Central Asia, the 'heart' of the Eurasian landmass, has through the centuries been the hub of diverse and varied cultures. These cultures have encompassed pre-Islamic religions and Islam, sedentary and nomadic lifestyles and lived through rapid transitions from feudal, capitalist and socialist economies, from Tsarist to Soviet and post-Soviet formations. The essays in this volume examine the cultural exchanges and encounters that have occurred in the region through a vast timeline that extends from the premedieval to the medieval and modern periods. The writers are academics, as well as art practitioners and independent researchers who belong to a wide spectrum of disciplines: Central Asian and Russian Studies, Architecture, Ethno-Musicology, History, Painting, Film Studies, Art History, Textiles, Literature and International Relations. The volume presents a colourful mosaic of views on the many cultural histories of Central Asia.
Introduction
Rashmi Doraiswamy
I. THE ARTS
ARCHITECTURE
1. Central Asian Architecture: The Persistence of Pre-Modernism
Romi Khosla
2. Sufi Remains. A Kazakh Story of Today
Kalpana Sahni
3. Synthesis in the Sky
K.T. Ravindran
MUSIC
4. The Fate of the Shashmaqom in Uzbekistan in the Twentieth Century
Dilorom Karomat
VISUAL ARTS
5. The Syncretic Nature of Early Central Asian Art
Radha Banerjee
6. Travelling Cultures
Gulammohammed Sheikh
LITERATURE
7. Ramayana and Alpomysh: Two Epics, Two Heroes
Qamar Rais
8. Manas: The Socio-Cultural Heritage of the Kyrgyz People
Neelima Singh
9. Literature in the Khanate of Bukhara in the Nineteenth Century
Saifullah Saifi
10. Abai: A Prophet of Renaissance, A Bard of Enlightenment
Abhai Maurya
CINEMA
11. The Encounter of Modernities: Cinematic Adaptations of Two Stories by Aitmatov
Rashmi Doraiswamy
II. NEW HORIZONS
THINKERS, TRAVELLERS, EXPLORERS
12. Remembering Al Farabi
Devendra Kaushik
13. Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862–1943): The Expeditions and the Collections
Arup Banerjee
14. Kyrgyzstan in History: Accounts of Russians Scientists and Travellers
Ruby Roy
TRAVERSING THE SILK ROAD
15. Shifting Frames: Cultural Crossroads of the Past and Present
Rajeev Sethi
16. The Silk Road Re-Visited
Rta Kapur Chisti
17. Reviving the Silk Route: Problems and Prospects
Meena Singh Roy
Biography
Rashmi Doraiswamy is Professor at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She was the recipient of the National Award for the Best Film Critic (1994). In December 2007, she was an International Observer for the Presidential Elections in Uzbekistan. She is the author of The Post-Soviet Condition: Chingiz Aitmatov in the '90s (Aakar, 2005) and Guru Dutt: Through Light and Shade (Wisdom Tree, 2008). She is co-editor of the book Being and Becoming: The Cinemas of Asia (Macmillan, 2002). Her entry on 'Film and Literature (India)' has appeared in the Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literatures in English (Routledge, 2005).
