RT Article
T1 From Manuscript to Print: Islamic Bangla Literature and the Politics of the Archive
JF Religions of South Asia
VO 12
IS 3
SP 351
OP 381
A1 Irani, Ayesha A.
LA English
PB Equinox
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1770464719
AB This article takes the Nabivamsa-the first major work of Islamic doctrine to be written in Bangla, in the seventeenth century-as the basis for larger observations about Islamic Bangla literature and its transition from manuscript into print. The article charts three moments in the four centuries of the Nabivamsa’s textual life, reflecting on why such well-loved early modern religious texts fell into obscurity in the print era. The first phase from 1666 to 1777 marks the emergence and efflorescence of this literature, produced by Muslim intellectuals in the Cattagrama (Chittagong)-Arakan region. The second period, from 1777 onwards, is marked by the emergence of print as well as dobhasi Bangla in colonial Bengal. The third phase of this survey pertains to the constitution of a literary public sphere in Bengal linked to the momentum generated by print. This period saw the formulation of the Bangla literary canon through the efforts of publishers, literary critics, anthologists, translators, editors, historiographers and manuscript collectors. All of these were sustained through print’s cultural marketplace and the public discourses it engendered. The essay examines the ways in which Islamic Bangla literature’s value was articulated by the politics of archive-building and literary historiography central to the nationalist project.
K1 Arakan
K1 Chittagong
K1 Islamic Bangla literature
K1 Islamic Bangla manuscripts
K1 Southeast Bengal
K1 literary historiography
K1 Nationalism
K1 print culture
DO 10.1558/rosa.38259