Colloquy session 5: Indo-Islamic quests for God

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Three women stand next to the musicians, dressed in peach- and crimson-coloured robes. A fourth kneels to play the ektar, a one-stringed lute. A young boy sits to the left of the lute player and taps his tambourine to the music.

About

Topic: Indo-Islamic quests for God: sonic affiliations, structural dissonances

Speaker: Dr Ankur Barua

In this lecture, Ankur will outline some liminal spaces from South Asia which are osmotic interfaces for styles of Hindu and Muslim poetry which sing of the divine reality as the innermost beloved of the human heart. These sonic spaces are, however, encased in long-range sociohistorical asymmetries variously characterised by adaptation, affiliation, contestation, and opposition. So, can music conquer all or is music just a frivolous pastime when the real world keeps on burning? Think through such questions—and perhaps sing along too—with Ankur.

The advance reading for this session is:

  • Ankur Barua (2022) ‘Bhakti Beyond Borders: Sufi Serenades in Love’s Laboratory’ (Blog essay). Journal of the History of Ideas blog. [jhiblog.org/2022/12/07/bhakti-beyond-borders-sufi-serenades-in-loves-laboratory/]

About the speaker

Dr Ankur Barua is Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies, Faculty of Divinity. His primary research interests are Hindu philosophical theology and Indo-Islamic styles of sociality.

More about Ankur (via the Faculty of Divinity website) (divinity.cam.ac.uk)

 

This event is part of the CIP Summer Colloquy on Religious relations and sound (3 July to 7 August, 2023). Attendance is restricted to those participating in the Colloquy.

Contact

cipcolloquy@divinity.cam.ac.uk