Devotional Visualities: Bloomsbury Studies in Material Religion

Connects the study of bhakti, which is widely taught on college campuses, with updated critical thinking on visuality and material religion

Karen Pechilis is Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Professor of History of Religions at Drew University, USA. She is General Editor of A Cultural History of Hinduism (Bloomsbury, Forthcoming).Amy-Ruth Holt is an independent scholar who holds a Ph.D. in South Asian art history from The Ohio State University, USA.

List of IllustrationsList of Contributors Introduction: Looking Again at Devotion, Karen Pechilis (Drew University, USA) and Amy-Ruth Holt (independent scholar, USA)Part I: Materializing Memory1. The Beginnings of Mass-Produced Devotional Prints in Calcutta, Richard H. Davis (Bard College, USA) 2. Expanding Meanings of Bhakti in Bengali American Home Shrines, Ashlee Norene Andrews (University of North Carolina-Greensboro, USA)3. Merchant Patronage and Royal Hanumans: A Modern Devotional Visuality, R. Jeremy Saul (Mahidol University, Thailand)4. Evolving Material Authority: Devotion, History, and the Svaminarayana Museum, Shruti Patel (Salisbury University, USA) Part II: Mirroring and Immaterializing Portraits5. Kabir in Indo-Muslim Visual and Literary Culture, Murad Khan Mumtaz (Williams College, USA) 6. The Devotional Role of Paintings and Photographs in the Pushti Marga, Shandip Saha (Athabascau University, Canada)7. The Iconic Surdas, John Stratton Hawley (Barnard College, Columbia University, USA) 8. The Visual Multiplicity and Materiality of Guru Nityananda's Portraits, Amy-Ruth Holt (independent scholar, USA)9. Darsan in Twelve Ways: Portraying the Divine in Early Svaminarayana Art, Ankur Desai (The Kansas City Art Institute, USA) Part III: Shaping the Return Look10. Bhakti and Looking at What We Do Not Want to See, Karen Pechilis (Drew University, USA)11. Mira's Iconography: From Miniature to Movie, Heidi Pauwels (University of Washington, USA)Index

"Delving into this underexplored dimension of Hindu devotion, this volume makes an invaluable and engaging contribution to our understanding of bhakti. Collectively the essays invite readers to gaze into its immensely rich visual practices and varied imaginings of its most beloved saints, portrayed and embodied to facilitate devotion but equally to foster or to radically challenge spiritual and social complacency."
"Devotional Visualities offers compelling perspectives on visual cultures, devotional imagery, and mediated networks. Exploring an array of Indic contexts, this wide-ranging collection of essays highlights ways in which religious participation can be reimagined through a focus on visuality and mediation. It is a vital and highly original contribution which raises critical questions about the material cultures and lived experiences of devotion. It will spark interest across disciplines."