Royal Asiatic Society Blog

Kathy Lazenbatt, Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society, was recently invited to present a paper at the 'Botany and British India Study Day' held at the British Library. She showcased the wonderful collection of botanical drawings, now in the possession of the RAS, which belonged to Sir William Jones (1746-94) and his wife Lady Anna Maria Jones.

RAS 089.010 Engraving of Sir William Jones based on
original by A.W. Devis

The collection includes drawings by Indian artists, most notably Zain al-Din and drawings by Lady Jones herself. Records for this collection are available on the RAS online catalogue, based on the work of Dr. Henry Noltie who examined the drawings and gave us the necessary botanical information to create the records, in most cases they include thumbnail images of the drawings.

The letters of Sir William Jones show that he first developed an interest in botany shortly after arriving in India when he was convalescing after an illness. His doctor had suggested that Jones undertake some gentle activity such as examining plants and lent him a copy of a work by Linnaeus. This soon developed into a pastime which husband and wife could enjoy together, with Sir William examing and describing the plants and Lady Anna Maria illustrating them. Watercolour painting and sketching were considered very suitable leisure activities for English ladies at that time.

The couple also collected botanical drawings by Indian artists - two of the RAS drawings are signed by Zain al-Din and 11 others can be ascribed to him with varying degrees of certainty. The quality of the drawing and colouring in his works is incredibly high, his skills had no doubt developed as a painter in the Mughal style and were now being adapted for European-style botanical art. Zain al-Din had already been employed by Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice in Calcutta just before Jones' arrival, and his wife Lady Mary Impey. He was one of a number of Indian artists in Calcutta who were producing this kind of work for British patrons.

Below are two of the drawings from the RAS collection which are actually signed by Zain al-Din. The exceptionally fine drawing and colouring is obvious, the close up views show the way he was able to create a wonderful sense of texture on the leaves.

RAS 025.075 Drawing of Dillenia indica (025.075) signed by Zain al-Din

RAS 025.008 Drawing of Saraca asoca - the Ashoka tree
signed by Zain al-Din

Detailed view of the leaves of the Ashoka Tree (RAS 025.008)

Botanical drawings by other Indian artists in the Jones collection include the below Wrightia tinctoria, probably done by an artist working at the Calcutta Botanic Garden. This one, like many botanical drawings done at this time were used for engravings which appeared in the earliest printed journals that disseminated knowledge of India in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, such as Oriental Repertory and Asiatick Researches, which are also held in the library of the RAS.

Drawing of Wrightia tinctoria (RAS 025.071) which is most likely
the orginal for the illustration which appeared in the Oriental Repertory.

Engraving from Oriental Repertory, 1793, based upon
the above drawing from our collection

Returning to Sir William and Lady Jones, below is one of her own drawings. Although it appears a rather amateur attempt at botanical illustration, her sketchbook gives us a fascinating insight into how she and Sir William worked together on the description and illustration of plants, many of which grew in the garden of their house in Krishnagar.

RAS 025.064 Lady Jones' drawing of Plumeria rubra (the frangipani plant)

Most of Lady Jones' sketches have brief descriptions of the plant's leaves, flowers, seeds and growing habit, and names in Latin, Sanskrit and Bengali, which appear to be in Sir William's handwriting. One such note mentions that one of the plants is referred to in the first act of Sakuntala, the play by Kalidasa, which had caused a sensation in Europe and been a key moment in creating an awareness in the west of the riches of classical Sanskrit literature.

Title page of Jones' translation of the Sakuntala published in
London in 1790, also held in the collections of the Society.

A page from Lady Jones' sketch book which includes a note
by Sir William about the Sakuntala

The Jones collection of botanical drawing is illustrative of the myriad ways in which Oriental scholars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth explored and expressed their interest in Asia and also highlights the role of the Royal Asiatic Society as a repository for the results of their endeavours. The library is open for visitors on Tuesdays and Fridays (10.00 - 17.00) and Thursday (14.00 - 17.00). If you would like any more information about the Jones collection please contact library@royalasiaticsociety.org or phone 02073919424.

Thanks to our librarian Kathy Lazenbatt, whose talk provided much of the content for this blog post.

For further information about Botany and British India material held at the British Library and to view digital copies of it, please visit the list of materials on the BL website.

All images in this post, copyright of the Royal Asiatic Society.

We are delighted to host the launch of Rosemary Seton's recently published book 'Western Daughters in Eastern Lands, British Women Missionaries in Asia' on Friday 10th May from 6.30pm. The evening will include an illustrated talk by Rosemary, short contributions from Dr Emily Manktelow (University of York) and Dr Frances Wood (British Library) and a wine reception. Copies of the book will be available to purchase at a specially discounted price of £20 on the night.

Published in 2013 by Praeger, the book takes us to the era stretching between William Wilberforce and Mahatma Gandhi when many hundreds of British women, in a unique venture of Christian womanhood, travelled to remote regions of the world. There, often against a backdrop of civil unrest, famine or war, they set up schools and colleges, ran medical centres and hospitals and trained teachers, medical staff and evangelists. They came from a variety of denominations - Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian. Some were married, many were not. Comparatively little has appeared in print about the cultural and spiritual agency of these women and their evolving role within the wider missionary movement. This book is one of the first to offer an historical overview, focusing on the women’s activities in the Indian sub-continent and China. It also examines the organization and support of their work at home.

The author draws upon memoirs, letters, diaries and mission records to reveal a complex and fascinating story. A clear picture of the women emerges: their social background and motivation; their training and preparation; their journeys out and their lives on the mission field; their place in male-dominated mission hierarchies and their interaction with local peoples through their educational, evangelistic, and medical agency. The wider context is also explored: the emerging dominance in the twentieth century of the American missionary movement, the British imperial presence and the developing nationalist movements in China and India.

If you would like to attend this launch or for more information please RSVP to Helen Porter hp@royalasiaticsociety.org. For directions to the Society visit our website.

*Text about the book taken from publishers flyer.

Next week's student series starting at 6.30pm on Wednesday 15th May includes two talks on Islamic art from doctoral candidates in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS. Tanja Toler will speak on 'Early Islamic Enamelled Glass and its Iconography' and Sami De Gios will present 'Being a Sultan in Style: Calligraphy and Decoration in the Arts of the Late Mamluk Period'.

Tanja Tolar is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS. Her thesis is entitled Islamic enamelled glass and its connections with Byzantium and Venice. She holds Master degrees in Medieval Studies from Central European University in Budapest and History of Art at SOAS. Her main research interest is pre-modern Mediterranean art with a special focus on the interrelationship between the European and the Islamic medieval art objects and their iconography. She has recently completed an internship at the Courtauld Gallery where she has researched Spanish lustreware from 16th century Manises.

Image copyright - Museum of Islamic Art, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

In summary of her talk, Tanja says:

The beautiful and colourful painterly technique of Islamic enamelling on glass has been for decades in the focus of glass research, yet many questions relating to its origin and production persist. Traditionally linked to Syria and Egypt, dated to Ayyubid and Mamluk patronage the large corpus of glass objects and numerous fragments has no strict chronology. Until recently, when the well known gilded bottle in the British Museum was connected to the famous blue glass bottles of Byzantine production, the involvement of Byzantium in enamelled and gilded glass production has been difficult to trace. The technique of iconographic details painted and scratched on the surface is an element that seemingly connects Islamic and Byzantine glass production of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Seljuk art after the Constintinople’s collapse of 1204 brings into play a new visual world with typical Islamic iconographic motifs (dancers, musicians and different animals) on glass, while Italian mercantile activities foster dissemination of luxury glass objects across the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

This paper will look into early 13th century economy in the Eastern Mediterranean, pose questions of historical relations and political rivalry between Constantinople and its neighbouring countries, as well as delve into trade relations between Byzantium, the Seljuk sultanate and the Italian city states. The Venetian-Seljuk treaty of 1220 had implications on trade relations between the two political entities and questions of how such mercantile business might have influenced a development of glass production in the region will be addressed. The focus will be on blue glass bottles, attributed to Byzantine glass production and decorated with gilding and enamelling that can be linked to the earliest Islamic enamelled and gilded objects and fragments. These depict iconographical motifs and historical narratives, and their close connections with contemporary objects in other media, most significantly ceramics and metal, will be discussed.

Our second speaker, Sami De Giosa, studies Business Economics at Royal Holloway and after a stint working in finance between London and Dubai took an MA in Middle Eastern History at Birkbeck whilst working on cultural projects for Westminster Council. He has also completed a MA in History of Art at SOAS where he’s currently trying to complete his PhD on ‘the decorative revival during the late Mamluk period’. He spent his fieldwork year in Cairo where he was a guest researcher at the Netherlands Flemish Institute. Sami is currently working on updating the database of Mamluk metalwork at the V&A and at the BM, and is in the process of publishing a research report for the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) bulletin.

Image Copyright: © Christie's Images Limited (1990)

Summarizing his talk 'Being a Sultan in Style: Calligraphy and Decoration in the Arts of the Late Mamluk Period' he says:

The Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay (r. 1468-96) was instrumental in the revitalization of art and architecture in the late Mamluk period. Three crafts, metalwork, manuscript illumination, and carpet weaving, display a depth in artistic creation comparable to that of the Golden Age of Mamluk art which happened more than 100 years before Qaytbay. This paper is focused on two decorative features on metalwork described by Melikian-Chervani as hallmarks of the period: pincer-topped engraved inscriptions and three-petal fleuron. Moreover, their development and revival under Qaytbay will be discussed.

The lectures will start at 6.30pm and will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks session. The event is free and all are welcome. For directions to the society please visit our website or for more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073884539.

We are very excited to be hosting the music concert Pochagi: A Tapestry of Korean Sounds on 6th June at 7pm. This special East Asian concert will feature the traditional Korean flute Taegŭm player, Hyelim Kim and the Yin Yang Collective, London's East-West collaborative band. You will be able to hear beautiful Korean classical music vie with rhythmic Japanese shamisen, the earthy Taegŭm with the ethereal Chinese xiao, the passion of dark Argentine tango with toe-tapping Irish folk.

The Ying Yang Collective (YYC) devised this special concert to showcase the talents of Hyelim Kim and her instrument, the Taegŭm, a traditional Korean musical instrument now being used increasingly for popular and crossover styles. She has previously performed and talked about the Taegŭm at the RAS Student Series Music Concert in 2012 and we are very pleased to welcome her back alongside the YYC. Inspired by the rich patchwork of Korean Pochagi cloth which mirrors the tapestry of sounds and cultures, this concert brings together five outstanding East Asian musicians onstage in London for the first time, and also launches Hyelim’s debut CD Nim: Hyelim Kim Taegŭm Collection.

Performing alongside Hyelim will be Japanese Shamisen player Hibiki Ichikawa, currently the only professional Tsugaru Shamisen player in the UK, multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lee on Chinese flute & zither, rising Korean opera singer Bomi Kim, Charlie Cawood on Daruan (moon lute) and YYC’s own Director, Mark Troop on piano.

The Taegŭm will be the start and end point of the concert, which will be a musical journey through folk and classical styles of Korea, Japan and China, flirting with tango and Irish folksong along the way. The programme also boasts two premieres, one World – Arirang arranged by Chorong Park and one European – Ch’ong by Daeseong Kim.

The concert will take place at Royal Asiatic Society on 6th June 2013, 7pm. Tickets cost £15 for adults and £12 for concessions. Doors open at 6.30pm and drinks are inclusive. Book online for tickets http://pochagi.eventbrite.co.uk/

This event is supported by the Anglo-Korean Society and Chamber Music Company.

The final lecture of our current series takes place on Thursday June 13th at 6pm when we look forward to welcoming Dr Norbert Peabody from the University of Cambridge to talk 'On the Indian Origin of Nationalism'.

Dr Peabody is Senior Research Fellow in history and anthropology at Wolfson College, Cambridge. His first book, Hindu Kingship and Polity in Precolonial India, was co-winner of the 2003 Gladstone History Book Prize. He is currently completing a monograph exploring the links between physical culture, nationalism, and communal violence in contemporary India.

Colonel Tod and His Jain Guru - Photograph of a painting said to by the Indian
artist Ghasi. Published in William Crooke's 1920 edition of Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.

Summarizing his talk he says:

This lecture looks at the influence of the writings of early colonial scholar/administrators of India on John Stuart Mill's emergent thinking about nationalism. Focusing in particular on Mill's debt to James Tod -- the first Librarian of the RAS and author of The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan -- this lecture will suggest that several significant aspects of nationalism as an articulated ideology were first worked out in a colonial setting before being adopted by European political theorists. This lecture further suggests at least one important way in which this colonial construction of nationalism bore the imprint of distinctly Indian humoral ideas governing the proper relations between people, the land, and ethics of political action.

The event is free and open for all. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For directions to the Society visit our website or for further details contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or tel: 02073884539.

We have been very lucky to have Amanda Waters with us for her work experience placement from St. James' Girls School, Olympia. Here she writes about her time with us:

"I didn’t know what to expect when I walked through the door of the RAS. As a work experience student, I was predicting solid computer work, with very little handling of real artefacts. How wrong I was! During my first week here I was lucky enough to be given the task of putting some of the Francklin collection onto the online catalogue, complete with thumbnails and all. I spent about two days photographing, measuring and appreciating some stunning pieces of artwork, giving me a glimpse into a past where there were still corners of the world waiting to be explored. Lieutenant Colonel William Francklin was one such explorer, who took a keen interest in Asia, and as a result brought back many marvellous paintings of his surroundings during his tours to Persia and India. When he became the Librarian of the RAS, he donated many of his collections to the Society, so that they could be shared and appreciated by others. The pieces I catalogued were mainly watercolours on paper. Most interesting for me personally is the one picture on material, done in ink, of Surya, the Sun god. The yellowing tint of the paper makes the artwork even more special in my mind. It is a testament to the years that have gone by since these drawings were created. They have lasted nearly two-hundred years, from the early 1820s to the present day. Some other things that I found quite exciting were some friezes from Sanchi. I was able to compare these watercolours with more recent photographs which the RAS also holds."

RAS Photo 39/1(030) East Gate, Sanchi

RAS.017.025 Surya with consorts and lesser attendants.
Pen and ink on cloth.

For full records of these collections feel free to visit and browse the RAS online catalogue.

http://ras.libertyasp.co.uk/library/libraryHome.do

The Royal Asiatic Society is very pleased to announce that on Thursday 12th September we will be holding a launch for our latest publication 'The British Presence in Macau 1635-1793' by Dr Rogério Puga (New University, Lisbon).

The launch is from 18.30 to 20.30 and will include an introduction to the book by the author and Dr. Patrick Conner (Director of the Martyn Gregory Gallery, London) as well as a wine and canapé reception and an opportunity to purchase the book.

For more than four centuries, Macau was the centre of Portuguese trade and culture on the South China Coast. Until the founding of Hong Kong and the opening of other ports in the 1840s, it was also the main gateway to China for independent British merchants and their only place of permanent residence there. The British Presence in Macau co-published with Hong Kong University Press and the University of Macau traces Anglo-Portuguese relations in South China from the first arrival of English trading ships in the 1630s through the establishment of factories at Canton and the beginnings of the opium trade to the Macartney Embassy of 1793. Longstanding allies in the west, British and Portuguese pursued more complex relations in the east, as trading interests clashed under a Chinese imperial system and as the British increasingly asserted their power as "a community in search of a colony."

If you would like to come to the launch please RSVP to our Publications Officer Emma Davis publications@royalasiaticsociety.org

Many thanks to Dr Rogério Puga for his contribution to the text of this post.

The RAS is delighted to present an exhibition of photographs by Massimiliano Fusari. This Thursday, 19th September at 6pm there will be a chance to view the images alongside and address by the RAS Director, Alison Ohta, and an introduction by Massimiliano. The evening is free and open to all.

Thursday October 10th sees the start of our 2013-2014 lecture series, when we are delighted to welcome Professor Charles Schencking from the University of Hong Kong to speak on 'The Great Kantō Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction in Japan'.

Charles is Chairperson of the Department of History, University of Hong Kong and an active researcher who has published widely in the field of Japanese history, the history of natural disasters and the history of war, state, and society. Before publication of his 2013 work on the Great Kantō Earthquake, he completed numerous journal articles, book chapters, and a monograph on the social, political, and institutional history of the Imperial Japanese Navy between 1868 and 1922. Since beginning his career, Charles has secured major research grants to support his past and current research from the British Academy, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Australian Research Council and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

Summarizing his lecture, Charles writes:

'In September 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated eastern Japan, killing more than 120,000 people and leaving two million homeless. Using a rich array of source material, J. Charles Schencking tells a graphic tale of Tokyo’s destruction and rebirth. In this talk, he documents how the citizens of Tokyo experienced this unprecedented calamity and explores the ways in which it rattled people’s deep-seated anxieties about modernity. While explaining how and why the disaster compelled people to reflect on Japanese society, he also examines how reconstruction encouraged the capital’s inhabitants to entertain new types of urbanism as they rebuilt their world.

Some residents hoped that a grandiose metropolis, reflecting new values, would rise from the ashes of disaster-ravaged Tokyo. Many, however, desired a quick return of the city they once called home. Opportunistic elites advocated innovative state infrastructure to better manage the daily lives of Tokyo residents. Others focused on rejuvenating society—morally, economically, and spiritually—to combat the perceived degeneration of Japan. Schencking explores the inspiration behind these dreams and the extent to which they were realized. He investigates why Japanese citizens from all walks of life responded to overtures for renewal with varying degrees of acceptance, ambivalence, and resistance. His research not only sheds light on Japan’s experience with and interpretation of the earthquake but challenges widespread assumptions that disasters unite stricken societies, creating a “blank slate” for radical transformation. National reconstruction in the wake of the Great Kantō Earthquake, Schencking demonstrates, proved to be illusive. His findings provide important and illuminating historical contextualization to debates and discussions taking place in Japan today as it once again finds itself recovering from a catastrophic natural disaster.'

The lecture starts at 6pm and will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. It is a free event and all are welcome.

If you would like further information please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073919424.

Last year the RAS Student Series provided us with a wide range of thought provoking lectures and discussions and so we are very much looking forward to the first evening of the 2013-2014 series on Wednesday 9th October when there will be two fascinating talks. Ruman Banerjee from the University of Bristol will speak on 'Rock Art of Central India: An Exploration and Analysis' and Nikolaos Vryzidis from SOAS will present 'Orthodox vestments in the Ottoman Empire: 16th and 17th Centuries'.

Ruman Banerjee is pursuing his Ph.D research from the University of Bristol on 'The Rock Art of Central India' specializing on some discreet aspects of archaeological theory, dating and mapping. Mr. Banerjee has extensive experience in morphometry and typology of prehistoric stone tools, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, mass spectrometry and micromorphology. He is a student Fellow of the RAS and also the Royal Anthropological Institute and has attended several national and international seminars, undertaken field work in India, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and the UK. His collaborative research initiatives have so far been published in international journals like the Quaternary International and Land Use Policy.

In summary of his lecture Ruman says:

Rock art of Central India represents one of the richest repositories of material culture in the form of paintings and engravings in the vast stretches of Mirzapur and adjoining Rewa district of the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Rock art, surveyed and documented in the Bundi and Bhilwara districts of Rajasthan invoked further possibilities for Indian rock shelter archaeology. Apart from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bhimbetka, the rock art of Mirzapur, Rewa, Bundi and Bhilwara districts revealed considerable promise in terms of technostylistics, chronostylistics, continuity of rock art and superimposition of diverse morphic elements in Indian archaeology and cultural heritage studies. From the prehistory to the contemporary the character, ramifications and manifestations of this extraordinary cultural resource yielded continuity, revival and rejuvenation. This vast repository of data on human evolution, migration and diffusion as envisaged by rock art, is in great danger in the present decade. The cultural and natural heritage of the region is gradually getting destroyed by rapid mining, honey collection, fire making and camping activities within the painted shelters.

This paper aims to detail and discuss a few remarkable findings in Indian rock art from these three states of Central India. Both absolute and relative dating techniques have confirmed that rock art of this particular region of Central India reveals Pleistocene period rock paintings. This is important for the interpretation of the rich corpus of other undated motifs based on paintings which have been dated. This work therefore relates the dated art with the as yet undated newly discovered paintings by means of both relative and absolute chronology, entangling living cultural heritages. It proposes a set of guidelines and methodologies to protect the natural and cultural resources for posterity and global heritage.

Christ on an Ottoman Kemha textile, 17th century

The second talk of the evening is by Nikolaos Vryzidis who studied History of Art & Archaeology at the School of Oriental & African Studies specialising on the material culture of the Near & Middle East (Medieval & Ottoman periods). His academic interests include the relationship between Christian and Islamic art in Medieval and early Modern Mediterranean, cross-cultural contacts and exchanges in the Ottoman Empire. His talk will be raise questions on Ottoman Christian aesthetic in relation to vestments and fabrics used by the Orthodox Church, from the fall of Constantinople onwards. Ecclesiastical art, and especially liturgical textiles, as the most formal expression of Christian Ottoman aesthetic is examined from the point of view of the Byzantine tradition's transformation within the Ottoman Empire's cultural environment and its intellectual implications.

The evening will start at 6.30pm with the lectures which will be followed by a question and answer session and drinks reception. The evening is free and open for all. For more information please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073919424 and for directions to the society please visit our website.

During last year's lecture series we were very pleased to welcome Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Director of the Centre for Global Health Histories, University of York, to speak to us on smallpox eradication in Bhutan. Prof. Bhattacharya has now published an article arising from his RAS talk, which is now freely available online from the journal Medical History published by Cambridge University Press.

You can also listen to the original lecture on the Backdoor Broadcasting Website, where you can find many of the interesting lectures given at the Royal Asiatic Society.

This year's lecture series began in fine form with a fascinating and thought provoking talk on 'The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction in Japan' by Prof. Charles Schencking from the University of Hong Kong.

If you were unable to attend the lecture you have the chance to listen to it for free via the Backdoor Broadcasting Website.

A little while ago we posted about the wonderful collection of botanical drawings, now in possession of the RAS, which once belonged to Sir William Jones (1746-1794) and his wife Lady Anna Maria Jones. To accompany the post (which you can read by clicking here) we have now posted a selection of images from the collection on our Flickr page.

To take a closer look at the exhibition and the beautiful botanical drawings click here

If you would like any more information about items the Jones collection or other collections held at the RAS Library please contact us at library@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073919424.

We are delighted to welcome the explorer and historian Dr. Christoph Baumer to deliver the next lecture of our 2013-2014 series on Thursday 14th November at 6pm when he will speak on 'The Bronze Age Culture of Ayala Mazar-Xiaohe: Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the Taklamakan Desert, China'.

Christoph Baumer is an explorer and historian of Central Asia, Tibet and China. Since the 1970s he has travelled extensively in Asia and has led five international expeditions into the TaklamakanDesert in Xinjiang, China between 1994 and 2009. These expeditions resulted in significant archaeological discoveries, the most important one being the discovery of the Bronze Age graveyard of Ayala Mazar in fall 2009. He has written several well received books and articles published in 23 languages. He is currently working on a four volume “History of Central Asia”, illustrated by his distinct photographs. Dr Baumer is President of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsiaand member of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club.

Image copyright - Christoph Baumer

Baumer’s recent publication “History of Central Asia” is also based on his own field researches. In his lecture he will report on the archaeological results from his winter 2009 expedition into the heart of the Taklamakan Desert. There he discovered an unknown Iron Age graveyard indicating links to nomadic steppe cultures much further north, a fortified Bronze Age settlement and the Early Bronze Age necropolis of Ayala Mazar which revealed a surprising fertility cult and as well as a 4000 years old unknown archaeological horizon stretching over a distance of 600 km. The naturally mummified corpses bore clear Indo-European traits.

Image copyright - Christoph Baumer

The lecture is free and open for all, it will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For details of how to get to the RAS please visit our website or for more information contact us at info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073919424.

The Student Lecture Series continues on Wednesday November 13th at 6.30pm with two more fascinating talks: Shivan Mahendrarajajah (University of Cambridge) will speak on 'Balance of Power: Re-assessing the Relationship Between the Kart Dynasty of Herat and the Mystics at Turbat-i Jam, 1307 to 1381' and David Beamish (SOAS) will talk about 'Answering Back to Europe: Ottoman and North African Journalists in Paris'.

Shivan Mahendrarajah is a final-year doctoral candidate in Islamic and Persian History at the University of Cambridge and is writing a dissertation on an influential Sufi community in Persia during the Mongol and Timurid periods (ca. 1250-1500). He earned a B.B.A. in Finance (1997). After a professional career, he returned to academia, earning an M.A. in Islamic Studies at Columbia University (2007). He studied Arabic and Persian in the United States before embarking on cultural immersion, field research, and language study in Morocco, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He is from Houston, Texas.

Masjid-i Jama' ("Friday Mosque") in Herat, Khurasan.
Copyright, Shivan Mahendrarajah, 2013.

In summary of his talk Shivan writes:

"The Kart dynasty ruled from Herat from 1245 to 1381, when they were extinguished by Tamerlane. The ‘Sufi Shaykhs of Jam’ venerated Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad-i Jam (d. 1141), and with Mongol, Kartid, and Timurid patronage, became a wealthy and influential shrine community. This mystical community flourishes today in Jam (Iran) and Herat.

A common assessment of ‘Sufi and Sultan’ relationships is one where the Sultan is the senior partner, and the Sufi is the junior partner. The Sultan patronizes the Sufi; the Sufi offers blessings and legitimacy to the Sultan. We argue that the relationship between the Karts and the Shaykhs was one of parity. Between 1307-29, ties were warm: the two clans intermarried, the Kart malik venerated Ahmad-i Jam, and came to love the patriarch of the Jami family. Patronage flowed. The relationship cooled between 1332-70. In 1351, the Shaykhs conspired with the Chagatay Mongols to depose the Kart malik. He regained the throne, but the Jami clan was unharmed. In ca. 1380, the clan conspired with Tamerlane’s chiefs to depose another Kart malik. The Jamis’ wealth and influence soared under the Timurids."

Our second speaker, David Beamish is a third year PhD student in the History Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His research focuses on Ottoman and North African émigrés in Paris during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1890-1914). David is from Toronto, Canada and completed his BA in Canadian History at McGill University in Montreal. Following this a year spent working in south eastern Turkey caused a shift in his historical interests and he went on to complete an MA in Turkish Studies at SOAS and then began the PhD program. David's academic interests more broadly are intellectual history and the debates surrounding modernization and Westernization in the non-Western world.

Ahmed Riza

Summarizing his talk, David writes:

"This paper will examine the Paris-based French language publishing of those Ottomans that can loosely, if imperfectly, be called ‘Young Turks’ and that of their ‘Young Algerian’ counterparts. It is my contention that these publications represented a unique category within the larger oppositional output of these groups. Both the content of these publications and their intended audience, which was in the main European, fulfilled a different but complimentary function to their Arabic and Ottoman language counterparts in Egypt, the Levant and the Maghreb. The engagement of these groups with European journalistic and intellectual culture through their French language publications was, as Erdal Kaynar writes, intended as a contribution to European politics. In this context my paper will touch on the variety of themes addressed by writers from different ethnic and religious backgrounds expressed across a multitude of print forms, but united through their participation in the intellectual milieu of Western Europe."

The lectures will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception, it is free and all are welcome. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telephone 02073884539.

Earlier in the year we posted the exciting news that we had been awarded funding for the conservation and digitization of selected items from the Society's collection of Jain material by the Jiv Daya Foundation in America who then transferred management of the project to their newly created organization the Shraman South Asian Museum and Learning Center Foundation. We are delighted that the digital images have now been made freely available for scholars and the general public to view through the Institute of Jainology's JAINpedia project website. Beautiful high resolution images are displayed alongside a full description and contextual information.

Warm thanks are due to Dr. Vinay Jain and the Shraman Foundation for the financial support which enabled the project to go ahead, and to our project partners, the Institute of Jainology and associated staff who work on Jainpedia, whose hard work has brought the project to a successful conclusion.

There are three RAS items featured on the website:

RAS 065.001 - a meditation diagram on cloth dating, according to the diagram, from the mid-15th century and which has been named as a highlight by Jainpedia. Click here to see full images and description of this item.

RAS 069.001 - a Jain map of the universe on cloth c. 1816. Click here to see full images and the description of this item.

RAS Tod MS 34 - A vary rare manuscript copied in 1404 which includes exquisite coloured illustrations. Click here to see full images and the description of this item.

The Student Series continues on Wednesday 11th December at 6pm with two more fascinating lectures from doctoral students at SOAS. Barakatullo Ashurov will speak about 'Material Culture Objects and Structures: on the Social Representations of the Church of the East in Sogdiana' and Francesca Fuoli will talk on 'The role of ethnography and the study of Pashto in the construction of the Pashtun race in nineteenth century British colonial discourses on Afghanistan'.

Barakatullo Ashurov is a doctoral candidate in the Study of Religions department at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His current research examines the spread and influence of the Eastern Syriac-speaking Christianity among Sogdians; an Eastern Iranian- speaking people in Central Asia between the 5th and 9th century, with particular focus on the cultural adaptation and indigenous representation of Christianity from the material culture objects and manuscript tradition perspectives. He is interested more broadly in questioning the spiritual-cultural and social-intellectual impact of Christianity in medieval Central Asia and how that can help to understand the contemporary role of Christianity in the region.

Barakatullo received a B.A. Oriental Studies (Hindi Philology) from Tajik National University, with a focus on literature and history of Indian subcontinent, before graduating from the M.A. English (Literary and Cultural Studies) program at Central University of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, India.

Summarizing his talk 'Material Culture Objects and Structures: on the Social Representations of the Church of the East in Sogdiana', Barakatullo writes:

"Various material culture products attest to the significant presence and influence of Christianity in Sogdiana. In the absence of historical texts on the advance of Christianity into Sogdiana, this material evidence is extremely valuable, since it represents a direct local Sogdian image of Christianity as an inherently integrated religion. In other words, this material evidence represents the fact that Christianity in Sogdiana had an established and visible presence over several centuries. Accordingly, through their testimony, a comment can be offered on whether Christianity in Sogdiana remained an imported religion or whether it had genuine roots expressed through indigenous material culture.

This paper discusses the available material evidence, comprising architectural and small material culture objects related to Christianity. The ‘Christian’ affiliation of the material culture considered in this paper has been established by archaeologists and historians on the basis of the functionality and typological properties of these objects; while the relationship of this material evidence with Sogdiana is established on archaeological and historical grounds. That is to say, the objects were either discovered in archaeological strata or accidentally found or acquired in Sogdiana and are chronologically concurrent with the period of eastward expansion of the Church of the East."

Francesca Fuoli is a second year PhD student in History at SOAS. Her research interest focuses on nineteenth century Afghanistan and British colonialism. At the moment she is conducting research on British policies in Afghanistan during the second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-81). Francesca holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Trieste and an MA in South Asian Area Studies from SOAS.

Writing about her talk 'The role of ethnography and the study of Pashto in the construction of the Pashtun race in nineteenth century British colonial discourses on Afghanistan' Francesca says:

"The years between the two Anglo-Afghan wars (1842-1878) have commonly been understood in terms of Afghan voluntary isolation and British India’s loss of interest in the country, epitomised by its strategy of ‘Masterly Inactivity’. However, the proliferation of record material on Afghanistan produced by the colonial state in this period, ranging from documents exchanged at a high political level to the flow of information originating from the permanent government representative in Kabul, first appointed in 1856, may tell a very different story. In these same years a strong interest in the study of the Pashtuns began to gain ground among British officials, as demonstrated by the appearance of a number of Pashto grammars, dictionaries, as well as ethnographic and historical studies. Focusing on the way the Pashto idiom was framed as a territorially bounded, standardized and original language, I will argue that this ethnographic knowledge significantly contributed to the emergence of an official colonial discourse, in which the Afghan social landscape was framed along clearly demarcated racial lines, among which the Pashtuns, glorified as a superior, manly and ‘martial race’, were the legitimate inhabitants of the country."

The evening is free for all and the lectures will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception. For more information please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or Tel: 02073919424.

We are delighted to announce the launch for the latest RAS publication Robert Morrison and the Protestant Plan for China by Christopher A. Daily. The event will take place on Thursday 23rd January from 6.30 to 8.30pm and will include short talks by the author and Prof. Tim Barrett followed by a drinks reception.

Christopher Daily teaches at SOAS, University of London and Regent’s University, London. He has held research fellowships from the East-West Center, University of Hawaii and the British Academy and is a Fellow of the RAS.

Robert Morrison (1782-1834), sent alone to China by the London Missionary Society in 1807, was one of the earliest Protestant missionaries in East Asia. During some 27 years in China, Macau and Malacca, he worked as a translator for the East India Company and founded an academy for converts and missionaries; independently, he translated the New Testament into Chinese and compiled the first Chinese-English dictionary. In the process, he was building the foundation of Chinese Protestant Christianity.

This book critically explores the preparations and strategies behind this first Protestant mission to China. It argues that, whilst introducing Protestantism into China, Morrison worked to a standard template developed by his tutor David Bogue at the Gosport Academy in England. By examining this template alongside Morrison's archival collections, the book demonstrates the many ways in which Morrison's influential mission must be seen within the historical and ideological contexts of British evangelism. The result is this new interpretation of the beginnings of Protestant Christianity in China.

If you would like to come to the book launch please RSVP to Alison Ohta ao@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073919425.

RAS Lecture Programme 2013-2014 (free admission, everybody welcome)

Where: Royal Asiatic Society, London. Nearest tube: Euston, Euston Square and Warren Street

When: Thursday 16th January. The lecture starts at 6.00 pm and will be followed by a Q & A session and a drinks reception.

Hans van de Ven is Professor of Modern Chinese History at Cambridge University. He has worked on the history of the Chinese revolution as well as the second world war in China. For the last decade, his research has focused on the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, whose archives, consisting of no less than 55,000 files, he helped make available to researchers. His account of the Customs Service, and China's rocky entrance into global political economy, will be published by Columbia University Press in February 2014 under the the title Breaking with the Past: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China.

Image showing Chinese customs ensign

Professor van de Ven's talk will examine the rise of markets for China bonds in the late 19th century and the influence this had on the outcome of the 1911 Revolution. The HSBC and the Chinese Maritime Customs Service were two key institutions for the floating of China bonds in London and other European capitals. Because of the indemnities imposed on China after the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, China became dependent on international lending, at the same time that a China bubble took hold among European and US investors. Qing efforts to build a domestic bond market and so become less dependent of foreign funding ended in embarrassing failures. As a result of these developments, maintaining China's international credit became important during the 1911 Revolution not only for all those who had invested in China's bonds, the HSBC, and the Customs Service, but also for China's political leaders, especially because the 1911 Revolution had caused the implosion of China's fiscal system and so it was clear to all that after the revolution would be in need of further funding. Against this background, it becomes understandable that the 1911 Revolution was not 'socially recessive but politically progresive', as Joseph Esherick famously argued. Instead, China became a client state, with foreign countries in control of China's most important revenue sources, which they used to service the debts owed to, or imposed by, them. Rather than describing the 1911 Revolution as a domestic affair, this talk seeks to highlight the international political and financial context in which it took place, and which shaped, not its origins, but its unfolding, in profound ways.

The lecture is free and open to everyone. For details on how to get to the RAS please visit our website For more information contact us at info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telephone us as on 02073919424

Where Hornbills Fly, first published in 2010 and now reissued in paperback, is a compelling account of the impact of development upon the Iban of Sarawak.[1] By turns thrilling, hilarious and moving, but throughout authoritative and profoundly thoughtful, it triumphs in conveying both the passion of youth and the wisdom of the man of affairs.

Erik Jensen’s involvement in the land of the hornbill came about almost by accident – shaped by idealism, a sense of adventure and chance encounters at university. In 1959, at the age of 26, he left England on a long journey: weeks by sea to Singapore and on to Kuching (Sarawak’s capital); then days up-river battling with cataracts and shoals until he reached the Lemanak deep in the rainforest. Here, he embarked on an even longer journey – a journey to understand, and to be understood by, the Iban. He learned their language and immersed himself in their adat (way of life). At the same time he organised a scheme to replace deleterious slash-and-burn methods of nomadic rice-farmers with commercially viable agricultural settlements. ‘Development’ was the mantra of the colonial government which had succeeded the regime of Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke after the Second World War. ‘Development’ was, however, an alien concept and appeared to threaten age-old values. Nonetheless, Jensen gradually won allies. He fostered leaders and formed life-long friendships among the Iban. As his plans took root, he noted ‘a difference in attitude, a new willingness to adapt’ to a changing world. This, he writes, was the principal achievement of the scheme since the Iban had ‘every right to adapt’.

After three years at the Lemanak, Jensen was appointed development officer for the whole of Sarawak’s Second Division but by 1966 it was time for him to leave. Sarawak had ceased to be a colony; it had been absorbed within Malaysia and had withstood armed ‘Confrontation’ with neighbouring Indonesia. Jensen went to work for the United Nations. His subsequent diplomatic career included UN special missions to Nigeria during the Biafran crisis, to South Asia after East Pakistan broke with West, to Cyprus and East Timor in the mid-1970s, and to the Western Sahara in the 1990s. It culminated with his appointment as Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General. At the same time he pursued his academic interests, completing a DPhil at Oxford and in 1974 publishing the first in a succession of books, The Iban and Their Religion (OUP). In retirement he has been Warburg Professor in International Relations, Simmons College, Boston, Affiliate of the Olin Center for Strategic Studies, Harvard, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre of International Studies, LSE.

During these years Erik Jensen observed from afar ‘disquieting’ changes in Sarawak. Its interests were subordinated to those of Kuala Lumpur, its largest ethnic group (the Iban) lost out to Malays, and its rain-forest was plundered and replaced by palm-oil plantations. Thirty-seven years after first arriving in the Lemanak, Jensen decided to return, to ‘face the verdict’ and find out for himself ‘what had been lost and gained’. This time he flew to Kuching and then travelled to the Lemanak by road. This time parties of tourists were being ferried by river. ‘The river was still the river’, however, and this, together with so much else, was reassuring. Jensen rejoiced in meeting old friends and mourned the passing of others, but he found no cause to mourn the past or to regret the present. Rather he was heartened to see the ‘ever-resilient’ Iban ‘adapting to modern life with their honour intact.’

Professor Tony Stockwell
Vice President of the RAS

[1] Erik Jensen, Where Hornbills Fly: A Journey with the Headhunters of Borneo, London, I.B. Tauris, 2013, paperback.

The Jones collection of botanical drawings at the RAS

Rosemary Seton book launch Friday 10th May 18.30

Student Series Lecture Evening Wednesday 15th May

Korean Music Concert at RAS - Pochagi: A Tapestry of Korean Sounds - 6th June 7pm

Next RAS Lecture Thursday 13th June 6pm 'On the Indian Origin of Nationalism'

Guest Blog Post - Royal Asiatic Society Work Experience

Royal Asiatic Society Book Launch - 'The British Presence in Macau 1635-1793' Thursday 12th September 6.30pm

Exhibition at the Royal Asiatic Society this Thursday 19th September 6pm

RAS Lecture Series 2013 - 2014 begins Thursday 10th October 6pm

First Student Series Evening of the 2013-14 Programme - Wednesday 9th October

International Health and the Limits of its Global Influence: Bhutan and the Worldwide Smallpox Eradication Programme

Listen to the latest RAS lecture for free online

New online exhibition of RAS collections available on Flickr

Next RAS Lecture Thursday 14th November 6pm

Student Series continues on Wednesday November 13th at 6.30pm

RAS Jain items now freely accessible online at JAINpedia

Student Series Talks at the RAS - Wednesday December 11th 2013

Book Launch at the RAS Thursday 23rd January 2014 - Robert Morrison and the Protestant Plan for China

"The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, the 1911 Revolution, and the Bond Markets" a lecture to be given by Professor Hans van de Ven

A Journey with the Headhunters of Borneo