Jinnealogy : Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi

Author/Creator:

Taneja, Anand Vivek, author

Publication/Creation:

Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, [2020]

Format:

Book

Edition:

1st ed.

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Jinnealogy : Time, Islam, and Ecological Thought in the Medieval Ruins of Delhi / Anand Vivek Taneja

Series Titles:

South Asia in Motion
South Asia in motion.

Related/Included Titles:

Frontmatter --
CONTENTS --
List of Illustrations --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction: Walking Away from the Theater of History --
1. Jinnealogy: Archival Amnesia and Islamic Theology in Post-Partition Delhi --
2. Saintly Visions: The Ethics of Elsewhen --
3. Strange(r)ness --
4. Desiring Women --
5. Translation --
6. Stones, Snakes, and Saints: Remembering the Vanished Sacred Geographies of Delhi --
7. The Shifting Enchantments of Ruins and Laws in Delhi --
Conclusion: Remnants of Despair, Traces of Hope --
Postscript --
Notes --
References --
Index

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Jinn--India--Delhi
Islam--India--Delhi
Muslim saints--India--Delhi
Islamic antiquities--India--Delhi
Islam--Relations--Hinduism
Delhi (India)--Religious life and customs

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Walking Away from the Theater of History -- 1. Jinnealogy: Archival Amnesia and Islamic Theology in Post-Partition Delhi -- 2. Saintly Visions: The Ethics of Elsewhen -- 3. Strange(r)ness -- 4. Desiring Women -- 5. Translation -- 6. Stones, Snakes, and Saints: Remembering the Vanished Sacred Geographies of Delhi -- 7. The Shifting Enchantments of Ruins and Laws in Delhi -- Conclusion: Remnants of Despair, Traces of Hope -- Postscript -- Notes -- References -- Index

Bibliography:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary:

In the ruins of a medieval palace in Delhi, a unique phenomenon occurs: Indians of all castes and creeds meet to socialize and ask the spirits for help. The spirits they entreat are Islamic jinns, and they write out requests as if petitioning the state. At a time when a Hindu right wing government in India is committed to normalizing a view of the past that paints Muslims as oppressors, Anand Vivek Taneja's Jinnealogy provides a fresh vision of religion, identity, and sacrality that runs counter to state-sanctioned history. The ruin, Firoz Shah Kotla, is an unusually democratic religious space, characterized by freewheeling theological conversations, DIY rituals, and the sanctification of animals. Taneja observes the visitors, who come mainly from the Muslim and Dalit neighborhoods of Delhi, and uses their conversations and letters to the jinns as an archive of voices so often silenced. He finds that their veneration of the jinns recalls pre-modern religious traditions in which spiritual experience was inextricably tied to ecological surroundings. In this enchanted space, Taneja encounters a form of popular Islam that is not a relic of bygone days, but a vibrant form of resistance to state repression and post-colonial visions of India.

Language:

English

Language Note:

In English.

Physical Type/Description:

1 online resource (333 pages) : illustrations, maps

Additional Physical Form:

Issued also in print.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936947758702486

ISBN:

9781503603950
1503603954

OCLC Number:

1178769368

Other Identifiers:

doi: 10.1515/9781503603950