From Manuscript to Print: Islamic Bangla Literature and the Politics of the Archive

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...

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Publié dans:Religions of South Asia
Auteur principal: Irani, Ayesha A. (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Equinox 2018
Dans: Religions of South Asia
Année: 2018, Volume: 12, Numéro: 3, Pages: 351-381
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Bengali / Littérature islamique / Publication / Historiographie / Histoire 1666-1800
Classifications IxTheo:AD Sociologie des religions
BJ Islam
KBM Asie
Sujets non-standardisés:B print culture
B Chittagong
B Islamic Bangla manuscripts
B Nationalism
B literary historiography
B Arakan
B Islamic Bangla literature
B Southeast Bengal
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Résumé: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.
ISSN:1751-2697
Contient:Enthalten in: Religions of South Asia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/rosa.38259