An Image Bazaar for the Devotee

Abstract

India’s publishing industry nurtures a unique popular art form—the religious posters in which Islamic themes derive liberally from the images and symbols of Hindu iconography and vice versa. There is more to the diversity of these images, however, than simply the tactics of the industry—the very concepts of Islam’s monotheism and iconoclasm are often redefined here. Ironically, some of these images are commonly venerated in south Asia’s Muslim society and reveal a liberalism that would mock the current cartoon crisis around the Muslim world.