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" 'The Colossal Elephant' Shaykh Ahmad-i Jām: Legacy and hagiography in Islam "
John Dechant
DeWeese, Devin
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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803610
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| Doc. No
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TL48406
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| Call number
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1722048341; 3722988
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| Main Entry
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Gates, Tina Marie
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| Title & Author
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'The Colossal Elephant' Shaykh Ahmad-i Jām: Legacy and hagiography in Islam\ John DechantDeWeese, Devin
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| College
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Indiana University
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| Date
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2015
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| field of study
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Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
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| student score
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2015
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| Page No
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357
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| Note
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Committee members: Jaques, Robert K.; Losensky, Paul; Walbridge, John
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| Note
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Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-05469-8
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| Abstract
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This dissertation is a case study in how the spiritual authority of Ahmad-i Jām (c. 1059-c. 1139), also known as <i>Zhanda Pīl</i> or “the Colossal Elephant,” has endured and manifested itself over space and time, from the eleventh century to the nineteenth century. Utilizing a wide variety of evidence drawn from a large number of sources—including hagiographies, traditional histories, theological works, travel accounts, architectural data, poetry, shrine guides, and even shrine graffiti—we can see how this one man’s image and popularity has varied and evolved over different times and places, and come to understand how his descendants, his hagiographers, and other fans and devotees have utilized and manipulated his image and popularity for their own benefit. Through their interest and involvement, Ahmad-i Jām has remained relevant and meaningful for Muslims in Khurāsān and beyond for centuries, and this relevancy and meaningfulness has had a real world impact. Specifically, the power of Ahmad’s spiritual authority—which survived through his hagiographic image, his reputation for wisdom and knowledge, his ancestry and descendants, his shrine, his <i>silsila</i>, his cloak, etc.—and later people’s deft use of these legacies, made Ahmad fill an important niche in the local sacred geography, which in turn allowed the <i>awlād</i>, Ahmad’s shrine, and the region of Jām to endure and remain relevant through centuries of invasions, regime and religious changes.
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| Subject
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Religious history; Islamic Studies; History
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| Descriptor
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Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Hagiography;Iran;Islam;Saints;Shrine;Sufism
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| Added Entry
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DeWeese, Devin
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Near Eastern Languages and CulturesIndiana University
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