RT Article
T1 From demon to deity: Forging a new iconography for Mahishasur
JF Journal of material culture
VO 28
IS 1
SP 106
OP 130
A1 Sen, Moumita
LA English
PB Sage Publ.
YR 2023
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1838062955
AB This article focuses on the forging of a new iconography for Mahishasur, a ‘demon’ in Hindu mythology who was reclaimed by indigenous communities both as a ‘god’ and as a champion of their political autonomy. The public political ritual of venerating Mahishasur was deemed blasphemous by the Hindu nationalist party in power. Among clay-modellers of Bengal, the dominant ‘demon’ image of Mahishasur embodies the highly-valued skill of Naturalistic sculpture; but the movement needed a new benevolent image. Through interviews with image-makers and organisers of this political ritual in several villages of West Bengal, I will show how local aesthetic ideals of masculinity, virtue, and political ideology are expressed in the new aesthetic form(s) and iconographies of this emerging hero of Indian politics.
K1 Mahiṣāsura
K1 indigenous activism
K1 indigenous resistance
K1 aesthetics and politics
K1 caste politics
K1 Counterculture
K1 Hindu Nationalism
DO 10.1177/13591835221116708