Journal article
Evolving a monkey: Hanuman, poster art and postcolonial anxiety
Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol.36(1-2), pp.71-112
01/01/2002
DOI: 10.1177/006996670203600104
Abstract
Hanuman, simian sidekick to the principal human hero of the Ramayana tradition, has evolved within comparatively recent times into one of the most popular and ubiquitous of Hindu deities. He is revered by tens of millions as their ishta-deva or ‘chosen, personal deity’, and his shrines have proliferated in both urban and rural areas. The visual representation of this deity has likewise evolved conventions that, through the mass reproduction and gradual homogenisation characteristic of 20th century popular art, have crystallised in a number of readily-recognisable icons. After briefly surveying the range of Hanuman's historical representations, this essay focuses on a subset of 20th century images in which the divine monkey appears as afurless, humanised, and (of late) heavily-muscled hero with only vestigial simian characteristics, and situates these images within the context of a number of contemporary trends in popular visual culture. Finally, it attempts to link this new visual convention to a widespread body of discourse concerning the ‘scientific’ rationalisation and historicisation of Hindu sacred legend.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Evolving a monkey: Hanuman, poster art and postcolonial anxiety
- Creators
- Philip Lutgendorf - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol.36(1-2), pp.71-112
- DOI
- 10.1177/006996670203600104
- ISSN
- 0069-9667
- eISSN
- 0973-0648
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2002
- Academic Unit
- Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures; International Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9984398009602771
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