Examining Pluralism and Historical (Mis)Interpretation

The South Asia Center welcomes Anisha Saxena, an art historian and Fulbright Scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, who will give a talk entitled, "Memory, History, Conflict and Claim: Rishabhdeo Temple, Rajasthan" on Tuesday, February 5 at 12:30 pm in 100 Eggers Hall. Her talk will discuss the Rishabhdeo temple in Udaipur, Rajasthan which has had a long history of pluralism. Though a Jain temple, it attracts a large number of Hindus and Bhil devotees. However, in recent years, this temple has become contested terrain as different groups try to claim the temple as their own. Saxena's talk will explore the processes of how and why a shared sacred site becomes an arena of contestation and how in this battle for sacred spaces, history and historical evidence gets appropriated and (mis) interpreted. In this context, she will also address the ways in which the modern legal system takes recourse to history in trying to unravel the tangle between materiality and memory, and how it is imperative for historians to engage with contemporary concerns about the retrieval of memory and history.

For a full list of Spring 2013 events, please click here.