Royal Symbol Research Articles

Cultural identity and royal symbolism in Uganda: regalia in the investiture of the King of Buganda

As an invented tradition of Uganda, the investiture of the King of Buganda stands out as one of the defining practices impacting cultural identity and the expression of power in the country. The regalia emerges as an iconography of regal glory which serves to legitimize power. This paper addresses the following questions: first, how would the investiture of the King of Buganda be seen in the context of visual narratives of cultural identity in Uganda? Second, how did the regalia serve to legitimize the power of the monarch to elevate his socio-political status in the country? Third, how does the King of Buganda become recognizable through art and adornment? Using a reflective, multistranded approach, this essay studies the material culture of Buganda accession ceremonies by integrating interviews with coronation officiants and painted depictions by the lead author. We argue that the royal regalia of monarchs offers visual symbolism that is enduring and significant, deeply owing to an ‘invented’ tradition and enshrined customs in a people’s culture – in this case, of Buganda’s kings.

Conjuring Up a King

Conjuring Up a King

According to Paul Martin Sr., by the end of the 1970s Elizabeth was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.[114] Tony Benn said Elizabeth found Trudeau "rather disappointing".[114] Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind Elizabeth's back in 1977, and

According to Paul Martin Sr., by the end of the 1970s Elizabeth was worried the Crown "had little meaning for" Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.[114] Tony Benn said Elizabeth found Trudeau "rather disappointing".[114] Trudeau's supposed republicanism seemed to be confirmed by his antics, such as sliding down banisters at Buckingham Palace and pirouetting behind Elizabeth's back in 1977, and

Caliphs and Merchants: Cities and Economies of Power in the Near East (700–950)

Caliphs and Merchants: Cities and Economies of Power in the Near East (700–950)

The Political Idea of Royal Symbols in Ancient Greek Myths and Epics

The research on royal symbols comes in this research because of its impact as an idea or a group of political ideas that the ancient Greek thought, through myths and epics, intended to embody. To be sure, the researchers did not link the existence of these symbols with the political idea; Therefore, one of the difficulties of this research is to derive the idea from the legendary or epic text in which there is a mention of this or that royal symbol. And the two epics Genealogy of the Gods and Works of the Days, also Arabized by Hesiod, and the book by Jean-Pierre Vernan: Myth and Thought in Greece, Studies in Historical Psychology. and Harding, Samuel B, (1897), Stories A Primer of the Mythology and History of the Greeks).

The Comedians of the King: “Opéra Comique” and the Bourbon Monarchy on the Eve of Revolution, by Julia Doe

<i>The Comedians of the King: “Opéra Comique” and the Bourbon Monarchy on the Eve of Revolution</i>, by Julia Doe

HERODOTOS’TA İSKİT TARGİTAOS HANEDANLIĞI KURULUŞ MİTİ ÜZERİNE DEĞERLENDİRMELER

Herhangi bir mit üzerine eleştirel araştırma romantizmin baştan çıkarıcılığını reddeder. Her varyantı veya değişkenin kendine has özellikleri üzerinde ısrar ederek, mümkün olan en iyi derecede ismi bilinmeyen anlatıcılarını tanımlamaya çalışır. Sadece anlatıcı ile bağlantılı olmakla kalmayıp onun ve temsil ettiği toplumsal fraksiyonun çıkarlarını aktif bir şekilde ilerletecek derecede örnek olarak verilmiş olan varyantın detaylarını anlama girişiminde bulunur. Bu bağlamda ilgili miti aktaran yazarın pozisyonunun da gözden geçirilmesi gerekmektedir. Herodotos Historiai (Tarihler) olarak adlandırılan eserinde Skythia’nın da içinde bulunduğu bazı ülkelere seyahat ettiğini bildirmektedir. Onun bu gezilerini, yabancı ülkeler ve gelenekleriyle ilgili deliller toplamak için yaptığı yönündeki öngörünün üzerinde durulması gerekmektedir. Çünkü Herodotos, Hellen kökenli olmayanların da uygarlığa kazandırdığı yenilikler veya icatlar herkes tarafından bilinsin diye araştırmalarını yazıya geçirdiğini bildirmektedir. Bu doğrultuda, eski Hellen-Barbar antitezinin kristalleştiği bir dönemde yaşamasına rağmen, Hellen kökenli olmayan gelenekleri de ilginç bularak değer veren ve hatta öven bir tavır sergilediği görülmektedir. Herodotos, eserinin IV. kitabında özellikle İskit kökenleri, coğrafyası, etnografyası, kültürü ve tarihiyle ilgili muhtemelen kendi gözlemlerinden ve bu ülkede yaşayan Aristeas gibi Hellen yazarlardan faydalanma fırsatı bularak, elde ettiği bilgileri kendisinin de sorguladığı erken dönem Hellen kaynaklarıyla karşılaştırma fırsatı bulmuştur. Herodotos, bir bölümü sözlü kaynağa dayalı ve mitolojik içerikli olsa da, yeri geldiğinde İskitlerin kökeni konusunda daha gerçekçi ve tarafsız bilgiler ortaya koyabilmiştir. Böylelikle kendi ırkının önyargılarını dengelediği söylenebilir. İskit hanedanlığının kuruluşu hakkında iki mit aktarmaktadır. İskitlerin kendileri tarafından aktarılan Targitaos ve bölgedeki Hellen kolonistlerin öne çıkardığı Herakles ve Yılan-Kadın miti. Her iki mitin doğruluğu hakkında tarafsız kalmayı tercih ederek yorumu okuyucuya bırakmaktadır. Bu makalede Targitaos mitini özellikle hanedanlık kuruluşunu temsil eden kraliyet simgeleri bağlamında İran- Sasani edebiyatının başyapıtlarından Şahnâme’den de örnekler vererek tarihi açıdan yeniden yorumlamaya çalışacağız.

The End of Compromise: Political Meanings of Thailand’s First National Day Celebrations on 24 June 1939

ABSTRACT Scholars of Thai politics have paid significant attention to the role played by signs and symbols in Thailand, especially as interpretations of the political struggle after the 1932 Revolution. Some scholars believe that the People’s Party successfully used constitutionalism to counter royalism, but critics contend that the Party failed in its quest to curb the royalists because it appropriated royal sources of legitimacy in its efforts to promote the constitution. This article proposes that even though the selection of 10 December as Constitution Day was indeed a compromise on symbolism with the royalists, the Party – and especially Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) – did confront the royalists by later honouring 24 June as National Day. This article examines the political meanings of Thailand’s first National Day celebrations on 24 June 1939, which scholars often neglect, and argues that the Party symbolically turned it against the absolute monarchy by using the day’s festivities to highlight and legitimise the achievements of the post-absolutist constitutional regime without involving any royal symbols. In other words, Thailand’s National Day in 1939 was constructed by the Party as a site of legitimacy that was independent of royal influence and free of royal legitimation.

Adivasi Identity, Kingly-citizenship and Ethno-cultural Politics in the Jungle Kingdoms of Odisha

The paper sheds light on the socio-cultural and political identity of the adivasis in relationship to their king(s), in the past as well as nowadays. Based on long time field observations (Nayak, 1972-2005), enforced by theoretical remarks and viewpoints, the research emphasizes that the adivasis in the former “Jungle Kingdoms” of Odisha organize community-based rituals and festivals as politically more organized groups than mere social groups, lineage groups or clan groups with the ultimate purpose of upholding and renewing legitimacy over their land and territory. The use of certain royal symbols and insignia in ritual rites makes explicit how the authority of the king assumes prime- most importance from the point of view of their identity and status as legitimate citizens or, at least as state-owned denizens. The paper intends to discuss these kingly religious rites in their varied manifestations drawing examples from tribal people inhabiting Odisha as a regional variation of the middle Indian tribes.

The Power of Caricature: The Metamorphosis of Citizen King Louis-Philippe into Pear King

Bu araştırma makalesi, La Caricature dergisinde yayımlanan bir karikatür nedeniyle yargılanan Charles Philipon’un mahkemede basın ve ifade özgürlüğünü savunurken argümanını örneklemek amacıyla kullandığı armut imgesi, bu imgenin nasıl kral Louis-Philippe ile eş anlamlı hâle geldiğini ve tüm Fransa’ya yayıldığını incelemeyi hedeflemektedir. Mahkemede yaptığı savunmasındaki benzerlik argümanının ve armut imgesinin doğuşunun inceleneceği bu makale, karikatürün 19. yüzyıl Fransa’sında muhalif bir ifade aracı olarak siyasi gücünün ne denli aşkın boyutlara ulaşabildiğini göstermesi ve taş baskının dönemin siyasi karikatürlerinin yayılmasına yaptığı katkıları ortaya koyması açısından önemlidir. Araştırma makalesinde yöntem olarak nitel araştırma modeli kullanılmıştır. Philipon’un La Caricature dergisinde mahkeme savunmasıyla ve armutla ilgili kaleme aldığı makaleler başta olmak üzere, literatürde konuyla bağlantılı mevcut kaynaklar taranmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, Philipon’un yarattığı armut imgesinin kısa sürede tüm Fransa’ya yayıldığı, Yurttaş Kral olarak bilinen Louis-Philippe’nin Armut Kral’a dönüştüğü ve bu tasvirin katı sansürlere rağmen Fransa halkının zihnine kazındığı gözlenmiştir. Philipon’un bir kişiyi krala hakaret suçuyla suçlarken kraliyetle ilgili sembol ya da nişanlar yerine dış görünüşün/benzerliğin temel alınması durumunda yaşanacaklara dair öngörülerinin tamamen gerçeğe dönüştüğü görülmüştür. Ayrıca taş baskı karikatürlerin etki gücünün kendileri için son derece tehlikeli olduğunun bilincinde olan Louis-Philippe yönetiminin armutla uzaktan yakından bağlantılı her türlü imgeyi sakıncalı bulduğu görülmüştür.

The Emergence and Development of Persianate Sufism: Khorasan, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries

Abstract This paper examines the emergence of Sufism and its differentiation from other religious trends in early Islamic Khorasan and Transoxania and traces the influence of Buddhism and Manichæism on the development of Sufism. The corresponding professionalization of the Sufi sheikhs in this formative process went hand in hand with the elaboration of Sufi mystical theory. The theoretical elaboration of Sufism consisted in the development of a theory of divine love culminating in the masterpieces of Farid al-Din ʿAttār on the eve of the Mongol invasion. The paper highlights the strong connection between Sufism and fotovvat (urban brotherhoods) during the emergence of Sufism in Khorasan and its gradual weakening that resulted from the increasing professionalization of Sufism and the formation of a distinct Persianate Sufi identity. The appropriation and transformation of royal symbolism in the Sufi texts is then analyzed in the last section.

Parliamentary rituals, institutional continuity, and the reinvention of political traditions in Myanmar

ABSTRACTShedding light on an understudied aspect of Myanmar's institutional history, this study interrogates the perpetuation of parliamentary rituals in the country's successive postcolonial legislatures. It focuses on two ritualised ceremonies: the oath taken by new members of parliaments and the mace-bearing spectacle marking the opening of the daily session. Their maintenance, re-appropriation and re-designing under Myanmar's different post-independence regimes reveal a persistent linkage between institution-building, state formation and the reinvention of royal symbols and religious traditions of the country's dominant ethnic group, the Bamar. Furthermore, drawing on document analysis, archival research and interviews with MPs and parliamentary staff carried out in Myanmar's Union legislature, this article argues that the continuing performance of such parliamentary rituals has served two other purposes: conferring hegemonic powers and status on the parliamentary speakers, while ensuring loyalty, discipline and deference in the house.

From Royal Ideology to Religious Polemics: The Evolution of the Śākyan Tutelary Temple in South Asia

This article explores the evolution of a story, common to many Buddhist traditions, narrating the Bodhisattva’s presentation as an infant at the Śākyan tutelary temple. Contrary to previous readings of the story, I argue that from its earliest occurrences this story was meant to shape the image of the Bodhisattva and the Śākya clan as an eminent royal lineage. As the article suggests, this image was fashioned in light of the prominent royal dynasties of Middle Period South Asia (ca. 1st–5th c. CE), particularly the Kuṣāṇas and Sātavāhanas. However, as time elapsed and the story evolved, it accumulated additional meanings and motifs which shifted its focus from a tale of royal symbolism to a polemical story of Buddhism’s religious superiority. To illustrate the development of this narrative I analyse both literary sources, with special attention to the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya, which likely contains the earliest extant literary version, and various visual sources found primarily in Āndhradeśa and the site of Kanaganahalli (Karnataka, in the Greater Āndhra region), where the story clearly carried special significance.

Observations on the Stratigraphic Attribution of the Early Bronze Age Pillared Building in Area D at Tel ʿErani, Israel

Tel ʿErani is a large Early Bronze Age site within the municipal bounds of modern Qiryat Gat, Israel, at the northeastern edge of the Negev, adjacent to the Judean Shephelah (piedmont). It includes a high mound and several lower terraces, ca. 25 ha in area. The site gained notoriety when an imported potsherd bearing an Egyptian royal symbol (a serekh) incised with the hieroglyph of an early ruler, Narmer, was found in Excavation Area D. Large-scale exposure there in the 1950s and 1960s, under the direction of Shmuel Yeivin, unearthed a rather lengthy and complicated stratigraphic sequence that has prompted numerous attempts at correlating its Early Bronze Age strata with Dynasty 0 and the early 1st Dynasty in Egypt. Yeivin’s cursorily published results illustrate only partial and rudimentary plans of the Early Bronze Age strata in Area D, most of which lack elevations. One exceptionally large building boasting seven substantial mudbrick pillars has attracted researchers’ attention, as it likely had a public function. This essay, based on Yeivin’s original, unpublished plans that include elevations, as well as information derived from recent excavations in Area D, offers a detailed reconstruction of the plan of that building, which suggests its likely chrono-stratigraphic ascription to late phases of the Early Bronze I. It further notes its importance for understanding the relationship between Egypt and the southern Levant in this late prehistoric period, and especially the place of Tel ʿErani as one of a growing number of sites in the southern Levant known to yield definitive evidence for the onset of its earliest complex, hierarchical societies in the first centuries of the 4th millennium b.c.e.

Alexander the Great, the royal throne and the funerary thrones of Macedonia

There is no evidence in either Greece or Macedon in the archaic and classical periods that the throne functioned as a symbol of royalty. Thrones were for the gods and their priests. Only the king of Persia used a royal throne and even had portable thrones for his campaigns. This paper argues that after his conquest of the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great adopted the throne as a royal symbol; after his death, his throne became a token of his invisible presence. Philip III Arrhidaeus is known to have used a royal throne after his return to Macedonia. By implication, the marble thrones found in three tombs at Vegina–Aegae are here understood as symbols of royalty and the tombs are interpreted as royal.

Upholding the Honour of the Crown

In this paper, I aim to advance understanding of the constitutional principle of the honour of the Crown, by evaluating legal and political dimensions of the concept. I seek to demonstrate how the honour of the Crown may obscure but also illuminate legal issues and political challenges that meaningful pursuit of reconciliation involves. I argue that once one starts to ask “Who is to uphold the honour of the Crown?” one observes opaque royal symbolism obscuring, but also framing, contested questions of governance shot through with collective coordination problems. I argue that appreciating the normative potential of the “honour of the Crown” means acknowledging that the concept figures as but one of many communicative forms that may serve to foster a more just arrangement for and among peoples.

Envisioning a No-Man’s Land: Hermitage as a Site of Exemption in Ancient and Early Medieval Indian Literature

Right from the emergence of sedentary settled society in early Indian history, there has been a perceived dichotomy between settled society (grāma) and the forest (araṇya). Though each operated more or less independently, the state gradually became aware of the forest’s resource potential and sought to establish its authority over the forest realm. Forest hermitages, the residences of ascetics who had renounced the organisation of the settled society, occupied a space between these two contrasting worlds. Hermits often acted as the agents of the settled society, a channel through which its hegemonic religious and cultural mores could enter the forest-scape. In return, the hermitages were granted certain exemptions. As ancient Indian literature shows, royal authority ended at the thresholds of the hermitages, where the king had to leave behind his royal symbols and paraphernalia. The Early Medieval period (sixth to thirteenth centuries) saw royal claims over the forest increase in India, especially as the kings started to donate forest land to various religious beneficiaries who were also granted tax exemptions. However, the idea of the hermitage as a ›no man’s land‹, exempted not only from tax but from all forms of royal authority, remained present in Early Medieval texts.

Urban daemons of early Shang: Urbanism in ancient China

Two early Shang (ca.1600–1200BCE) works of art are critical in demonstrating the thesis that Shang ritual imagery was meaningful as a royal symbol of metamorphosis, in the context of urbanization from its earliest manifestation during the Early Shang era and throughout the heyday of Shang culture. Due to the abundance of newly excavated artifacts and art and of paleographic data in the form of oracle bone inscriptions, it is possible to begin to explain Shang (ca.1600–1046BCE) religion and its artistic symbolism. As I identified in my recent book, The Meaning of the Graph Yi 異 and Its Implications for Shang Belief and Art (2008), the belief in metamorphosis yi 異 was basic to the socioreligious practice of Shang and remained key throughout Sinitic history. This belief in metamorphic power, and the artistic program to which it gave rise is recorded in two kinds of primary sources, written inscriptions and a vocabulary of standardized visual elements, both of which are analyzed in the present manuscript.

The roots of Hinduism: the early Aryans and the Indus civilization

Preface Introduction 1. Defining 'Hindu' and 'Hinduism' 2. The early Aryans 3. Indo-European linguistics 4. The Indus civilization 5. The Indus religion and the Indus script Part I: The Early Aryans 6. Proto-Indo-European homelands 7. Early Indo-Iranians on the Eurasian steppes 8. The BMAC of Central Asia and the Mitanni of Syria 9. The Rigvedic Indo-Aryans and the D?sas 10. The Asvins and Mitra-Varuna 11. The Asvins as funerary gods 12. The Atharvaveda and the Vratyas 13. The Kuru kingdom and the great epics Part II: The Indus Civilization 14. The language of the Indus civilization 15. Fertility cults in folk religion 16. Astronomy, time-reckoning and cosmology 17. Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha 18. Royal symbols from West Asia 19. The Goddess and the buffalo 20. Early Iranians and 'left-hand' Tantrism 21. Religion in the Indus script Conclusion 22. The prehistory of Indo-Aryan speech and Aryan contributions to Hinduism 23. Harappan religion in relation to West Asia and later South Asia 24. Retrospect and prospect Bibliographical notes References Index

THE RUSSIAN FACTOR IN THE KAZAKHBASHKIR RELATIONS IN THE 1ST QUARTER OF THE XVIII CENTURY

The process of incorporation of the Kazakh Hordes into the Russian Empire was complicated and lengthy. It was influenced by the interests and goals of the foreign policy of the Empire, and by the fact that Kazakh elite understood the importance of deepening trade, economic and political relations with its Northern neighbor. In the XVIII century, both joint action against the policy of the Empire and mutual raids for water sources can be identified as major activities among North-Western Kazakhstan and the Southern Urals. Bashkir tarkhans were interested in the participation of Kazakh khans and sultans in the Seit revolt in 1662 and Aldar revolt in 1704‒ 1711. Taking into account the Chinggizid origin and military achievements of Abulkhair, Bashkir tarkhans offered him to become a legitimate royal symbol of the Bashkir lands whose sovereignty from Russia he proclaimed. This article analyzes the motives of the accession of the Kazakh Junior Horde to the Russian Empire and the role the Bashkir question in this process and the interests of the Empire at the accession of the region is studied. Focuses on the participation of Kazakhs in the revolts of Bashkirs against the policy of the Empire.