Karbala-shanāsī: The Making of South Asian Shiʿism through the Sensorium

While there is growing interest in the role of senses in the history of Islam (Lange 2022), very little attention has been given to sensory approaches to Shiʿi Islam in South Asia (Wolf 2017; Bard 2015; Hyder 2006), an already “peripheral” area of Islamic Studies (Fuchs 2019). This paper explores the engagement of the senses in Shiʿi rituals in the Indian subcontinent. Examining the Urdu Shiʿi lament genre, I argue that the interconnection of the sensorium with South Asian Shiʿi devotional practices functioned in three important ways to shape Shiʿism in South Asia. I argue that the role of the senses in the use of ‘Indian’ music, poetry, and objects engaged local sensibilities and emotions that shaped important connections between the Indian subcontinent and the Arab Islamic world and helped to firmly establish Shiʿi Islam within the realm of ‘South Asian’ religions.