2025 Deutscher Orientalistentag – Panel Contribution

For the 35th Deutscher Orientalistentag, to be held in Erlangen on 8-12 September 2025, DHARMA will be organising a panel named Patronesses, Patronettes? The role of women in South Asian patronage and power networks.

While the bulk of donative inscriptions from the Indic cultural sphere commemorate patronage by men occupying positions of power, there are, at least from certain times and regions, also numerous records attesting to the involvement of women in patronage processes. From reigning queens to the wives and mothers of royalty and high nobility to temple women and Buddhist nuns to ladies of the demimonde to women of no particular standing, they are seen participating in the networks of power expressed through donations to institutions and individuals. What avenues could they utilise to make or instigate donations? What qualifications did they need to be on the receiving end? How are these female actors portrayed to the audience of the texts? This panel gathers papers exploring, through primary sources from the Indic subcontinent and beyond, how women asserted themselves in traditionally male-dominated pre-modern South Asia.

If you are interested in contributing a paper to the panel (presence only, live at the DOT), please get in touch with Dániel Balogh by the end of December 2024.