ABSTRACT
This book examines the historical and socio-cultural connections across the SAARC region, with a special focus on the relationship between India and Sri Lanka. It investigates hitherto unexplored narratives of history, popular culture and intangible heritage in the region to identify the cultural parallels and intersections that link them together. In doing so, the volume moves away from an organised and authorised heritage discourse and encourages possibilities of new understandings and re-interpretations of cross-cultural communication and its sub-texts.
Based on original ethnographic work, the book discusses themes such as cultural ties between India and Sri Lanka, exchanges between Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka and Satyajit Ray in India, cultural connectivity reflected through mythology and folklore, the influence of Rabindranath Tagore on modern dance in Sri Lanka, the introduction of railways in Sri Lanka, narrative scrolls and masked dance forms across SAARC countries, Hindi cinema as the pioneer of cultural connectivity, and women’s writing across South Asia.
Lucid and compelling, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, South Asian studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, popular culture, cross-cultural communication, gender studies, political sociology, cultural history, diplomacy, international relations and heritage studies. It will also appeal to general readers interested in the linkages between India and Sri Lanka.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|17 pages
Lesser-Known Aspects of Earliest Economic Ties Across the Indian Subcontinent
part II|53 pages
Stories of Uncharted Routes of Communication through History and Popular Culture Across the SAARC Region
chapter 4|4 pages
Economic Relations and Popular Culture
chapter 7|4 pages
Condiments Creating a Lifestyle Across the Indian Subcontinent and Beyond
chapter 8|5 pages
Tracing the Beginning of Colonialism in Sri Lanka
chapter 9|6 pages
Beginning of Railways in British Colonial Ceylon
chapter 11|5 pages
Colonial Ceylon and the Lead in Commercial Ice Manufacturing in South Asia
chapter 12|5 pages
The Beginning of an Organised Communication System Across the SAARC Region
chapter 13|5 pages
Importance of Telegraph and Electricity in Colonial Ceylon
part III|39 pages
Correspondence Across Intangible Cultural Heritage
chapter 14|4 pages
Celebrations of Vishwakarma Puja
chapter 16|6 pages
Traditional Narrative Scrolls Across the SAARC Region
chapter 20|8 pages
Popular Stories about Court Jesters Across the SAARC Region
part IV|26 pages
Popular Culture Ties