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contested meanings: tantra and the poetics of Mithila art
Author(s) -
BROWN CAROLYN HENNING
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1996.23.4.02a00030
Subject(s) - tantra , trope (literature) , poetics , interpretation (philosophy) , reflexivity , aesthetics , sociology , literature , art , philosophy , anthropology , poetry , linguistics
The art of the women of Mithila, known as Mithila or Madhubani art, has attracted a good deal of international interest as a folk art medium and a good deal of disagreement concerning interpretation. In this article I question those interpretations that view the art as tantric because they have been elicited from conversations among a few Brahman men with Western scholars predisposed to find tantric meanings. Using women's commentaries, contextual ritual analysis, and trope theory, I develop an analysis in which I see the art as reflexive—an iconic tradition of women's understanding of selfhood in patriarchal society. [art, India, Mithila art, women, tantra, ritual, trope theory]