic inscriptions to newcomers to Islamic civilization and history, this work explains the importance of inscriptions, showing where they are recorded and how they can usefully supplement known documentary evidence. A fully annotated bibliography provides further reading on all aspects of Islamic epigraphy.




From Hellenism to Islam


Book Description

This book considers how languages, peoples and cultures in the Near East interacted over the millennium between Alexander and Muhammad.




Society and Culture in Bengal


Book Description

This book examines the social and cultural history of Bengal through two major themes — the intellectual and cultural dimension, and the socio-economic changes from the ancient to the postcolonial. Essays by major scholars highlight and analyse major debates as well as little known aspects of the region. From currency in ancient Bengal to the establishment of Calcutta, from the social history of Rahr to the challenges of writing history of mediaeval Bengal, from modern medicine to man-made famines, this book brings to the fore the diverse socio-cultural threads that constitute this region. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Indian history and culture and South Asian studies.




Transmissions and Translations in Medieval Literary and Material Culture


Book Description

This collection explores multiple artefactual, visual, textual and conceptual adaptations, developments and exchanges across the medieval world in the context of their contemporary and subsequent re-appropriations.




Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage


Book Description

This peer-reviewed volume contains selected papers from the First EAGLE International Conference on Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage, held in Paris between September 29 and October 1, 2014. Here are assembled for the first time in a unique volume contributions regarding all aspects of Digital Epigraphy: Models, Vocabularies, Translations, User Engagements, Image Analysis, 3D methodologies, and ongoing projects at the cutting edge of digital humanities. The scope of this book is not limited to Greek and Latin epigraphy; it provides an overview of projects related to all epigraphic inquiry and its related communities. This approach intends to furnish the reader with the broadest possible perspective of the discipline, while at the same time giving due attention to the specifics of unique issues.




Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World


Book Description

This major reference work covers all aspects of architectural inscriptions in the Muslim world: the artists and their patrons, what inscriptions add to architectural design, what materials were used, what their purpose was and how they infuse buildings with meaning. From Spain to China, and from the Middle Ages to our own lifetime, Islamic architecture and calligraphy are inexorably intertwined. Mosques, dervish lodges, mausolea, libraries, even baths and market places bear masterpieces of calligraphy that rival the most refined of books and scrolls.




Islamic Inscriptions


Book Description

A vital reference for everyone interested in Islamic inscriptions on buildings, objects and works of art. This beautifully illustrated book explains the importance of Islamic inscriptions and places them expertly in their historical and cultural context. It shows you how to decipher and interpret inscriptions and provides a standard for recording them. In addition, a fully annotated bibliography provides further reading on all aspects of Islamic epigraphy. Winner of the British Kuwait Friendship Society Al-Mubarak Prize 1999 for the best academic work on the Middle East