Elites Religion List
A viewset for viewing and editing Elites Religions.
GET /api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=6
{ "count": 448, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=7", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=5", "results": [ { "id": 253, "polity": { "id": 134, "name": "af_ghur_principality", "long_name": "Ghur Principality", "start_year": 1025, "end_year": 1215 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“During their rise, the Ghurids patronized the Karramis, a Sunni pietistic sect whose founder, Muhammad b. Karram (d. 869), helped convert the recalcitrant Ghur from paganism to Islam. [...] In 1199, at the zenith of their political power, the Ghurid sultans broke with the Karramis, aligning themselves with the more transregional Hanafi and Shafi‘i law schools of Islam instead. The realignment can be correlated with increased cultural and diplomatic contacts with the Baghdad caliphate, especially during the lengthy reign of the Abbasid caliph Nasir (r. 1180–1225). This “international turn” was also reflected in the introduction of new coin types in the Ghazni mint in 1200, which linked the Ghurids more directly with their Sunni contemporaries in the wider Islamic world.” §REF§ Flood, F. B. (2013). Ghurids 1009–1215. In G. Böwering (Ed.), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought (pp. 193–194). Princeton University Press, 193–194. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SZ942HQB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SZ942HQB </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 254, "polity": { "id": 120, "name": "pk_kachi_pre_urban", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Pre-Urban Period", "start_year": -3200, "end_year": -2500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Based on expert advice (Alessandro Ceccarelli, 2017) that \"unknown\" is the most accurate code with regards to religious variables in this era." }, { "id": 255, "polity": { "id": 118, "name": "pk_kachi_lnl", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Ceramic Neolithic", "start_year": -5500, "end_year": -4000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Based on expert advice (Alessandro Ceccarelli, 2017) that \"unknown\" is the most accurate code with regards to religious variables in this era." }, { "id": 256, "polity": { "id": 136, "name": "pk_samma_dyn", "long_name": "Sind - Samma Dynasty", "start_year": 1335, "end_year": 1521 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“When the Ghaznavid hold in Sind weakened because of Mas'ud's difficulties, the local dynasty of Sūmrās who were Isma'ilis by faith established themselves in Sind. They were succeeded by the Sammās, a Sunnī dynasty, about 736/1335.” §REF§ Qureshi, I. H. (1977). Muslim India Before the Mughals. In A. K. S. Lambton, B. Lewis, & P. M. Holt (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Islam: The Indian Sub-Continent, South-East Asia, Africa and the Muslim West (pp. 1–34). Cambridge University Press, 26. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZUICWJZW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZUICWJZW </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 257, "polity": { "id": 135, "name": "in_delhi_sultanate", "long_name": "Delhi Sultanate", "start_year": 1206, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Nor were such appointments always conditional on the aspirant changing his religion. Very senior ones normally were and of course sultans had to be Muslim by definition […]” §REF§ (Copland et.al., 2013) Copland, Ian et. al. 2013. A History of State and Religion in India. Milton Park: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ATSZ6QBU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ATSZ6QBU </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 258, "polity": { "id": 133, "name": "pk_sind_abbasid_fatimid", "long_name": "Sind - Abbasid-Fatimid Period", "start_year": 854, "end_year": 1193 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Sect inferred from neighbouring polities. “Under pressure from the strongly orthodox Sunni new powers of the Ghaznavids and then the Ghurids in what is now Afghanistan (see above, Chapters 5 and 8), neither the Khari-jite rulers of Makran and Qusdar (who recognized no sovereign but God) nor the Multan rulers (who came to recognize the Fatimids of Egypt) were able to continue their sectarian independence much longer; they compromised by submitting when vanquished, but then reasserted their independence when left to themselves.” §REF§ Baloch, N. A. & Rafiqi, A. Q. (1998). The Regions of Sind, Baluchistan, Multan and Kashmir: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting. In M. S. Asimov & C. E. Bosworth (Eds.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Age of Achievement, A.D. 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century; Pt. I: the Historical, Social and Economic Setting (Vol. 4) (pp.297–322). UNESCO Publishing, 301. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/C7WCDV67\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: C7WCDV67 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 259, "polity": { "id": 119, "name": "pk_kachi_ca", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic", "start_year": -4000, "end_year": -3200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Based on expert advice (Alessandro Ceccarelli, 2017) that \"unknown\" is the most accurate code with regards to religious variables in this era." }, { "id": 260, "polity": { "id": 129, "name": "af_hephthalite_emp", "long_name": "Hephthalite Empire", "start_year": 408, "end_year": 561 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 212, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hephthalite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Information about the religion of the Hephthalites is provided by the Chinese sources. Sung Yun reports that in Tokharistan ‘the majority of them do not believe in Buddhism. Most of them worship wai-shen or ‘foreign gods’. He makes almost identical remarks about the Hephthalites of Gandhara, saying that they honour kui-shen (demons). The manuscript of the Liang Shu (Book 54) contain important evidence: ‘[the Hephthalites] worship T’ien-shen or [the] heaven god and Huo-shen or [the] fire god. Every morning they first go outside [of their tents] and pray to [the] gods and then take breakfast.’ For the Chinese observer, the heaven god and fire god were evidently foreign gods. We have no evidence of the specific content of these religious beliefs but it is quite possible that they belonged to the Iranian (or Indo-Iranian) group.” §REF§ (Litvinsky 1992, 147) Litvinsky, B.A. 1992. ‘The Hephthalite Empire’ In History of Civilizations of Central Asia Vol. 3. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7MTFU42T\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7MTFU42T </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 261, "polity": { "id": 117, "name": "pk_kachi_enl", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Aceramic Neolithic", "start_year": -7500, "end_year": -5500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Based on expert advice (Alessandro Ceccarelli, 2017) that \"unknown\" is the most accurate code with regards to religious variables in this era." }, { "id": 262, "polity": { "id": 137, "name": "af_durrani_emp", "long_name": "Durrani Empire", "start_year": 1747, "end_year": 1826 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "” Ahmad Shah’s decision not to directly integrate the peripheral areas into the Perso-Islamic structure proved costly. When the Durranids faced the issue of political succession, tribes in Punjab and Peshawar regularly switched their allegiances and sided with the British Army. Moreover, his administration barely interfered with the lifeways of the eastern Pashtuns who had a distinctly egalitarian structure communitas that centered on noble lineage and kinship (Turner 2011, 360). To preserve a degree of unity, Ahmad Shah, “used Islam to legitimate his power and relied on a feudal system,” which means that the day- to-day authority fell in the hands of local ulema, who with the help of the local khans created an atmosphere that kept the status quo (Mousavi 1997, 3). With the absence of provincial government, the ulema wielded power through the patronage networks that regenerated the same sociocultural milieu.” §REF§ (Fazel 2017, 109) Fazel, Solaiman M. ETHNOHISTORY OF THE QIZILBASH IN KABUL: MIGRATION, STATE, AND A SHI’A MINORITY. (PhD Thesis – Indiana University). Seshat URL: Zotero Link §REF§" }, { "id": 263, "polity": { "id": 125, "name": "ir_parthian_emp_1", "long_name": "Parthian Empire I", "start_year": -247, "end_year": 40 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 28, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zoroastrianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Since, moreover, it is politically expedient for ruler and ruled to be of one faith, it may reasonably be assumed that, at least from the time they seized power, the Arsacids were professed Zoroastrians.” §REF§ (Boyce 2012, online) Mary, Boyce, “ARSACIDS iv. Arsacid religion,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, II/5, pp. 540-541, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-iv (accessed on 30 December 2012). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DGMIWEDZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DGMIWEDZ </b></a>§REF§“There is neither proof of the Arsacid rulers ’ religious orientation nor any indication that the kings of kings interfered with the various cults. The simultaneous reverence of such a diversity of traditional Mesopotamian, Greek, Arab, and Iranian, as well as monotheistic gods which is mirrored in the diversity of local temple architecture (Downey 1988 ), makes the Arsacid period a most interesting field for research.” §REF§ (Hauser 2012, 1016) Stefan R Hauser, 2012. “The Arsacid (Parthian) Empire”, in Daniel T. Potts (ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Oxford/New York: Wiley-Blackwell 2012, 1001–1020. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GEH35732\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GEH35732 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 264, "polity": { "id": 148, "name": "jp_kamakura", "long_name": "Kamakura Shogunate", "start_year": 1185, "end_year": 1333 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 213, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto-Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB The term \"Shinto-Buddhism\" is an attempt at reflecting the complementarity of Buddhism and Kami worship in Japanese religious beliefs and practices at this time. We are open to alternative suggestions from experts.\r\n\r\nNBB It may not be appropriate to use the name “Shinto” to label indigenous Japanese religious beliefs and practices in this era. “That being said, however, it remains extremely difficult to discuss Shinto in the ages before the term itself is widely used, that is, from the fifteenth century on. Up to that point, Shinto is a collective designation for jingi, state-sponsored Kami rites, and miscellaneous Kami cults. This usage is inevitably imprecise and unsatisfactory in various ways. To uphold the significance of institutional, social, and ritual continuities forces one to struggle for clarity where little is to be found, but others have also accepted this challenge.” §REF§(Hardacre 2017: 44) Hardacre, H. Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hardacre/titleCreatorYear/items/7RP3IRVR/item-list §REF§\r\n\r\n“Zen Buddhism was heavily patronized by the military, especially the samurai, because of its emphasis on physical and mental discipline and its distain of wealth, luxury and materialism. Courage and composure were also emphasized. Samurai took advantage of their high position in the medieval pyramid and promoted Zen to people of all stations. The shogun, who also respected the samurai, began promoting it as well. By the time the Tokugawa Era began in 1603, Zen had become almost a state sponsored religion.\" §REF§ (Symonds, 27) Symonds, Shannon. 2005. A History of Japanese Religion: From Ancient Times to Present. New York: State University of New York Repository. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2RAFS9A4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2RAFS9A4 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Popular religion usually has reverberations in both the elite and folk worlds, and certainly draws believers from both, as well as from those of middle class and moderate sophis- tication, such as the warriors, traders, and townsmen whom the middle ages thrust to the forefront of the historical stage. Kamakura Buddhism was not the only popular Buddhism in Japanese history, but it was the first, opening up a whole new range of religious possibilities for individuals regardless of social or clerical status. […] the social and religious elite began to place heavy reliance upon the grace of certain transcendent powers which then became objects of popular devotion. All were unworthy, but all could be saved. This break- through was to bring great changes in Buddhist leadership, social organization, practice, and proselyting techniques.” §REF§ (Foard, 268-9) Foard, James. 1980. ‘In Search of a Lost Reformation: A Reconsideration of Kamakura Buddhism’. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Vol. 7.4. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T9TSI8C9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T9TSI8C9 </b></a>§REF§ \r\n\r\n“Important government positions were monopolized by a few families, and many aristocrats and members of the literati could not find positions appropriate to their skills, even when they possessed superior ability and extensive knowledge. Individuals frustrated by this situation began to show greater interest in Buddhism. They were attracted to its teaching of the relative and conditional nature of this world and to its goal of transcending it. They studied Buddhism's complex doctrines, which up to that time had been the exclusive pursuit of scholar-priests. Aristocrats and the literati sought out priests to lecture on the scriptures, particularly priests active outside the temples. These events paved the way for Kamakura's new movements to appear in Buddhist history.” §REF§ (Kazuo, 545) Kazuo, Osumi. 2008. ‘Buddhism in the Kamakura Period’. In The Cambridge history of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by John W. Hall et. al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BXU2MSF6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BXU2MSF6 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“The resurgence of Buddhist scholasticism was part of the broader current of scholarly pursuits in elite society.” §REF§ (Kazuo, 568) Kazuo, Osumi. 2008. ‘Buddhism in the Kamakura Period’. In The Cambridge history of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by John W. Hall et. al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BXU2MSF6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BXU2MSF6 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 265, "polity": { "id": 148, "name": "jp_kamakura", "long_name": "Kamakura Shogunate", "start_year": 1185, "end_year": 1333 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 7, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mahayana Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB Zen Buddhism is a form of Mahayana Buddhism. “Zen Buddhism was heavily patronized by the military, especially the samurai, because of its emphasis on physical and mental discipline and its distain of wealth, luxury and materialism. Courage and composure were also emphasized. Samurai took advantage of their high position in the medieval pyramid and promoted Zen to people of all stations. The shogun, who also respected the samurai, began promoting it as well. By the time the Tokugawa Era began in 1603, Zen had become almost a state sponsored religion.\" §REF§ (Symonds, 27) Symonds, Shannon. 2005. A History of Japanese Religion: From Ancient Times to Present. New York: State University of New York Repository. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2RAFS9A4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2RAFS9A4 </b></a>§REF§“Popular religion usually has reverberations in both the elite and folk worlds, and certainly draws believers from both, as well as from those of middle class and moderate sophis- tication, such as the warriors, traders, and townsmen whom the middle ages thrust to the forefront of the historical stage. Kamakura Buddhism was not the only popular Buddhism in Japanese history, but it was the first, opening up a whole new range of religious possibilities for individuals regardless of social or clerical status. […] the social and religious elite began to place heavy reliance upon the grace of certain transcendent powers which then became objects of popular devotion. All were unworthy, but all could be saved. This break- through was to bring great changes in Buddhist leadership, social organization, practice, and proselyting techniques.” §REF§ (Foard, 268-9) Foard, James. 1980. ‘In Search of a Lost Reformation: A Reconsideration of Kamakura Buddhism’. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Vol. 7.4. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T9TSI8C9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T9TSI8C9 </b></a>§REF§ “Important government positions were monopolized by a few families, and many aristocrats and members of the literati could not find positions appropriate to their skills, even when they possessed superior ability and extensive knowledge. Individuals frustrated by this situation began to show greater interest in Buddhism. They were attracted to its teaching of the relative and conditional nature of this world and to its goal of transcending it. They studied Buddhism's complex doctrines, which up to that time had been the exclusive pursuit of scholar-priests. Aristocrats and the literati sought out priests to lecture on the scriptures, particularly priests active outside the temples. These events paved the way for Kamakura's new movements to appear in Buddhist history.” §REF§ (Kazuo, 545) Kazuo, Osumi. 2008. ‘Buddhism in the Kamakura Period’. In The Cambridge history of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by John W. Hall et. al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BXU2MSF6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BXU2MSF6 </b></a>§REF§“The resurgence of Buddhist scholasticism was part of the broader current of scholarly pursuits in elite society.” §REF§ (Kazuo, 568) Kazuo, Osumi. 2008. ‘Buddhism in the Kamakura Period’. In The Cambridge history of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by John W. Hall et. al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BXU2MSF6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BXU2MSF6 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 266, "polity": { "id": 143, "name": "jp_jomon_6", "long_name": "Japan - Final Jomon", "start_year": -1200, "end_year": -300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 214, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Jomon Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ritual specialists, if they existed, are thought to have been part-time, although some scholars, notably Watanabe Hitoshi (1998) consider that they may have represented a class of person in whom a certain stratification of authority and power may have been embodied. Certain burials, for example one from Yamaga in Kyushu, with shell armlets and jadeite axes, are cited as evidence for this (Kobayashi 2004). The ceramic figures and pottery masks, and the intriguing emerging representative designs embedded in many of the Jomon cooking vessels, suggest a concern with transformation and the awareness of the potential to take on different personalities.” §REF§ (Kaner 2011, 461) Kaner, Simon. 2011. ‘The Archaeology of religion and Ritual in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago’. In Oxford handbook of Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Edited by Timothy Insoll. Oxford: Oxford University press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UGIIIFKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UGIIIFKQ </b></a> §REF§ “The second theme is that various ritual practices, from burial with grave goods to the construction of stone-built monuments, were expressions of social power rather than ritual power or religious authority. This theme is at the forefront of discussions by scholars such as Junko Habu and Oki Nakamura who have argued that there was a degree of inherited, or ascribed, social status in the Jomon period, and that the primary function of ritual practice was to express and legitimate this ascribed status. There remains considerable disagreement about this (Habu 2004).” §REF§ (Kaner 2011, 461) Kaner, Simon. 2011. ‘The Archaeology of religion and Ritual in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago’. In Oxford Handbook of Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Edited by Timothy Insoll. Oxford: Oxford University press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UGIIIFKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UGIIIFKQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 267, "polity": { "id": 147, "name": "jp_heian", "long_name": "Heian", "start_year": 794, "end_year": 1185 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 213, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto-Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB The term \"Shinto-Buddhism\" is an attempt at reflecting the complementarity of Buddhism and Kami worship in Japanese religious beliefs and practices at this time. We are open to alternative suggestions from experts.\r\n\r\nNBB It may not be appropriate to use the name “Shinto” to label indigenous Japanese religious beliefs and practices in this era. “That being said, however, it remains extremely difficult to discuss Shinto in the ages before the term itself is widely used, that is, from the fifteenth century on. Up to that point, Shinto is a collective designation for jingi, state-sponsored Kami rites, and miscellaneous Kami cults. This usage is inevitably imprecise and unsatisfactory in various ways. To uphold the significance of institutional, social, and ritual continuities forces one to struggle for clarity where little is to be found, but others have also accepted this challenge.” §REF§(Hardacre 2017: 44) Hardacre, H. Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hardacre/titleCreatorYear/items/7RP3IRVR/item-list §REF§\r\n\r\n“The complex religious situation of the Heian period was dramatically reflected in the various kinds of divinities venerated in accordance with different types of religious affirmations on the part of the people. Among these divinities were Amida (Amitābha,”the Buddha of Infinite Light”), who was the favorite Buddha among the aristocrats, and Jizō (the bodhisattva who saves the souls of the dead from suffering in hell), who found many devotees among the masses.” §REF§ (Kitigawa 1990, 73) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1990. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPHNZGTT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KPHNZGTT </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“The clergy were the only class of men who had as much standing as the aristocrats in terms of court tank, economic power, and learning, without necessarily having the same high family background. In principle the clergy were men of religious faith and training, and their prestige was not derived from the historic causality of lineage. But the situation during the Heian period made the priesthood the only available channel of upward mobility, so that many men “entered temples not in search for truth but in quest for worldly riches and privileges. Actually, religious institutions became more and more influential as they acquired status as great landowners.” §REF§ (Kitigawa 1990, 55) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1990. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPHNZGTT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KPHNZGTT </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Many aristocratic families donated quarters to the clergy as well as land to temples in order to maintain de facto control over the properties ostensibly set aside for pious purposes. In other words, the aristocracy and the clergy needed each other for their mutual benefit, and they supported each other.” §REF§ (Kitigawa 1990, 57) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1990. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPHNZGTT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KPHNZGTT </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“ […] the Tendai school prospered under its abbots of aristocratic origin, through the lucrative income of its manors, and through the powerful arms of the ‘warrior priests’. §REF§ (Kitigawa 1990, 79) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1990. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPHNZGTT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KPHNZGTT </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“The aristocrats of the Fujiwara period were notoriously superstitious, and they enjoined every incantation and magico-religious rite. The Hōjō temple, dedicated by Fujiwara Michinaga to the repose of his own soul, enshrined all possible Buddhist divinities.” §REF§ (Kitigawa 1990, 80) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1990. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPHNZGTT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KPHNZGTT </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 268, "polity": { "id": 151, "name": "jp_azuchi_momoyama", "long_name": "Japan - Azuchi-Momoyama", "start_year": 1568, "end_year": 1603 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 213, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto-Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Zen monks consorted with shoguns, emperors, shugo, provincial warriors, sengoku daimyo, townspeople, artists and entertainers, and peasants. They were among the spiritual pioneers and leading educators of the time, spreading not only the Buddhist meditation practice of zazen but also a broader understanding of Buddhism in general and of Chinese and Japanese secular culture.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 652) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ “With Nobunaga’s active encouragement, Kirishitan spread not only among the poor and oppressed but also among the educated and well to do, including high ranking warriors and their wives.” §REF§ (Kitagawa, 142) Kitagawa, Joseph. 1966. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5H6CUE8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Z5H6CUE8 </b></a>§REF§ “Hideyoshi had witnessed on the spot the inroads that Christianity had made into the nobility and the populace of Kyushu, and this made him all the more concerned about the number and the religious fervor of the Jesuits' converts in his own close entourage. These included such prominent figures as Dom Leao Gamo Ujisato (1556-95), Dom Agostinho Konishi, and Dom Simeao Kuroda, not to speak of Dom Justo Takayama. The last-named daimyo, thoroughly \"Jesuited\" from his youth, had made himself notorious by the forced Christianization of his domains in the Kansai area, first at Takatsuki and then, after 1585, at Akashi.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 361) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 269, "polity": { "id": 151, "name": "jp_azuchi_momoyama", "long_name": "Japan - Azuchi-Momoyama", "start_year": 1568, "end_year": 1603 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Zen monks consorted with shoguns, emperors, shugo, provincial warriors, sengoku daimyo, townspeople, artists and entertainers, and peasants. They were among the spiritual pioneers and leading educators of the time, spreading not only the Buddhist meditation practice of zazen but also a broader understanding of Buddhism in general and of Chinese and Japanese secular culture.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 652) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ “With Nobunaga’s active encouragement, Kirishitan spread not only among the poor and oppressed but also among the educated and well to do, including high ranking warriors and their wives.” §REF§ (Kitagawa, 142) Kitagawa, Joseph. 1966. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5H6CUE8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Z5H6CUE8 </b></a>§REF§ “Hideyoshi had witnessed on the spot the inroads that Christianity had made into the nobility and the populace of Kyushu, and this made him all the more concerned about the number and the religious fervor of the Jesuits' converts in his own close entourage. These included such prominent figures as Dom Leao Gamo Ujisato (1556-95), Dom Agostinho Konishi, and Dom Simeao Kuroda, not to speak of Dom Justo Takayama. The last-named daimyo, thoroughly \"Jesuited\" from his youth, had made himself notorious by the forced Christianization of his domains in the Kansai area, first at Takatsuki and then, after 1585, at Akashi.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 361) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 270, "polity": { "id": 150, "name": "jp_sengoku_jidai", "long_name": "Warring States Japan", "start_year": 1467, "end_year": 1568 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 213, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto-Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Most of the following quotes demonstrate instances of elites converting to Christianity, for various reasons. It is inferred that all are converting from Mahayana Buddhism/Shinto and that a vast majority remain so. “The cause of Kirishitan (as Roman Catholicism was then called in Japanese) was greatly aided by a strongman, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), who succeeded in taking control of the capital in 1568. […] Nevertheless, by the time Nobunaga was assassinated, 150,000 Japanese Catholics, including several daimyo, were reported to be among the Japanese population.” §REF§ (Kitigawa, 24) Kitigawa, Joseph. 2002. ‘Japanese Religion’. In The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture. Edited by: Joseph Kitigawa. London and New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N7RF7C5P\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: N7RF7C5P </b></a>§REF§ “The inquisition, which took place in Nara in the early summer of 1563, had startling results. Charged by Hisahide with establishing what he assumed - the presence of religious depravity - were two of the day's most highly reputed scholars, the astronomer Yuki Yamashiro no Kami Tadamasa and none other than Ouchi Yoshitaka's former Confucian tutor, Kiyohara Ekata. On the basis of the evidence they heard, both judges accepted the truth of Christianity and requested to be baptized. The delator of the missionaries, Takayama Zusho, also embraced their new religion.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 320) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “Of the three conversions, Takayama Zusho's was the most important. When this samurai led his entire family to baptism in 1564, he not only committed himself to the service of Japan's early church, but he also introduced into its ranks a young recruit who would become one of its greatest representatives. This recruit was Zusho's - or, to call him by his Christian name, Dom Dario Takayama's - son Ukon (Dom Justo). Takayama Ukon would develop into the Jesuits' prize pupil even as he pursued the bloody career of a Sengoku and Momoyama warlord. […] Toward the end of spring in 1564, Lourenco (a biwa hoshi, or blind jongleur, converted by Xavier) visited Iimoriyama, and the passionate sermons of this experienced public preacher swayed no fewer than seventy-three of Nagayoshi's bushi to become Christians. Included among them were some of Nagayoshi's principal vassals […] The baptisms of this elite group were a major breakthrough, as they put the mission of the Kyoto area on a solid footing. Men such as the Yuki, Takayama, and Sanga were to prove true stalwarts of Christianity in the difficult years ahead. They are especially worthy of note because, unlike some of the barons of Kyushu, these samurai were untouched by the motive of temporal profit when they converted. Instead, they appear to have been genuinely moved by the ethos of the Christian religion.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 320-321) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “At Almeida's behest, a Portuguese ship's pilot in 1561 conducted secret soundings of Yokoseura (now a part of Saikai-cho, Nagasaki Prefecture), a harbor located at the northern tip of the west Sonogi peninsula and belonging to the territory of Omura Sumitada (1533-87). When Yokoseura was found to be a suitable port for the nao, Sumitada was approached with the suggestion that if he agreed to turn Christian and \"permit the law of God to be preached in his land, great spiritual and temporal profits would follow for him therefrom.\" Sumitada was apparently more than willing to strike a bargain, for he promised \"that he would give the harbor of Yocoxiura itself to the Church, so that a large Christian community might arise there, in whose houses the Portuguese traders and their merchandise could be sheltered securely; and that if the Portuguese would come to the aforesaid harbor, he would exempt them and free them of duties for a period of ten years. In 1562, the bargain was made perfect when the Jesuits not only arranged for the Great Ship of Pero Barreto Rolim to come to Yokoseura but also caused another nao and a Portuguese junk from Macao to be brought round from Hirado, where they had already berthed, to Sumitada's harbor. Three more Portuguese ships visited Yokoseura in 1563. In late May or early June of that year, Omura Sumitada was baptized, taking the Christian name Bartolomeu. Reference works universally call him Japan's first Christian daimyo.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 323) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “Zen monks consorted with shoguns, emperors, shugo, provincial warriors, sengoku daimyo, townspeople, artists and entertainers, and peasants. They were among the spiritual pioneers and leading educators of the time, spreading not only the Buddhist meditation practice of zazen but also a broader understanding of Buddhism in general and of Chinese and Japanese secular culture.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 652) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ Although Shinto was largely enmeshed with Buddhism at this time, this quote suggests a splitting that will become more realised in a following centuries. “Shinto continued to differentiate itself from Buddhism. During the Warring States Era, thinkers articulated new doctrines and sought funds for the reconstruction of several shrines. They claimed that their Shinto was Japan’s original faith, grounded in certain esoteric rituals and texts. By the late 1500s, the leading lineages controlling the lands throughout Ise and Mount Yoshida granted licenses to shrine officials throughout Japan.[…] “§REF§ (Farris, 186) Farris, William Wayne. 2009. Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ANZMF89I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ANZMF89I </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 271, "polity": { "id": 150, "name": "jp_sengoku_jidai", "long_name": "Warring States Japan", "start_year": 1467, "end_year": 1568 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Most of the following quotes demonstrate instances of elites converting to Christianity, for various reasons. It is inferred that all are converting from Mahayana Buddhism/Shinto and that a vast majority remain so. “The cause of Kirishitan (as Roman Catholicism was then called in Japanese) was greatly aided by a strongman, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), who succeeded in taking control of the capital in 1568. […] Nevertheless, by the time Nobunaga was assassinated, 150,000 Japanese Catholics, including several daimyo, were reported to be among the Japanese population.” §REF§ (Kitigawa, 24) Kitigawa, Joseph. 2002. ‘Japanese Religion’. In The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture. Edited by: Joseph Kitigawa. London and New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N7RF7C5P\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: N7RF7C5P </b></a>§REF§ “The inquisition, which took place in Nara in the early summer of 1563, had startling results. Charged by Hisahide with establishing what he assumed - the presence of religious depravity - were two of the day's most highly reputed scholars, the astronomer Yuki Yamashiro no Kami Tadamasa and none other than Ouchi Yoshitaka's former Confucian tutor, Kiyohara Ekata. On the basis of the evidence they heard, both judges accepted the truth of Christianity and requested to be baptized. The delator of the missionaries, Takayama Zusho, also embraced their new religion.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 320) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “Of the three conversions, Takayama Zusho's was the most important. When this samurai led his entire family to baptism in 1564, he not only committed himself to the service of Japan's early church, but he also introduced into its ranks a young recruit who would become one of its greatest representatives. This recruit was Zusho's - or, to call him by his Christian name, Dom Dario Takayama's - son Ukon (Dom Justo). Takayama Ukon would develop into the Jesuits' prize pupil even as he pursued the bloody career of a Sengoku and Momoyama warlord. […] Toward the end of spring in 1564, Lourenco (a biwa hoshi, or blind jongleur, converted by Xavier) visited Iimoriyama, and the passionate sermons of this experienced public preacher swayed no fewer than seventy-three of Nagayoshi's bushi to become Christians. Included among them were some of Nagayoshi's principal vassals […] The baptisms of this elite group were a major breakthrough, as they put the mission of the Kyoto area on a solid footing. Men such as the Yuki, Takayama, and Sanga were to prove true stalwarts of Christianity in the difficult years ahead. They are especially worthy of note because, unlike some of the barons of Kyushu, these samurai were untouched by the motive of temporal profit when they converted. Instead, they appear to have been genuinely moved by the ethos of the Christian religion.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 320-321) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “At Almeida's behest, a Portuguese ship's pilot in 1561 conducted secret soundings of Yokoseura (now a part of Saikai-cho, Nagasaki Prefecture), a harbor located at the northern tip of the west Sonogi peninsula and belonging to the territory of Omura Sumitada (1533-87). When Yokoseura was found to be a suitable port for the nao, Sumitada was approached with the suggestion that if he agreed to turn Christian and \"permit the law of God to be preached in his land, great spiritual and temporal profits would follow for him therefrom.\" Sumitada was apparently more than willing to strike a bargain, for he promised \"that he would give the harbor of Yocoxiura itself to the Church, so that a large Christian community might arise there, in whose houses the Portuguese traders and their merchandise could be sheltered securely; and that if the Portuguese would come to the aforesaid harbor, he would exempt them and free them of duties for a period of ten years. In 1562, the bargain was made perfect when the Jesuits not only arranged for the Great Ship of Pero Barreto Rolim to come to Yokoseura but also caused another nao and a Portuguese junk from Macao to be brought round from Hirado, where they had already berthed, to Sumitada's harbor. Three more Portuguese ships visited Yokoseura in 1563. In late May or early June of that year, Omura Sumitada was baptized, taking the Christian name Bartolomeu. Reference works universally call him Japan's first Christian daimyo.” §REF§ (Elisonas, 323) Elisonas, Jurgis. 2008. ‘Christianity and the daimyo’. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GT7KKI4B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GT7KKI4B </b></a>§REF§ “Zen monks consorted with shoguns, emperors, shugo, provincial warriors, sengoku daimyo, townspeople, artists and entertainers, and peasants. They were among the spiritual pioneers and leading educators of the time, spreading not only the Buddhist meditation practice of zazen but also a broader understanding of Buddhism in general and of Chinese and Japanese secular culture.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 652) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ Although Shinto was largely enmeshed with Buddhism at this time, this quote suggests a splitting that will become more realised in a following centuries. “Shinto continued to differentiate itself from Buddhism. During the Warring States Era, thinkers articulated new doctrines and sought funds for the reconstruction of several shrines. They claimed that their Shinto was Japan’s original faith, grounded in certain esoteric rituals and texts. By the late 1500s, the leading lineages controlling the lands throughout Ise and Mount Yoshida granted licenses to shrine officials throughout Japan.[…] “§REF§ (Farris, 186) Farris, William Wayne. 2009. Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ANZMF89I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ANZMF89I </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 272, "polity": { "id": 149, "name": "jp_ashikaga", "long_name": "Ashikaga Shogunate", "start_year": 1336, "end_year": 1467 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 7, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mahayana Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Rinzai Zen […] found avid patrons at court and among the Muromachi shoguns.” §REF§ (Farris, 155) Farris, William Wayne. 2009. Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ANZMF89I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ANZMF89I </b></a>§REF§ “The development of the gozan institution was of great significance, not merely for the diffusion of Zen, but also for the cultural, political, and economic life of the age. Gozan monasteries had as their patrons members of the warrior and courtly elites. They were major landholders and collectively were one of the largest holders of private domain (shoen)interests in medieval Japan. Their monks, who must be counted among the intellectuals of the age, were well versed in Chinese culture as well as in Zen and served as cultural and political advisers to shoguns and emperors besides being mentors in Zen to the sons and daughters of warrior families.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 598) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ “By the mid-fourteenth century it was obvious to the shugo and other provincial warrior families that Rinzai Zen was politically very much in the ascendant and that the Ashikaga and members of the imperial family were showing particular favor to those lineages of Rinzai Zen that were represented in the newly designated gozan,jissatsu,and shozan monasteries. As vassals of the Ashikaga, the shugo were encour- aged to establish Zen monasteries in their provinces, and they found it politically expedient to have those monasteries ranked as jissatsu or shozan4 In doing so they were not only winning favor with the bakufu; they were also opening up channels of communication with the capital and doors for the advancement of those of their offspring who chose to enter the Zen monastic life. Socially, by installing prestigious Zen monks from the gozan schools as heads of their family temples (ujidera), the shugo hoped to raise their own local prestige among the warrior famines in their province and perhaps contribute to a greater sense of cohesion among their family members and vassals.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 602) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§ “As a new, growing, and generously patronized institution, the gozan monastic population swelled rapidly from the late thirteenth century. The novelty of Zen practice, the fame of Chinese Ch'an masters, the reputations of Japanese monks like Enni, Muso, and Gido Shushin (1325-88), the splendor of the new gozan monasteries, their close ties with the warrior elite and the imperial court, and their cultural style all helped draw monks away from other branches of Buddhism and convince provincial warriors that their younger sons could find advancement in the gozan cloisters.” §REF§ (Collcutt, 608) Collcutt, Martin. 2008. ‘Zen and the gozan’. In Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan. Edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TV6ENUR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9TV6ENUR </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 273, "polity": { "id": 263, "name": "jp_nara", "long_name": "Nara Kingdom", "start_year": 710, "end_year": 794 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 213, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto-Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB The term \"Shinto-Buddhism\" is an attempt at reflecting the complementarity of Buddhism and Kami worship in Japanese religious beliefs and practices at this time. We are open to alternative suggestions from experts.\r\n\r\nNBB It may not be appropriate to use the name “Shinto” to label indigenous Japanese religious beliefs and practices in this era. “That being said, however, it remains extremely difficult to discuss Shinto in the ages before the term itself is widely used, that is, from the fifteenth century on. Up to that point, Shinto is a collective designation for jingi, state-sponsored Kami rites, and miscellaneous Kami cults. This usage is inevitably imprecise and unsatisfactory in various ways. To uphold the significance of institutional, social, and ritual continuities forces one to struggle for clarity where little is to be found, but others have also accepted this challenge.” §REF§(Hardacre 2017: 44) Hardacre, H. Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hardacre/titleCreatorYear/items/7RP3IRVR/item-list §REF§\r\n\r\n“The religious situation in Japan during the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries witnessed the gradual emergence of the priestly ‘privileged class’, in both the Shinto and Buddhist folds, often competing in power and wealth with the greedy court nobility. […] At the turn of the eighth century a department of Shinto affairs was established side by side with the great council of state. Chieftains of the hereditary Shinto priest families thus became bureaucratic government officials with graded court rank and prescribed duties.” §REF§ (Kitagawa, 31-33) Kitagawa, Joseph. 1966. Religion in Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5H6CUE8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Z5H6CUE8 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Because of the excessive support of religion and culture by the court, which benefited only the aristocracy, the capital of Nara during the second half of the eighth century was doomed by political corruption, ecclesiastical intrigue, and financial bankruptcy.” §REF§ (Kitagawa, 15) Kitagawa, Joseph. 1966. Japanese Religion. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Z5H6CUE8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Z5H6CUE8 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Buddhism became a status symbol, not a truly devout religion. Its priests became addicted to luxury and the power given to them by the central government.” §REF§ (Symonds, 20) Symonds, Shannon. 2005. A History of Japanese Religion: From Ancient Times to Present. New York: State University of New York Repository. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2RAFS9A4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2RAFS9A4 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Consort Komyo, the wife to Shomu, held immense political and economic power in her day, spending lavishly on Buddhist temples […] and numerous sutra-copying projects.” §REF§ (Farris, 44) Farris, William Wayne. 2009. Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: §REF§“As differentiated as the social pyramid was, people of all classes shared similarly practical religious beliefs. They petitioned for the safe delivery of a child, gave thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, and prayed for a long life and prosperity. These fundamental urges were just as much a part of the Buddhism of the time as the native cult.” §REF§ (Farris, 49) Farris, William Wayne. 2009. Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ANZMF89I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ANZMF89I </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 274, "polity": { "id": 145, "name": "jp_kofun", "long_name": "Kansai - Kofun Period", "start_year": 250, "end_year": 537 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 217, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Kofun religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB None of the consulted sources refer to any belief system from this time as \"Kofun religion\". Indeed, none of the sources consulted really name indigenous Japanese belief systems. In the absence of a name, we have tentatively named the belief system after the common name for this phase of Japanese history. Needless to say we are open to the possibility of replacing this name with anything an expert would consider more appropriate.\r\n\r\n“The tide of immigrants produced a division within Japan between clans with chieftains whose spiritual authority rested upon continental (including Buddhist) rites, and “native” groups whose leadership rested on the performance of rites for the Kami. Immigrants were associated with advanced Chinese techniques of construction, the technology for making iron tools and weapons, and the bureaucratic skills necessary to manage large estates and governmental affairs. These groups took the lead in introducing and supporting Buddhism, which provided the religious basis for their own authority. By contrast, the “native” clans were associated with agriculture and drew their religious legitimation from the performance of agriculturally based rites for the Kami. The immigrant clans increasingly built Buddhist temples and sponsored Buddhist rites there, while the native clans worshipped the Kami in shrines, built in imitation of Buddhism’s permanent structures. This division of society, combined with the determination of the Yamato rulers to remain in control of the whole, lay in the background of the late sixth-century struggle over the official adoption of Buddhist ritual into the court, to be discussed later.”§REF§(Hardacre 2017: 24-25) Hardacre, H. Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hardacre/titleCreatorYear/items/7RP3IRVR/item-list §REF§\r\n\r\n“Within the domestic context, ritual spaces became increasingly formalized within distinct elite residential compounds. Liminal areas, including offshore islands, perhaps most notably Okinoshima (Matsumae 1993), and mountains, such as Mount Miwa in Nara Prefecture, became the foci of cult activities involving the deposition of a range of ritual material culture. These developments reflect new cosmological beliefs expressing how the newly emergent paramount rulers saw their place in the world and beyond. The final resting places of the deceased elite were protected by terracotta tomb guardians, set up around the flanks of the great tombs (Maison 2001). Although the earliest Japanese quasi-historical chronicles, the Kojiki (Philippi 1977) and the Nihongi, also known as the Nihon Shoki (Aston 1972), were only written down in the eighth century and were undoubtedly coloured by the viewpoint of the ruling lineage whose rule they sought to legitimate, they provide important evidence for the nature of belief and cult activity during the period of the tombs and during this time, ritual authority accrued to the rulers themselves.” §REF§ (Kaner 2011, 464-465) Kaner, Simon. 2011. ‘The Archaeology of Religion and Ritual in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago’. In Oxford Handbook of Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Edited by Timothy Insoll. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UGIIIFKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UGIIIFKQ </b></a> §REF§ \r\n\r\n“In 1971, archaeologists investigated sites on and around the sacred mountain, unearthing offerings and religious symbols that point to a close link between the rule of Yamato's first kings and the worship of Mt. Miwa's kami. With incontestable proof of early connections between the new Yamato kingdom and the ancient worship of a kami residing on Mt. Miwa, scholars now see deeper levels of historical meaning in myths that affirm sacred ties between the Yamato kings and particular kami, especially in myths centered on King Sujin, who is thought to have been buried in the fifth Shiki mound. […] The sacred connection between the early Yamato kings and the kami residing on Mt. Miwa is the subject of another myth recorded in both the Nihon shoki and the Kojiki, but with differences. In the Nihon shoki we read of a love affair between the kami of Mt. Miwa and a princess named Yamato Totohi Momoso. §REF§ (Brown 1993, 117) Brown, Delmer. 1993. ‘The Yamato Kingdom. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan. Edited by Delmer E. Brown. Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5FDFQIWT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5FDFQIWT </b></a> §REF§ \r\n\r\n“Just as the Yamato kings buried before about A.D. 350 at the base of Mt. Miwa were thought to have had sacred ties with kami residing on that sacred mountain, and those buried farther north between about 350 and 400 were linked with the Isonokami Shrine, the fifth-century kings of Kawachi and Izumi had mythological and ritual ties with the kami enshrined at Sumiyoshi, even though the secular functions of kings had become more important than their sacral functions. […] Although the prosperity and expansion of fifth-century Yamato must have made members of the court's governing elite more interested in secular affairs than in kami mysteries, persons in high places were surely impelled - at those early stages of thought and belief concerning group leadership - to reinforce their authority with affirmations of belief in the kami that had a mysterious power to dispense benefits at crucial times and places. The Yamato kings of that day were constantly immersed in the task of obtaining materials, techniques, and technicians from - and establishing military and administrative control over - lands located along and beyond the Inland Sea. And for such endeavors the position and character of Sumiyoshi kami were propitious: The shrine faced the sea, and its kami, believed to have sacred ties to the Yamato king line of descent, were thought to possess a strange and marvelous power to make any overseas venture successful.” §REF§ (Brown 1993, 130-131) Brown, Delmer. 1993. ‘The Yamato Kingdom. In The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan. Edited by Delmer E. Brown. Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5FDFQIWT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5FDFQIWT </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 275, "polity": { "id": 152, "name": "jp_tokugawa_shogunate", "long_name": "Tokugawa Shogunate", "start_year": 1603, "end_year": 1868 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 215, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“National Shintō centered around the court and person of the emperor.” §REF§ (Bellah 1957, 54) Bellah, Robert. 1957. Tokugawa Religion. Glencoe: The Free Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7EWWEIP8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7EWWEIP8 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 276, "polity": { "id": 146, "name": "jp_asuka", "long_name": "Asuka", "start_year": 538, "end_year": 710 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“ […] because of the preoccupation on the part of Buddhist leaders with the upper strata of society, the masses in Japan had to depend on pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religious leaders.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 222) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§“In the end, it was the reputed worldly benefits of Buddhism which attracted the chieftain of the Soga clan, and he secured the court’s sanction to adhere to Buddhism as the religion of his clan.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 156) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§ “As far as the imperial court was concerned, it had several hereditary Shinto priestly families – the Nakatomi, the Imbe, the Sarume, etc. […] while other priestly families associated with the court were given graded court rank, the Nakatomi family enjoyed the highest rank and dominated the Department of Shinto Affairs, which was considered more important than the great Council of State.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 152) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§“Even though Shōtoku was idealized as the paragon of Buddhist piety, learning, and sainthood, he shared his contemporaries’ fascination with the magico-religious aspects of Buddhism. However this did not diminish his great contribution to the transformation of Buddhism from a uji-centered religion to a court-sponsored national religion.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 106) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 277, "polity": { "id": 146, "name": "jp_asuka", "long_name": "Asuka", "start_year": 538, "end_year": 710 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 215, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shinto", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "NB It may not be appropriate to use the name “Shinto” to label indigenous Japanese religious beliefs and practices in this era. “That being said, however, it remains extremely difficult to discuss Shinto in the ages before the term itself is widely used, that is, from the fifteenth century on. Up to that point, Shinto is a collective designation for jingi, state-sponsored Kami rites, and miscellaneous Kami cults. This usage is inevitably imprecise and unsatisfactory in various ways. To uphold the significance of institutional, social, and ritual continuities forces one to struggle for clarity where little is to be found, but others have also accepted this challenge.” §REF§(Hardacre 2017: 44) Hardacre, H. Shinto: A History. Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hardacre/titleCreatorYear/items/7RP3IRVR/item-list §REF§\r\n\r\n“[…] because of the preoccupation on the part of Buddhist leaders with the upper strata of society, the masses in Japan had to depend on pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religious leaders.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 222) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“In the end, it was the reputed worldly benefits of Buddhism which attracted the chieftain of the Soga clan, and he secured the court’s sanction to adhere to Buddhism as the religion of his clan.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 156) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§ \r\n\r\n“As far as the imperial court was concerned, it had several hereditary Shinto priestly families – the Nakatomi, the Imbe, the Sarume, etc. […] while other priestly families associated with the court were given graded court rank, the Nakatomi family enjoyed the highest rank and dominated the Department of Shinto Affairs, which was considered more important than the great Council of State.” §REF§ Kitigawa 1987, 152) Kitigawa, Joseph. 1987. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q7PC3JB7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q7PC3JB7 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 278, "polity": { "id": 529, "name": "mx_monte_alban_3_b_4", "long_name": "Monte Alban IIIB and IV", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ruling elites and nobles also identified themselves with the Sun, alluding to it by representations of a bird with a broad beak that in previous creations pretended to be as bright and radiant as the true Sun while being perched on one of the five sacred trees (Box 2.2). […] A swooping and luminous presence, this “Fire Serpent” mediated the layered domains of the world and was often the emblem of alterity for paramount rulers and of their role as sacrificers of animals and humans. As such, the “Fire Serpent” figured prominently as a marker in ballcourts throughout southwestern Mesoamerica and beyond, and served as a powerful symbol of political authority (Box 2.3).” §REF§ (Urcid 2018, 40-41) Urcid, Javier. 2018. ‘Ritual and Society in Ancient Central Oaxaca (AD 350-850)’. In Real fake: the story of a Zapotec urn. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8X7IM68F\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 8X7IM68F </b></a> §REF§ The Monte Alban IIIB and IV periods in Monte Alban correspond to the Xoo phase. “During the Classic period the political and religious significance of rulers was no longer muted in public art and architecture, which instead celebrated the religious and military power of nobles and their ancestors. Important nobles were depicted as intermediaries between common people and the divine, especially through the ability of the former to contact their deified ancestors.” […] “Important religious functionaries and warriors were depicted, further showing the diversity of social identities of Zapotec nobles (Urcid 2005). Male lords, including rulers, could be depicted as Xicani priests, distinguished by tied hairdos and zoomorphic buccal masks with upturned snouts. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, similar zoomorphic beings were depicted as flying figures with turtle carapaces termed Xicani in Zapotec or Yahui in Mixtec. These beings signaled both an alter ego into which priests could transform and the office of sacrificer, rainmaker, and keeper of sacred bundles who could communicate with ancestors. Some tombs depict processions of warriors and nobles shown wearing flayed facial skins that marked them as priests impersonating the deity Xipe Totec, who was associated with sacrifice and fertility. The evidence shows that members of ruling houses had the right to engage in warfare, take captives, play the ballgame, and offer human sacrifices as part of their role as rainmakers. Allusions to nobles as embodiments of earth, maize, lightning, rain, and the sacred calendar suggest a link between ancestors, land tenure, and the continuity of noble houses (Urcid 2005:154).” […] “By the Xoo phase genealogical narratives were increasingly represented on smaller stone slabs, friezes and lintels (figure 7.6). […] Another theme involves ceremonies designed to validate the transfer of political and ritual authority from one generation to the next as invested in corporate land, property, and special offices. For example, a monument discussed by Urcid (2005:141) shows a personage dressed as the rain deity handing a symbolic lightning bolt to a successor, perhaps his son. Other monuments show a genealogy descending from an apical ancestor often depicted as a Rain god impersonator.” […] “The construction of elaborate residences, tombs, monuments, and public buildings created socially meaningful places that emphasized and could transform the political prominence of rulers and their corporate groups through citations to powerful ancestors and deities. Rulers and religious functionaries acted as intermediaries between people and the divine.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 206, 212, 215, 224) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 279, "polity": { "id": 528, "name": "mx_monte_alban_3_a", "long_name": "Monte Alban III", "start_year": 200, "end_year": 500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Elites continued to perform their specialized roles as political administrators and religious specialists (Flannery I983a, Masson I994, Winter I989a). The production of many elements of elite-ritual culture required highly skilled specialists such as architects, muralists, urn makers, bone carvers, and scribes […] The control of ritual knowledge and authority by the elites was undoubtedly a major factor in the linkage of power with certain kin groups. Ethnohistorical sources indicate that noble status was inherited and therefore kinship was a major determinant of the ritual abilities of elites to affect the cosmos and, especially after death, become mediators between mortals and supernaturals (Marcus i992b).” §REF§ (Joyce & Winter 1996, 43-44) Joyce, Arthur A. and Marcus Winter. 1996. ‘Ideology, Power, and Urban Society in Pre-Hispanic Oaxaca’. Current Anthropology. Vol. 6:1. Pp. 33-47. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DB79C3IQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DB79C3IQ </b></a> §REF§ “Ruling elites and nobles also identified themselves with the Sun, alluding to it by representations of a bird with a broad beak that in previous creations pretended to be as bright and radiant as the true Sun while being perched on one of the five sacred trees (Box 2.2). […] A swooping and luminous presence, this “Fire Serpent” mediated the layered domains of the world and was often the emblem of alterity for paramount rulers and of their role as sacrificers of animals and humans. As such, the “Fire Serpent” figured prominently as a marker in ballcourts throughout southwestern Mesoamerica and beyond, and served as a powerful symbol of political authority (Box 2.3).” §REF§ (Urcid 2018, 40-41) Urcid, Javier. 2018. ‘Ritual and Society in Ancient Central Oaxaca (AD 350-850)’. In Real fake: the story of a Zapotec urn. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8X7IM68F\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 8X7IM68F </b></a> §REF§ “During the Classic period the political and religious significance of rulers was no longer muted in public art and architecture, which instead celebrated the religious and military power of nobles and their ancestors. Important nobles were depicted as intermediaries between common people and the divine, especially through the ability of the former to contact their deified ancestors.” […] “Important religious functionaries and warriors were depicted, further showing the diversity of social identities of Zapotec nobles (Urcid 2005). Male lords, including rulers, could be depicted as Xicani priests, distinguished by tied hairdos and zoomorphic buccal masks with upturned snouts. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, similar zoomorphic beings were depicted as flying figures with turtle carapaces termed Xicani in Zapotec or Yahui in Mixtec. These beings signaled both an alter ego into which priests could transform and the office of sacrificer, rainmaker, and keeper of sacred bundles who could communicate with ancestors. Some tombs depict processions of warriors and nobles shown wearing flayed facial skins that marked them as priests impersonating the deity Xipe Totec, who was associated with sacrifice and fertility. The evidence shows that members of ruling houses had the right to engage in warfare, take captives, play the ballgame, and offer human sacrifices as part of their role as rainmakers. Allusions to nobles as embodiments of earth, maize, lightning, rain, and the sacred calendar suggest a link between ancestors, land tenure, and the continuity of noble houses (Urcid 2005:154).” […] “The construction of elaborate residences, tombs, monuments, and public buildings created socially meaningful places that emphasized and could transform the political prominence of rulers and their corporate groups through citations to powerful ancestors and deities. Rulers and religious functionaries acted as intermediaries between people and the divine.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 206, 212, 224) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 280, "polity": { "id": 527, "name": "mx_monte_alban_2", "long_name": "Monte Alban II", "start_year": -100, "end_year": 200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Although the Main Plaza was a public space focused on cosmic symbolism and community, ritual practices carried out there also contributed to the power of the nobility and an increasing separation of noble and commoner identities (A. Joyce 2000; Urcid 2008). Based on the iconographic and epigraphic evidence, as well as analogies with the early colonial period, public ceremonies were probably organized and led by nobles, and perhaps high-ranking members of religious and military organizations. The role of nobles as ritual specialists, especially sacrificers, dramatically communicated and reinforced their identities as mediators between commoners and the sacred. Participation in public ceremonies created powerful memories that bound people to the rulers, the symbols, and the new social order centered at Monte Albán. […] Participation in public ritual performances contributed to the production of larger-scale corporate identities internalized in people’s dispositions and externalized in social practices like contributing tribute, allegiance, and labor to rulers. At the same time, the separation of status groups was reinforced by the role of nobles as ritual specialists and by the visible association of elite residences and the North Platform, which symbolized the linkage between nobles and the celestial realm. Nobles gained materially from these new social relations, but were obligated to organize and lead rituals on behalf of the community. Control over religious ideas, spaces, and practices by nobles increased their power to attract followers, mobilize resources, defeat competitors, and interact with the sacred.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 145) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§ “Architecture provides the clearest evidence for public ritual at Monte Albán (figure 7.5). Temples and ballcourts are two easily recognisable kinds of buildings associated with rituals. Temples are one-room or two room structures, built on raised platforms, and often incorporated circular columns to support roof beams. Temple construction probably began in Period I (building L and K-sub are examples) and was especially common in Period II. The precise nature of temple ceremonies is not known. By Period II elaborate rituals were carried out at a temple on top of the South Platform where excavations during the Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-1994 (PEMA) in the patio below the temple revealed pits aligned along a “sacred axis” (Gamez 1998) containing vessels and unfired, hollowed-out ceramic cylinders with tops (Herrera et al. 1999). Altars in front of later temples were probably used for making sacrifices. From earliest times at Monte Albán (and probably earlier at San José Mogote if the Rosario phase example from mound 1 is valid) some residencies and temples were spatially associated; this association implies that high-status individuals wielded both religious and political power. On the west side of the Main Plaza elevated temple platforms alternate with lower platforms that supported elite residences. Temples were also constructed on the North Platform where the highest-status family or families at Monte Albán apparently lived. During the PEMA excavations in the area of the Vértice Geodésico (VG) Complex and further south, we found early Period I materials just above bedrock. These materials-high and low stone platforms, domestic midden debris, and deposits of vessels-are indicative of a high-status residence and associated temple. Even further south on the edge of the North Platform is the stuccoed frieze known as Viboron, possibly part of an administrative precinct at that time. By Period II several temples had been constructed on the North Platform and the Sunken Patio with a central altar that also served as a ceremonial area. At least one Period II residence was present on the north extreme of the North Platform below the Palacio del Ocote. Not all temples at Monte Albán are clearly associated with residencies. […] Granted these exceptions, most temples at Monte Albán seem to be associated spatially with residences of the people who presumably performed the rituals and thus suggest that religion was created and used by the elite to control the population. Ballcourt represent another type of ritual activity. They were constructed in Period II at Monte Albán and are exemplified by the mail ballcourt at the northeast corner of the Main Plaza and the small ballcourt on the ridge northeast of the North Platform. […] In Period II no obvious links occur between ballcourts and household ritual.” §REF§ (Winter 2002, 72) Winter, Marcus. 2002. ‘Monte Albán: Mortuary Practices as Domestic Ritual and their Relation to Community Religion’. In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica. Edited by Patricia Plunket. Los Angeles, CA: The Cotsen Institute of archaeology, University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X6V5WSFI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: X6V5WSFI </b></a> §REF§ “Elite individuals are sometimes portrayed wearing costumes with deity elements, as they probably appeared in public to lead ceremonies (figure 7.9).” §REF§ (Winter 2002, 74) Winter, Marcus. 2002. ‘Monte Albán: Mortuary Practices as Domestic Ritual and their Relation to Community Religion’. In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica. Edited by Patricia Plunket. Los Angeles, CA: The Cotsen Institute of archaeology, University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X6V5WSFI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: X6V5WSFI </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 281, "polity": { "id": 524, "name": "mx_rosario", "long_name": "Oaxaca - Rosario", "start_year": -700, "end_year": -500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 223, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Otomanguean Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The covenant was a key aspect of prehispanic ideologies since it established and reinforced both the hierarchical relationship between people and deities and chat between commoners and nobles (Monaghan 1994). The interests of the elite were universalized by linking their ritual practices to the maintenance of fertility and the prosperity of all people. Noble status was reified by tracing the close relationship between elites and the sacred to the dawn of the current creation. Commoners, however, were not entirely dependent on elites for contact with the sacred since they could perform rituals, including certain forms of sacrifice, independent of the nobility. Many key elements of the sacred covenant have a deep history in Mesoamerica and can be considered examples of the long-term structure of meaning (Hodder 1991: 83-94). Evidence for autosacrificial bloodletting (Flannery 1976a; Grove 1987; Joyce et al. 1991) and indications that elites acted as intermediaries between commoners and supernaturals (Grove and Gillespie 1992) date to the Early Formative period (1800 — 850 Bc). There is possible Early Formative iconographic evidence for the division of the supernatural into realms of earth and sky (Marcus 1989; Reilly 1996). Iconographic and burial evidence for human sacrifice, however, is very limited until the end of the Middle Formative (Angulo 1987, Clark et al. n du: 17; Reilly 1989: 16; Sedat and Sharer 1984). Most Middle Formative (850 — 300 BC) iconographic representations of human sacrifice are located in settings with little available space, suggesting restricted participation in rituals associated with these images (Grove and Angulo 1987; Reilly 1989: 16).” §REF§ (Joyce 2000, 75) Joyce, Arthur A. 2000. ‘The founding of Monte Albán: Sacred propositions and social practices’ In Agency in Archaeology. Edited by Marcia-Anne Dobres and John E. Robb. Routledge: London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7T32SIJP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7T32SIJP </b></a> §REF§ “Although people used autosacrificial bloodletting to make offerings to the deities as early as the Early Formative, the innovation of human sacrifice represents a new and more spectacular ritual practice used to communicate with the divine. It is likely that the performance of human sacrifice was restricted to Rosario-phase nobles, given that evidence for this practice was associated only with public buildings and elite residences and that only nobles carried out the ritual in later periods (Boone 1984; Schele & Miller 1986). Nobles acted as intermediaries between people and the sacred realm with human sacrifice as a new ritual form probably linked to warfare. Elaborate obsidian bloodletters and the anthropomorphic brazier suggest the presence of luxury goods and ritual paraphernalia restricted to nobles […] Despite the emergence of hereditary nobles, it is likely that the construction of monumental buildings, the enactment of public ceremonies like human sacrifice, and the pursuit of warfare were probably still seen in communal terms. Given that hereditary inequality emerged out of a more communal and less hierarchical discourse, it is reasonable to assume that the power of nobles was dependent on their being seen as acting on the behalf of their communities. These early nobles undoubtedly had ritual and political obligations to their communities like Zapotec and Mixtec rulers at the time of the Spanish Conquest. It is likely that nobles earned the allegiance of commoners through the sponsoring of public ceremonies, including ritual feasting, as well as through success in warfare and perhaps the gifting of certain luxury goods. Nobles deployed human sacrifice as another way to maintain allegiance since it was the most potent way in which the sacred covenant could be activated to petition deities for fertility and prosperity on behalf of the community.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 125-127) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§ “Excavations in and around Structure 19 provide intriguing evidence of an important element of the changing social system of the later Rosario phase. At some point the temple atop Structure 28 had been intentionally burned, suggesting conflict between communities or within San José Mogote itself. […] Sometime after Structure 28 was burned, still within the Rosario phase, this same location, commanding a hill 15 meters above the rest of the settlement, was used for the construction of an elaborate residence. The site chosen for this commanding house, one previously used for communal ritual, suggests increasing concentration of power in the hands of a particular household or households rather than in social-integrative rituals and their public ceremonial spaces.[…] Although the house produced little evidence of craft production, its members may have been oriented toward military activities (suggested by an offering of eleven obsidian projectile points) and ritual (suggested by whistles and bloodletting tools). Additionally, this household may have made use of descent rhetoric in a manner not seen previously. An anthropomorphic brazier found here could be a predecessor of incense burners that later figured in Zapotec rituals of ancestor worship (Marcus and Flannery 1996: fig. 141). A large (2-by-3 meter) stone-lined, two-chambered tomb under the house's patio is also the earliest known example of a major feature of Zapotec elite houses. Like the brazier, the tomb likely signifies an intensifying interest in connecting the household to its forebears through the material culture of ancestor worship. The brazier and tomb still do not constitute definitive evidence of a system of ranked descent groups, but they do suggest that by the Rosario phase there may have been more use of a rhetoric that claimed a connection between wealth, status, power, and ancestors.” §REF§ (Blaton et al. 1999, 44-46) Blaton, Richard, Feinman, Gary M., Kowalewski, Stephen A. and Nicholas, Linda M. 1999. Ancient Oaxaca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MKUUHR65\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: MKUUHR65 </b></a> §REF§ “Women's ritual was also affected by the emerging elite monopoly of ritual activity. The small solid figurines that had played so great a role in Early Formative household ritual decreased in number after 700 B.C. and virtually disappeared by 200 B.C. Simply put, the recent ancestors of ordinary people were no longer as important as they had been at the egalitarian village level. Their place was taken by the well-known Zapotec effigy urn, a venue to which the spirits of the de- parted elite could return. Invoking the spirits of ancestors continued to be an important component of Zapotec ritual, but now it was mainly noble ancestors who were invoked (Marcus 1983b). Divination continued to be important, but it was eventually conducted by full-time priests. Thus the rise of the Zapotec state partially closed the window through which we had glimpsed ordinary men's and women's social identity.” §REF§ (Marcus 1993, 88) Marcus, Joyce. 1993. ‘Men’s and Women’s Ritual in Formative Oaxaca’. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. Edited by David C. Grove and Rosemary A. Joyce. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAS9TRAT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SAS9TRAT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 282, "polity": { "id": 532, "name": "mx_monte_alban_5", "long_name": "Monte Alban V", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1520 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quote refers to Mixtec and Zapotec society at the time of the Spanish Conquest “The nobility consisted of hereditary rulers and a lesser nobility who governed barrios and were involved in the administration of local resources, trade, tribute, and religious ceremonies.” […] “The hereditary nobility occupied the highest positions in the political and religious hierarchy. Rulers could trace their ancestry back to a deified founder of the community using genealogies recorded in codices and oral histories. The link to the founder was embodied in a sacred bundle of paper, cloth, or vegetable matter that held ritual objects often kept in the main temple and viewed as the “heart of the community.”” […] “Nobles and especially rulers were intermediaries between the people and the sacred realm, performing important religious ceremonies on behalf of the community. Rulers also sponsored communal feasts, usually in the palace, that tied the community together. The reciprocal obligations that rulers owed to subjects could become a focus for the negotiation and contestation of authority. […] Nobles occupied a special place in relation to religious belief and practice, especially the sacred covenant and the acts of sacrifice that it required (A. Joyce 2000:73–5). In the codices the ancestors who made the first sacrifice to the earth and sky were noble priests (Hamann 2002; Monaghan 1990). The most powerful ritual specialists were nobles who were required to undertake some formal training in the priesthood. Human and autosacrifice performed by and on the bodies of the nobility were the most potent form of sacrifice. Nobles therefore acted as intermediaries between people and the divine forces and beings that controlled the cosmos. Sacrifice was a kind of social contract between commoners and nobles (A. Joyce 2000; Monaghan 1994:23). In addition to the various types of blood sacrifice, many offerings in the form of goods and labor given by commoners to the nobility were conceived of not as tribute, but as sacrifice (Monaghan 1994:10–11).” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 46, 48, 60-62) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§ “The nature of Chila phase public ritual is hard to grasp, but, nevertheless, archaeological evidence and historical documents provide some clues. By the Late Postclassic period, the leaders of the individual city-states occupying the Valley of Oaxaca appear to have invested relatively fewer resources in the construction of temples, as temple platforms are rare at sites dating to this interval. […] The reduction in temple construction during this time appears to signal an important shift in the role elites played in public rituals and correspondingly in how they went about validating their privileged status. This shift finds expression in the surviving prehispanic and Colonial era Oaxacan codices, lienzos, and other historic sources (Pohl 1994). At the time of the conquest, paramount political leadership of the queche, or “city-state,” in the Valley of Oaxaca was vested in the office of the coqui, or “king,” a direct descendant of the polity’s putative founding ancestor (Oudijk 2002). Perhaps the single most important symbol of the coqui’s royal authority was the quiña, or “sacred bundle,” which was stored in the royal palace and for which the coqui acted as steward on behalf of the community (Pohl 1994). The quiña appears to have embodied powerful spiritual forces, for it is often embellished in Mixtec pictorial codices with the likeness of a dzahui, or rain god, or with a ñuhu figure, another Mixtec primeval spirit force.” §REF§ (Winter at al. 2007, 205) Winter, Marcus, Markens, Robert, Martínez López, Cira and Herrera Muzgo T., Cira. 2007. ‘Shrines, Offerings, and Postclassic Continuity in Zapotec Religion’. In Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GIPNU8N8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GIPNU8N8 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 283, "polity": { "id": 84, "name": "es_spanish_emp_1", "long_name": "Spanish Empire I", "start_year": 1516, "end_year": 1715 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Archaeological research on missionizing efforts in South America, under the Spanish crown highlight their regional and temporal variation. Steven Wernke points out that the Catholic Church was deeply divided over the efficacy and morality of voluntary conversions versus the forceful eradication of idolatry.” […] “Catholic missions in frontier regions of the Americas pursued a much more marginalized existence in comparison to the major centers and interests of the Spanish Crown. For many Native Americas, this led to a life somewhat less spiritually and politically fettered from European interference. Even in sixteenth-century central Mexico, a central target of early Spanish colonization and missionization, the conversion process was hampered by a ‘desperate shortage of manpower.’ For more distant places like Florida and Yucatan, even when Spain was able to establish some kind of permanent foothold, the hinterlands continued to enjoy considerable autonomy. In both areas, the Indigenous chiefly structure managed to persist intact, even in the towns were liked to Spanish administrative oversight.” §REF§ (Cobb: 2021) Cobb, Charles R. 2021. ‘Indigenous Negotiations of Missionization and Religious Conversion.’ In The Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas. Edited by Lee Panich and Sara Gonzalez. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X64P9KX4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: X64P9KX4 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 284, "polity": { "id": 525, "name": "mx_monte_alban_1_early", "long_name": "Early Monte Alban I", "start_year": -500, "end_year": -300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Recent iconographic interpretations suggest that specialized ritual abilities may have been the prerogative not just of nobles, but also of high-ranking commoners who achieved positions of ritual authority (Urcid 2008; Urcid & Winter 2003) […] The political and religious authority of the nobility is therefore increasingly evident in the residential and mortuary data of the Late/Terminal Formative. An increasing association between elite residences and religious symbols and artifacts during the early years of Monte Albán indicates that nobles gained greater control of politico-religious ideas, practices, and institutions (Joyce & Winter 1996:36). Human sacrifice, in particular, was a new ritual practice controlled by elites since only nobles would have had the resources and power to sponsor raids, take captives, and organize public ceremonies. Allusions to human sacrifice by the nobility include the hieroglyphic texts associated with the sculptural program on Building L-sub (figure 5.5f) and Monument J-41 from Building J (figure 5.6d), which depicts a ruler of Monte Albán in the act of decapitation sacrifice (Urcid & Winter 2003). Human sacrifice was a more dramatic and potent means to communicate with the sacred realm than earlier practices of autosacrifice and would have been a means by which nobles demonstrated both their power and their generosity to supporters. The founding of Monte Albán, the construction of the Main Plaza, public rituals, and warfare were activities that were almost certainly organized and led by nobles. […] By the Pe phase, evidence suggests that high-status families throughout the Oaxacan highlands were exchanging prestigious goods and ideas, involving political and religious authority. […] Although the Main Plaza was a public space focused on cosmic symbolism and community, ritual practices carried out there also contributed to the power of the nobility and an increasing separation of noble and commoner identities (A. Joyce 2000; Urcid 2008). Based on the iconographic and epigraphic evidence, as well as analogies with the early colonial period, public ceremonies were probably organized and led by nobles, and perhaps high-ranking members of religious and military organizations. The role of nobles as ritual specialists, especially sacrificers, dramatically communicated and reinforced their identities as mediators between commoners and the sacred. Participation in public ceremonies created powerful memories that bound people to the rulers, the symbols, and the new social order centered at Monte Albán. Warfare also could have united people behind rulers and ruling institutions (Joyce & Winter 1996:38–9). Participation in public ritual performances contributed to the production of larger-scale corporate identities internalized in people’s dispositions and externalized in social practices like contributing tribute, allegiance, and labor to rulers. At the same time, the separation of status groups was reinforced by the role of nobles as ritual specialists and by the visible association of elite residences and the North Platform, which symbolized the linkage between nobles and the celestial realm. Nobles gained materially from these new social relations, but were obligated to organize and lead rituals on behalf of the community. Control over religious ideas, spaces, and practices by nobles increased their power to attract followers, mobilize resources, defeat competitors, and interact with the sacred. Yet nobles shared politico-religious power with communal organizations, which probably included high-ranking commoners as leaders (Urcid 2008). These two potentially competing forms of authority – communal and noble – carried inherent contradictions and potential points of tension. Powerful nobles threatened the traditional authority of communal institutions, while the latter constrained the power of the nobility. The possible representation of a communal organization on the Building L-sub program depicts non-elites as rain-god impersonators and references human and probably autosacrifice. Likewise, hieroglyphic inscriptions and early images of rulers (Monument J-41) also reference rain-god impersonation, warfare, and sacrifice. These data suggest that the settings in which hereditary nobles and communal organizations negotiated and contested political authority probably included public rituals, access to special ceremonial roles like rain-god impersonator, as well as activities related to the preparation for and conduct of warfare. The potential for conflict can only be suggested, although evidence from elsewhere in the valley more clearly indicates that some individuals, families, and communities did not welcome the religious and political innovations that marked the founding and early history of Monte Albán.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 143-146) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 285, "polity": { "id": 526, "name": "mx_monte_alban_1_late", "long_name": "Monte Alban Late I", "start_year": -300, "end_year": -100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 222, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zapotec Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Recent iconographic interpretations suggest that specialized ritual abilities may have been the prerogative not just of nobles, but also of high-ranking commoners who achieved positions of ritual authority (Urcid 2008; Urcid & Winter 2003) […] The political and religious authority of the nobility is therefore increasingly evident in the residential and mortuary data of the Late/Terminal Formative. An increasing association between elite residences and religious symbols and artifacts during the early years of Monte Albán indicates that nobles gained greater control of politico-religious ideas, practices, and institutions (Joyce & Winter 1996:36). Human sacrifice, in particular, was a new ritual practice controlled by elites since only nobles would have had the resources and power to sponsor raids, take captives, and organize public ceremonies. Allusions to human sacrifice by the nobility include the hieroglyphic texts associated with the sculptural program on Building L-sub (figure 5.5f) and Monument J-41 from Building J (figure 5.6d), which depicts a ruler of Monte Albán in the act of decapitation sacrifice (Urcid & Winter 2003). Human sacrifice was a more dramatic and potent means to communicate with the sacred realm than earlier practices of autosacrifice and would have been a means by which nobles demonstrated both their power and their generosity to supporters. The founding of Monte Albán, the construction of the Main Plaza, public rituals, and warfare were activities that were almost certainly organized and led by nobles. […] By the Pe phase, evidence suggests that high-status families throughout the Oaxacan highlands were exchanging prestigious goods and ideas, involving political and religious authority […] Although the Main Plaza was a public space focused on cosmic symbolism and community, ritual practices carried out there also contributed to the power of the nobility and an increasing separation of noble and commoner identities (A. Joyce 2000; Urcid 2008). Based on the iconographic and epigraphic evidence, as well as analogies with the early colonial period, public ceremonies were probably organized and led by nobles, and perhaps high-ranking members of religious and military organizations. The role of nobles as ritual specialists, especially sacrificers, dramatically communicated and reinforced their identities as mediators between commoners and the sacred. Participation in public ceremonies created powerful memories that bound people to the rulers, the symbols, and the new social order centered at Monte Albán. Warfare also could have united people behind rulers and ruling institutions (Joyce & Winter 1996:38–9). Participation in public ritual performances contributed to the production of larger-scale corporate identities internalized in people’s dispositions and externalized in social practices like contributing tribute, allegiance, and labor to rulers. At the same time, the separation of status groups was reinforced by the role of nobles as ritual specialists and by the visible association of elite residences and the North Platform, which symbolized the linkage between nobles and the celestial realm. Nobles gained materially from these new social relations, but were obligated to organize and lead rituals on behalf of the community. Control over religious ideas, spaces, and practices by nobles increased their power to attract followers, mobilize resources, defeat competitors, and interact with the sacred. Yet nobles shared politico-religious power with communal organizations, which probably included high-ranking commoners as leaders (Urcid 2008). These two potentially competing forms of authority – communal and noble – carried inherent contradictions and potential points of tension. Powerful nobles threatened the traditional authority of communal institutions, while the latter constrained the power of the nobility. The possible representation of a communal organization on the Building L-sub program depicts non-elites as rain-god impersonators and references human and probably autosacrifice. Likewise, hieroglyphic inscriptions and early images of rulers (Monument J-41) also reference rain-god impersonation, warfare, and sacrifice. These data suggest that the settings in which hereditary nobles and communal organizations negotiated and contested political authority probably included public rituals, access to special ceremonial roles like rain-god impersonator, as well as activities related to the preparation for and conduct of warfare. The potential for conflict can only be suggested, although evidence from elsewhere in the valley more clearly indicates that some individuals, families, and communities did not welcome the religious and political innovations that marked the founding and early history of Monte Albán.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 143-146) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 286, "polity": { "id": 523, "name": "mx_san_jose", "long_name": "Oaxaca - San Jose", "start_year": -1150, "end_year": -700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 223, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Otomanguean Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The covenant was a key aspect of prehispanic ideologies since it established and reinforced both the hierarchical relationship between people and deities and chat between commoners and nobles (Monaghan 1994). The interests of the elite were universalized by linking their ritual practices to the maintenance of fertility and the prosperity of all people Noble status was reified by tracing the close relationship between elites and the sacred to the dawn of the current creation Commoners, however, were not entirely dependent on elites for contact with the sacred since they could perform rituals, including certain forms of sacrifice, independent of the nobility. Many key elements of the sacred covenant have a deep history in Mesoamerica and can be considered examples of the long-term structure of meaning (Hodder 1991: 83-94). Evidence for autosacrificial bloodletting (Flannery 1976a; Grove 1987; Joyce et al. 1991) and indications that elites acted as intermediaries between commoners and supernaturals (Grove and Gillespie 1992) date to the Early Formative period (1800 — 850 Bc). There is possible Early Formative iconographic evidence for the division of the supernatural into realms of earth and sky (Marcus 1989; Reilly 1996). Iconographic and burial evidence for human sacrifice, however, is very limited until the end of the Middle Formative (Angulo 1987, Clark et al. n du: 17; Reilly 1989: 16; Sedat and Sharer 1984). Most Middle Formative (850 — 300 BC) iconographic representations of human sacrifice are located in settings with little available space, suggesting restricted participation in rituals associated with these images (Grove and Angulo 1987; Reilly 1989: 16).” §REF§ (Joyce 2000, 75) Joyce, Arthur A. 2000. ‘The founding of Monte Albán: Sacred propositions and social practices’ In Agency in Archaeology. Edited by Marcia-Anne Dobres and John E. Robb. Routledge: London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7T32SIJP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7T32SIJP </b></a> §REF§ “Evidence for rituals involving figurines as well as typical bloodletting implements like obsidian blades have been found in nearly all excavated households and do not appear to be linked to status distinctions. Other ritual paraphernalia, however, seems to correlate with household status as measured by elaborate architecture and greater evidence for craft production and exotic trade items (Flannery 1976b; Marcus 1998). Exotic bloodletters, such as stingray spines, are found only in higher-status houses. Shell, mica, and jade ornaments as well as magnetite mirrors generally increase in frequency with measures of status, but the ritual significance of these objects is unclear. Flannery (1976b:336) reports a possible shrine from House C3 in Area A at San José Mogote. High proportions of serving vessels and more deer bone were found in houses with other indicators of high status (Duncan et al. 2008; Flannery & Marcus 1994:329–39; Whalen 1981:59), suggesting that meals and perhaps ritual feasts sponsored by higher-status families were somewhat larger and more sumptuous. Unusual types of ritual paraphernalia such as ceramic masks and conch-shell trumpets have been found in both residential areas and public buildings, but there are too few to associate them with known social distinctions such as status. Masks and conch-shell trumpets could have been used by priests or shamans, otherwise the evidence does not support the presence of ritual specialists.” […] “At present, there is no evidence for high-status residences spatially associated with ceremonial precincts.” §REF§ (Joyce 2010, 96, 112) Joyce, Arthur A. 2010. Peoples of America: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Hoboken, GB: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FUKFR9MV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FUKFR9MV </b></a> §REF§ “By the early San José phase, some deceased men and boys were identified as descendants of Earth or Sky by their burial vessels, and some women consulted their household's ancestors by arranging figurines of them in ritual scenes beneath the floors of their houses. §REF§ (Marcus 1993, 89) Marcus, Joyce. 1993. ‘Men’s and Women’s Ritual in Formative Oaxaca’. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. Edited by David C. Grove and Rosemary A. Joyce. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAS9TRAT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SAS9TRAT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 287, "polity": { "id": 522, "name": "mx_tierras_largas", "long_name": "Oaxaca - Tierras Largas", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 223, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Otomanguean Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“First, this early Tierras Largas phase structure is considerably smaller than the cleared and boulder-lined area already described for Gheo-Shih. This fact suggests that fewer people were involved in the activities performed inside it. Moreover, since the amount of wattle-and-daub debris suggests that Structure 6 had full-height walls (presumably supporting a roof), the activities performed inside were screened from the view of those outside. This suggests the presence of a ritual of more complex content, involving a classification of participants into those allowed to enter the structure and those who remained outside. Such classification is particularly common in religious rituals, in which close contact with the sacred is often allowed to only a restricted number of individuals. In its formal aspect this classification could well be related to the increasingly complex group decision-making structure of sedentary agriculturists through the process of sanctification, whereby the privileged access of some people to the sacred renders them particularly effective in influencing the behavior of the social group as a whole.” §REF§ (Drennan 1983, 48) Drennan, Robert D. 1983. ‘Ritual and Ceremonial Development at the Early Village Level’. In The Cloud people: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. Edited by Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus. New York: Academic Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XFZ4HZ6P\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XFZ4HZ6P </b></a> §REF§ “We believe that each residential ward (whatever that might mean in terms of social division) maintained its own Men’s House. Those found in Area C of San José Mogote were confined to a small area. Because each was surrounded by a plaster apron (Flannery and Marcus 1994: Fig. 4.7), it was possible to determine stratigraphically that they had been built almost in sequence. In several cases, a later Men’s House was built almost directly over an earlier one. Even when the later one was built off to one side, traces of its plaster apron were likely to overlie traces of an earlier Men’s House apron. By analogy with autonomous village societies in the ethnographic record, we suspect that these ritual structures were built by self-selected leaders who were able to organize labor for public construction. There is no evidence at this time that the influence of Tierras Largas phase leaders extended to neighbouring communities” §REF§ (Flannery & Marcus 2005, 7) Flannery, Kent V. and Joyce Marcus. 2005. Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/87BTU2E3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 87BTU2E3 </b></a> §REF§ “The covenant was a key aspect of prehispanic ideologies since it established and reinforced both the hierarchical relationship between people and deities and chat between commoners and nobles (Monaghan 1994). The interests of the elite were universalized by linking their ritual practices to the maintenance of fertility and the prosperity of all people. Noble status was reified by tracing the close relationship between elites and the sacred to the dawn of the current creation. Commoners, however, were not entirely dependent on elites for contact with the sacred since they could perform rituals, including certain forms of sacrifice, independent of the nobility. Many key elements of the sacred covenant have a deep history in Mesoamerica and can be considered examples of the long-term structure of meaning (Hodder 1991: 83-94). Evidence for autosacrificial bloodletting (Flannery 1976a; Grove 1987; Joyce et al. 1991) and indications that elites acted as intermediaries between commoners and supernaturals (Grove and Gillespie 1992) date to the Early Formative period (1800 — 850 Bc). There is possible Early Formative iconographic evidence for the division of the supernatural into realms of earth and sky (Marcus 1989; Reilly 1996). Iconographic and burial evidence for human sacrifice, however, is very limited until the end of the Middle Formative (Angulo 1987, Clark et al. n du: 17; Reilly 1989: 16; Sedat and Sharer 1984).” §REF§ (Joyce 2000, 75) Joyce, Arthur A. 2000. ‘The founding of Monte Albán: Sacred propositions and social practices’ In Agency in Archaeology. Edited by Marcia-Anne Dobres and John E. Robb. Routledge: London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7T32SIJP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7T32SIJP </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 288, "polity": { "id": 791, "name": "bd_khadga_dyn", "long_name": "Khadga Dynasty", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Khadga kings were devout Buddhists.” (Basak 1934: 203) \"This Brahmanical royal dynasty [i.e. the Vangas] seems to have been overthrown by a line of Buddhist kings whose names contained the word khadgu as an essential element[...], generally referred to as the Khadga dynasty\"§REF§(Majumdar 1943: 86) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T4QJ84HB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T4QJ84HB </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 289, "polity": { "id": 793, "name": "bd_sena_dyn", "long_name": "Sena Dynasty", "start_year": 1095, "end_year": 1245 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 5, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Saivist Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Moreover, since the Senas had brought from the south a fierce devotion to Hindu culture (especially Śaivism), their victorious arms were accompanied everywhere in Bengal by the establishment of royally sponsored Hindu cults. As a result, by the end of the eleventh century, the epicenter of civilization and power in eastern India had shifted from Bihar to Bengal, while royal patronage had shifted from a primarily Buddhist to a primarily Hindu orientation.\" §REF§ (Eaton 1993: 14) Eaton, Richard. 1993. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier: 1204 -1760. Berkeley: University of California Press. Seshat URL: §REF§" }, { "id": 290, "polity": { "id": 781, "name": "bd_nawabs_of_bengal", "long_name": "Nawabs of Bengal", "start_year": 1717, "end_year": 1757 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Muslim rulers, noted for their devotion to religion, took steps for the integration of the social and cultural life of the Muslims of Bengal. Mosques, Khanqas and madrasas were established in every Muslim locality and these were endowed with land-grants. The shaikhs, saiyids and 'ulama' were accorded a respectable position in the society and they were granted madad-i-m'aash for maintenance. All facilities were provided for the works of the preachers and teachers. The mosques, khanqas and madrasas served as integrating forces of the Muslim society and culture. The rulers took lead in the celebration of religious rites and festivities and thus strengthened the religious feeling of the Muslim Community. They sent presents to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah and provided facilities to the people to go to the Hajj. The rulers observed the Islamic Law in the conduct of the state. They owed allegiance to the 'Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad and maintained connections with the Islamic world. These worked for the solidarity of the Muslims and the development of the Muslim culture in Bengal.” §REF§ Raḥīm, M. A. (1970). Cultural Evolution in East Pakistan. Islamic Studies, 9(3), 203–216, 211. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VJMV92XR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VJMV92XR </b></a> §REF§ “The madaris of higher learning were, in all fairness, financed by the Muslim rulers of Bengal. It appears from the epigraphic sources that grants were awarded by the rulers to the teachers as well as to the pupils. The madrasah at Qasba Bagha described as an endowed institu tion of long standing was run by the grant of some neighbouring villages as madad-i-ma'dsh. According to local tradition a land grant of 2750 bighas continued a lakharaj even in the 19th century A.D. for running mosque, madrasah and other religious institutions in Mahisantosh it is at least indicative of land endowment for running the religious institutions by the Muslim rulers of Bengal.” §REF§ Ali, A. K. M. Y. (1985). Education for Muslims Under the Bengal Sultanate. Islamic Studies, 24(4), 421–443, 434. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VJSP3RQ6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VJSP3RQ6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 291, "polity": { "id": 777, "name": "in_nanda_dyn", "long_name": "Magadha - Nanda Dynasty", "start_year": -413, "end_year": -322 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 2, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Jainism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Possibly Jainism, but this is far from clear. The following quote suggests it as a possibility, based on the hostility of the Hindu authors of the Puranas, and the dynasty's tendency to give prominent positions to Jains and to form important ties with Jain leaders (assuming that is what it means by \"patriarchs\"): \"The Puranic chroniclers represent the dynasty as harbingers of Sudra rule and as irreligious (adharmika). The last statement is significant in view of the traditional connection of the family with Jain ministers and patriarchs. But the evidence on the point is of a character which makes it difficult to build too much on it.\"§REF§(Raychaudhuri 1988 [1967]: 26) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WNBQTNP7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WNBQTNP7 </b></a>§REF§ In a text that cannot be copied and pasted, the author mentions a Bengali inscription according to which a local Jain sculpture had been taken by a Nanda ruler several centuries prior, and that the king who had commissioned the inscription had managed to retrieve it and return it to Bengal. The author of the paper suggests that the fact that the Nanda ruler and his successor evidently cared for the sculpture--given its survival in apparently good condition--\"undoubtedly shows a leaning for Jainism either on the part of the king, or of the people, or, perhaps, of both.\"§REF§(Majumdar 1984: 134-135) Seshat URL <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/89U3UKRQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 89U3UKRQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 292, "polity": { "id": 396, "name": "in_pala_emp", "long_name": "Pala Empire", "start_year": 750, "end_year": 1174 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Patronized by the rulers, Buddhism secured a firm footing in Bengal and Bihar during the Pala dynasty. Buddhism started weakening in other parts of India from the eight century A.D. and after one or two centuries, it ceased to have any footing in the rest of India with the exception of Kashmir and Nepal and a few isolated regions. But it became very powerful and found a safe refuge in Bengal and Bihar during four centuries reign of the Pala kings.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 94-95) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “A study of the official seal of these two royal families [Pala dynasty and Chandra dynasty] reveals that they bear the emblem of Dharmachakra mudra and invariably an invocation to Lord Buddha. This Dharmachakra means the first preaching of Lord Buddha at the old place of Mrigadava or the modern Sarnath and this concept is described by a sign of Chakra or wheel between two deers. The kings of these dynasties are described as Parama-Saugata or the great followers of Sugata or Buddha.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 95-96) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “While numerous inscriptions of the Palas leave no doubt about their adherence to Buddhism, they do not tell us much about their activities in furtherance of this faith.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 96) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “According to Taranatha, Gopala, the founder to the royal dynasty of the Palas, who was a devotee and benefactor of Buddhism, revived the Nalanda monastery, erected several new monasteries in his dominion, and offered lavish gifts to the Buddhist clergy.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 96) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “Dharmapala was a great admirer of the teaching of Prajnaparamita-sutras and made Haribhadra, the great commentator of the Sutra, and an exponent of the yogachara philosophy, his spiritual preceptor.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 96) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “The next king Devapala was also a zealous advocate of Buddhism. His remarkable achievement was the restoration and enlargement of Sri-Traikutaka temple, which was buried in sand. The Pala kings and also the other contemporary Buddhist kings helped the Buddhist society and promoted social welfare. Later Pala rulers also followed this tradition.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 97) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “Though staunch Buddhists in character, some of the Pala rulers abandoned the paternal religion and accepted new religions. These kings were Narayanapala, his son Mahipala I and Mahipala I’s son Nayapala. The Bhagalpur copper plate of Narayandapala does not address the king as Parama-Saugata. The king donated the village Makuika situated in Kaksa visaya, within Tira-bhukti, to the god Siva-bhattaraka, after constructing a great and vast spacious temple in the village Kalasapata and consecrating the image of Siva there. Over and above, it is noted there that the village was donated to the bard of Acharyas of Pasupat followers, entrusted with the task of looking after the temple and worshipping the idol. Special mention was made of the arrangements to meet the expenses of worshipping the god, repairing the temple and deeding and giving medical treatment to the Saiva saints from the income of the donated village. From this proclamation it is apparent that Narayanapala himself loved the Saiva cult and was very much concerned with the worship of god Siva and the well-being of followers of Saiva cult. And it might not be unreasonable to say that king Narayanapala perhaps, gave up the paternal religion of Buddhism and adopted Saivism as his religion.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 98) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “We know that Mahipala I reigned for at least half a century and the grants were issued, perhaps, at an early period of his reign. Therefore, it can be surmised that the king was faithful to Buddhism when these charters were issued, but was attracted to Saivism and Sakta cults in his old age. According to a later inscription of his time of 1026 A.D., Mahipala I was a devotee of Vamarasi, the hard-souled or Kathorpahthi pasupat preceptor of Venaras.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 98-99) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “The above facts indicate that in Medieval India, religious liberality was prevalent; thus a person is described as the follower of different religions in different circumstances […] So it is most natural that the tutelary deity of one person might be different from the deity of his father or son. And it must not be decided that the early Indian people of the Pala period had no distinct sense of religion. But there was freedom among the commoners to worship a god of one’s own choice.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 99-100) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§ “Kantideva, the ruler of Harikelamandala, was a Buddhist by religion, but his father Dhanadatta was conversant in Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas and his mother, Bindurati was a devotee of Siva. Prabhavati, the royal queen of the Buddhist king Devakhadga, installed an image of goddess Chandi. From these references, it can be supposed that in Bengal it was a period when everyone showed respect to each other’s religion. The different designations of the people such as Saivas, Vaisnavas, Sauras etc. did not affect the good relation among them.” §REF§ (Bagchi 1993, 100) Bagchi, Jhunu. 1993. The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D. – Cir. 1200 A.D. Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/88BDAFJW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 88BDAFJW </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 293, "polity": { "id": 388, "name": "in_gupta_emp", "long_name": "Gupta Empire", "start_year": 320, "end_year": 550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 3, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Apart from the inscription, the coins of Chandra Gupta II indicate his personal religion of Vaishnavism.” §REF§ (Mookerji 1973, 51) Mookerji, Radhakumud. 1973. The Gupta Empire. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CM336BF3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CM336BF3 </b></a> §REF§ “While considering the question of the religion of the Imperial Guptas, the scholars who have already tackled the subject have reached the unanimous conclusion that the Guptas of the Imperial age were the followers of the Viasnava school and had implicit faith in Vaisnavism.” §REF§ (Dikshitar 1993, 285) Dikshitar, V.K. Ramachandra. 1993. The Gupta Polity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCGBPGRT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GCGBPGRT </b></a> §REF§ “The Gupta monarchs style themselves Paramabhagaratas and this is sufficient to show that they clung to the Vaishnava religion and they were themselves Vaishnava.” §REF§ (Dikshitar 1993, 291) Dikshitar, V.K. Ramachandra. 1993. The Gupta Polity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCGBPGRT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GCGBPGRT </b></a> §REF§ “Saivism was also the accepted religion of both royalty and commonfolk and effectively left its impress on the people in the Gupta times.” §REF§ (Dikshitar 1993, 298) Dikshitar, V.K. Ramachandra. 1993. The Gupta Polity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCGBPGRT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GCGBPGRT </b></a> §REF§ “A study of these monuments reveal that they Gupta monarchs were worshippers of Siva in his different manifestations. They were not only devotees of this god but were equally devoted to the consort of Siva, Parvati, and Karttikeya, the son of Siva and also of the Saptamatrkas all connected to Siva worship. These monuments devoted to the various gods and goddesses of the Saiva pantheon are enough to demonstrate the fact fully that they were worshippers both in Visnu and Siva temples.” §REF§ (Dikshitar 1993, 299) Dikshitar, V.K. Ramachandra. 1993. The Gupta Polity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCGBPGRT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GCGBPGRT </b></a> §REF§ “To achieve this end the Durga cult came in very handy and by offering their prayers to this goddess they were able to win a large empire. That is why we find that they engaged themselves in the worship of Sakti; for they realised that Saktism as an aspect of religion was rooted in Vedic literature, and without Sakti the purusa becomes an inactive principle. The very fact that the worship of Sakti was a fundamental concept in their religion indicates beyond a shadow of doubt that the Gupta monarchs were to some extent Sakta worshippers also.” §REF§ (Dikshitar 1993, 308) Dikshitar, V.K. Ramachandra. 1993. The Gupta Polity. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GCGBPGRT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GCGBPGRT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 294, "polity": { "id": 794, "name": "in_vanga_k", "long_name": "Vanga Dynasty", "start_year": 550, "end_year": 600 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 3, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"We learn from Hiuen Tsang that a line of Brahmana kings ruled in Samatata in the first half of the seventh century A.D.\"§REF§(Majumdar 1943: 85) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T4QJ84HB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T4QJ84HB </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 295, "polity": { "id": 780, "name": "bd_chandra_dyn", "long_name": "Chandra Dynasty", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1050 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“So we find that from c. 900 to c. 1050 A.D. South-Eastern Bengal witnessed the rule of a Buddhist dynasty – the Candras.” §REF§ (Chowdhury 1965, 258) Abdul Nomin Chowdhury, 1965. \"Dynastic History Of Bengal (C. 750-1200 A.D.)\". PhD, University of London. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BSB9HGAR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BSB9HGAR </b></a> §REF§ “most the rulers of the Deva and Chandra dynasties who ruled South-east Bengal and were contemporaries of the Palas, like the Khadaga rulers during the Gupta period, were Buddhists.” §REF§ (Banu 1991, 6) U.A.B. Razia Akter Banu, 1991. Islam in Bangladesh. Leiden, New York: Brill). Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QCHBXFR6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QCHBXFR6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 296, "polity": { "id": 587, "name": "gb_british_emp_1", "long_name": "British Empire I", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1849 }, "year_from": 1701, "year_to": 1849, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 64, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Anglican Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Thus, I will argue, an official and conscious Anglican concern for empire, and for missions by the Church of England, dates continuously from the foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) in 1701. The annual sermons, and the published extracts of its missionaries’ reports at its annual general meetings (which were continuous from 1701 until the 1840s) allow investigation into the formation, maintenance and adaptation on and Anglican discourse of the British Empire from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.” […] “[…] Australia and New Zealand were the first British colonies to implement a new paradigm of imperial Anglicanism that had developed in England during the 1840s.” §REF§ (Strong 2007,6) Strong, Rowan. 2007. Anglicanism and the British Empire c. 1700 – 1850. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6F4DA2SZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6F4DA2SZ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 297, "polity": { "id": 782, "name": "bd_twelve_bhuyans", "long_name": "Twelve Bhuyans", "start_year": 1538, "end_year": 1612 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Most Bhuyans were Muslims, it seems. “The Jesuit mission report did not, however, specify the identity of the twelve chieftains, beyond noting that three were Hindus – i.e., those of Bakla (Bakarganj), Sripur (southeastern Dhaka), and Chandecan (Jessore) – and the rest Muslims.” §REF§ Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press, 147. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UFZ2JWS8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UFZ2JWS8 </b></a> §REF§ “The term Bhuyan comes from the Sanskrit word Bhaumika, meaning a “landlord” which is equivalent to the Persian word Zaminder. The Bhuyans are common to both Assam and Bengal and in both countries they are usually referred to as Bara Bhuyans - meaning the twelve landlords, although the term Bara does not mean their number should necessarily be twelve. They rose to political power taking advantage of the then political situation of their respective countries… It is usually believed that the Bhuyans constituted a Hindu caste. But in the Darrang Raj Vamsavali, as well as in Persian sources like the Akbarnama and the Ain-i-Akbari, there are references to Muslim Bhuyans as well. This further confirms that the Bhuyans were a class rather than a caste of people. It appears that taking advantage of political unrest in the country, any person having large extents of land and resources, like arms, established himself as a Bhuyan. In the western Brahmaputra valley, the most influential persons who had both land and military resources were usually Kayasthas who monopolised the high offices in the administration of ancient Assam and the Kalitas who monopolised trade and commerce.” §REF§ Nath, D. (1989). Biswa Singha: Foundation of the Koch Kingdom. In History of the Koch Kingdom, 1515–1615 (pp. 15–44). Mittal Publications, 20–21. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2WJD9XPZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2WJD9XPZ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 298, "polity": { "id": 782, "name": "bd_twelve_bhuyans", "long_name": "Twelve Bhuyans", "start_year": 1538, "end_year": 1612 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 3, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Most Bhuyans were Muslims, it seems. “The Jesuit mission report did not, however, specify the identity of the twelve chieftains, beyond noting that three were Hindus – i.e., those of Bakla (Bakarganj), Sripur (southeastern Dhaka), and Chandecan (Jessore) – and the rest Muslims.” §REF§ Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press, 147. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UFZ2JWS8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UFZ2JWS8 </b></a> §REF§ “The term Bhuyan comes from the Sanskrit word Bhaumika, meaning a “landlord” which is equivalent to the Persian word Zaminder. The Bhuyans are common to both Assam and Bengal and in both countries they are usually referred to as Bara Bhuyans - meaning the twelve landlords, although the term Bara does not mean their number should necessarily be twelve. They rose to political power taking advantage of the then political situation of their respective countries… It is usually believed that the Bhuyans constituted a Hindu caste. But in the Darrang Raj Vamsavali, as well as in Persian sources like the Akbarnama and the Ain-i-Akbari, there are references to Muslim Bhuyans as well. This further confirms that the Bhuyans were a class rather than a caste of people. It appears that taking advantage of political unrest in the country, any person having large extents of land and resources, like arms, established himself as a Bhuyan. In the western Brahmaputra valley, the most influential persons who had both land and military resources were usually Kayasthas who monopolised the high offices in the administration of ancient Assam and the Kalitas who monopolised trade and commerce.” §REF§ Nath, D. (1989). Biswa Singha: Foundation of the Koch Kingdom. In History of the Koch Kingdom, 1515–1615 (pp. 15–44). Mittal Publications, 20–21. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2WJD9XPZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2WJD9XPZ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 299, "polity": { "id": 589, "name": "in_sur_emp", "long_name": "Sur Empire", "start_year": 1540, "end_year": 1556 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Muslim rulers, noted for their devotion to religion, took steps for the integration of the social and cultural life of the Muslims of Bengal. Mosques, Khanqas and madrasas were established in every Muslim locality and these were endowed with land-grants. The shaikhs, saiyids and 'ulama' were accorded a respectable position in the society and they were granted madad-i-m'aash for maintenance. All facilities were provided for the works of the preachers and teachers. The mosques, khanqas and madrasas served as integrating forces of the Muslim society and culture. The rulers took lead in the celebration of religious rites and festivities and thus strengthened the religious feeling of the Muslim Community. They sent presents to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah and provided facilities to the people to go to the Hajj. The rulers observed the Islamic Law in the conduct of the state. They owed allegiance to the 'Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad and maintained connections with the Islamic world. These worked for the solidarity of the Muslims and the development of the Muslim culture in Bengal.” §REF§ Raḥīm, M. A. (1970). Cultural Evolution in East Pakistan. Islamic Studies, 9(3), 203–216, 211. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VJMV92XR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VJMV92XR </b></a> §REF§ “The madaris of higher learning were, in all fairness, financed by the Muslim rulers of Bengal. It appears from the epigraphic sources that grants were awarded by the rulers to the teachers as well as to the pupils. The madrasah at Qasba Bagha described as an endowed institu tion of long standing was run by the grant of some neighbouring villages as madad-i-ma'dsh. According to local tradition a land grant of 2750 bighas continued a lakharaj even in the 19th century A.D. for running mosque, madrasah and other religious institutions in Mahisantosh it is at least indicative of land endowment for running the religious institutions by the Muslim rulers of Bengal.” §REF§ Ali, A. K. M. Y. (1985). Education for Muslims Under the Bengal Sultanate. Islamic Studies, 24(4), 421–443, 434. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VJSP3RQ6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VJSP3RQ6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 300, "polity": { "id": 587, "name": "gb_british_emp_1", "long_name": "British Empire I", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1849 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 64, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Anglican Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Thus, I will argue, an official and conscious Anglican concern for empire, and for missions by the Church of England, dates continuously from the foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) in 1701. The annual sermons, and the published extracts of its missionaries’ reports at its annual general meetings (which were continuous from 1701 until the 1840s) allow investigation into the formation, maintenance and adaptation on and Anglican discourse of the British Empire from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.” §REF§ (Strong 2007,6) Strong, Rowan. 2007. Anglicanism and the British Empire c. 1700 – 1850. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6F4DA2SZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6F4DA2SZ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 301, "polity": { "id": 778, "name": "in_east_india_co", "long_name": "British East India Company", "start_year": 1757, "end_year": 1858 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 64, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Anglican Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“It was a Christian company” §REF§ (Carson 2012, 2) Carson, Penelope 2012. The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858 (Woodbridge, Uk: Boydell and Brewer Press). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/USXTQFKH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: USXTQFKH </b></a> §REF§ “Most Company officials believed that the happiness of India would best be safeguarded by a policy of non-interference with Indian religions. [...] This meant leaving Indian religions alone. However, [the leadership of the East India Company] also believed that it was important to uphold Christianity.[…] Fearing disaffection amongst the sepoys, few Company officials were prepared to interfere with Indian religions.” §REF§ (Carson 2012, 21,23) Carson, Penelope 2012. The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858 (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer Press). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/USXTQFKH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: USXTQFKH </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 302, "polity": { "id": 796, "name": "in_gangaridai", "long_name": "Gangaridai", "start_year": -300, "end_year": -100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Very little appears to be known about this polity--the sole sources are Latin and Greek, and therefore may not be entirely reliable, given the geographic and cultural distance between their authors and subject matter. “The veil of darkness that enshrouds the early history of Bengal is partially lifted in the latter half of the fourth century b.c. A considerable portion of the country now constitutes the domain of a powerful nation, whose sway extended over the whole of ancient Vaiiga, and possibly some adjoining tracts. Greek and Latin writers refer to the people as the Gangaridai ( variant Gandaridai) . The Sanskrit equivalent of the term is difficult to determine. Classical scholars take the word to mean \"the people of the Ganges region.\"§REF§(Majumdar 1943: 41) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T4QJ84HB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T4QJ84HB </b></a>§REF§" } ] }