Tanunapat

kalos, philos and the vestiges of trace

pp. 159-192

in: , Cultures of memory in South Asia, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

Along with staggered literacy and narrative turns, mnemocultures of India demonstrate a belated iconic turn. While probing into the aniconic and iconic elements that pervade Indian visual culture, this chapter focuses on the cultivated indifference of Sanskrit reflective traditions toward the plastic arts. Drawing on Sanskrit resources (such as Chitrasutra and Shilpaprakasha) this chapter analyses the relations between symbol, icon, desire, and the body, in order to show the epistemic contrasts between the European and the Indian reflective traditions.