The Space of the Vernacular: Local beyond Languages, Religions, and Frontiers

• In Event: Other Horizons: Geographicities in South Asia

Abstract

For a thousand years, holy men and cults into the Deccan created networks and sacred geographies; The region had a complex world of religious domains and of life-worlds in which multiple faith-agencies were active, catering to different audiences. There were some spiritual agencies that were part of larger ‘global’ networks, and others which were ‘local’ or vernacular. The word ‘vernacular’ is a description not necessarily limited to the discursive language used. This vernacular life-world was shaped by a several factors, natural and cultural: geographical realities, shared political and historical memories. Even if such a vernacular region, in this case, the Deccan, was a part of an ‘Islamic frontier’ politically and spiritually, certain vernacular traditions such as the Marathi literary spiritual movement cannot be easily accommodated within such a model of frontiers, contact zones and interfaces.

Author

• Pushkar Sohoni, University of Pennsylvania