Date of Award:

5-2016

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

History

Committee Chair(s)

Ravi Gupta

Committee

Ravi Gupta

Committee

Victoria Grieve

Committee

Alexa Sand

Abstract

Largely produced in the Kashmir Valley during the mid-nineteenth century, gutkas are pocket-sized anthologies of texts, hymns, and prayers that a Hindu would recite in a sacred place in the home, usually near an altar. In the past, these objects have been relegated to the periphery of art historical discourse due to scholarly discriminations against their unrefined, "folk" characteristics. However, despite the lack of academic interest, a critical study of gutka culture provides the ideal viewpoint from which to explore South Asian art history, cultural history, and historical Hindu practices. Although these objects were often left unsigned by their illiterate makers, a comparative study of paintings from gutkas around the world reveal the web of connections between folk art and royal art, a web centered around itinerant artist families who synthesized regional artistic styles with their own in order to produce a unique aesthetic. A closer examination of the paper found in a number of gutkas situates these objects within broad patterns of colonial exchange and middle class consumption that occurred in North India throughout the nineteenth century. Rigorous analyses of the themes present in gutka painting along with consideration of the textual patterns found in these objects provides the foundation necessary for a more developed study of their religious functions within gendered practices of Hindu devotion.

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