The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World

This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the premodern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in archaeological and historical documentation. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies and cultural studies. This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the premodern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 12 List of Contributors 14 Preface 18 1 Introduction 20 Part 1: Conceptualising the Seas: Introduction 32 2 Seven Seas and an Ocean of Wisdom: An Indian Episteme for the Indian Ocean 38 3 Gendered Spatialisation of the Ocean in the Kathāsaritsāgara 56 4 Conceptualising the Far West: Early Chinese Notions of Da Qin and the Indian Ocean Trade 75 5 Al-Muqaddasī’s Tenth-Century Maritime Landscapes of the Arabian Red Sea 98 Part 2: The Materiality of Knowledge Production: Introduction 116 6 Making Megaliths and Constituting Collectives: Politics, Places and Historicity in Prehistoric South India 121 7 Bullion, Baubles and Bowls: Reconstructing Networks of Exchange in the Indian Ocean 146 8 Material Cultures of Writing in the Indian Ocean World: A Palm-Leaf Letter at the Mamluk Court 165 Part 3: Anchoring the Coasts: Introduction 188 9 Practices of Faith: The Coastal Shrines of Ancient South Arabia 194 10 Entangled Traditions: The Royal Barges of Angkor 210 11 Musical Nomenclature for the Sanskrit Term Kangsa in Southeast Asia 227 12 Connected Words: Coins and Maritime Worlds of the Indian Ocean 259 Index 282 Historicity;,Megalithic,Monuments;,Knowledge,Production;,Palm-Leaf,Letter;,Gendered,Spatialisation Historicity,Megalithic Monuments,Knowledge Production,Palm-Leaf Letter,Gendered Spatialisation "This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the pre-modern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in the archaeological and historical record. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies, and cultural studies"-- Provided by publisher This book looks at the long cultural, ethnic and commercial links between the Indian subcontinent and maritime Southeast Asia in the pre-modern period. Through an analysis of archaeological and historical records, it identifies and highlights the overlapping of knowledge traditions and the shared culture across the seas.