Inscribing Identities, Proclaiming Piety: Exploring Recording Practices in Early Historic India

Inscribing Identities, Proclaiming Piety: Exploring Recording Practices in Early Historic India focuses on votive inscriptions from the second century BCE to the second century CE found in four areas: Bharhut, Sanchi, the Western Ghats and Mathura. In Barhut and Sanchi, votive inscriptions have been found on the architecture of the stupas and in Mathura on statues, while they have been found in caves and tanks along the Western Ghats. Focusing on the differences between the ecclesiastic and the laity, this volume examines and highlights the gendered differences within them. Gender relations have been constructed and analysed on the basis of markers such as occupation, place of residence and kinship patterns of monastic and lay donors. The book is an attempt to understand how the donated gifts were gendered, and how nuances of social identification made the construction of social identity a striking one. Its focal points are the social complexities within and without the sangha along with ideas of agency and social identity irrespective of varna identity.…