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South Asia Research 2008; 28; 307 DOI: 10.1177/026272800802800305 The online version of this article can be found at: http://sar.sagepub.com

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www.sagepublications.com DOI: 10.1177/026272800802800305 Vol. 28(3): 307316

SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH

Copyright 2008 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore

BOOK REVIEWS
M. Shah Alam, Enforcement of International Human Rights Law by Domestic Courts (Dhaka: New Warsi Book Corporation, 2007), xxiv + 203 pp. In this age of human rights, the importance of the judicial enforcement of international human rights law in the domestic arena needs no stressing. The subject and the attendant debates have troubled and enlivened contemporary political and legal discourses. Although much literature is now available, the jurisprudence of domestic judicial invocation of international human rights norms is quite young and remains undeveloped. Professor Alams book is a signicant contribution to the maturing of this ourishing subject, not least because the author has insightfully examined various relevant theories and state practices. While the existing debates on whether a national court can legitimately enforce locally unincorporated international human rights norms are largely overshadowed by concerns of state sovereignty, parliamentary supremacy, and the limits of judicial powers, the book fascinatingly stresses the need for ensuring justice, states human rights responsibilities, and the strength of judicial activism. The four major chapters of the book are skilfully interwoven through a common thread, the objective being to highlight the authority of the judiciary in implementing globally agreed human rights norms at the national level. Following the introduction with its outline of the authors central thesis, the rst chapter provides an analysis of theoretical problems of locally implementing international law generally, and international human rights law in particular. The author mainly argues that the plea of state sovereignty as a means of opposing the direct implementation of international obligations in a state territory should not be absolutised and taken too far. The authors analyses develop further, however, showing the fear that the direct domestic application of international human rights laws would undermine domestic laws as more imaginary than real. Based on the Courts fundamental duty to do justice (p. 22), Professor Alam strongly supports the principle of direct judicial enforceability of international human rights law. But he suggests prior or prospective legislative approval of treaties to overcome the so-called problem of democratic legitimacy arising from the involvement of what antagonists consider unelected judges in this process. As the author convincingly argues, much of judges willingness to embrace activism in domestically enforcing international human rights law will depend on their orientation, tradition, training, motivation and attitude vis--vis the subject.

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Chapter 2 examines the practice of the United States in invoking or locally applying international human rights norms. No doubt, the USA is the most studied jurisdiction concerning this issue, perhaps because its Constitution makes international treaties signed by the USA part of US law. But, as this book conrms, US practice and jurisprudence on this issue are replete with contradictions. While crediting the USA for its role in promoting international human rights, Professor Alam rightly critiques the US stance vis--vis international treaties and the conservatism of its judiciary in invoking international human rights norms, producing an analysis intensied by reference to many judicial decisions. Chapter 3 examines the practices of domestic implementation of international human rights norms in the UK, India, Continental Europe and Japan. This selection reects existing trends on the issue and shows particularly well how the rather conservative judiciary of the UK, a dualist country that requires incorporation of international laws before their domestic application, has been gradually coming close to recognising the direct applicability of unincorporated human rights treaties. The author considers India most notable in terms of judicially enforcing international human rights norms, claiming that through its judicial activism, the Indian Supreme Court has on numerous occasions provided remedies by relying on even unincorporated international human rights treaties. The chapter then analyses the non-uniform practices of some civil law countries of Central Europe that theoretically follow monism and recognise the direct local applicability of international law, and of Japan, which is a country of mixed legal tradition. Chapter 4 nally examines Bangladeshs rather under-studied judicial and state practice in applying international human rights standards, a position characterised by paucity of case law, ambiguity of constitutional provisions and judicial reluctance to indulge in activism. Providing a detailed analysis of the Constitution of Bangladesh and the context of theories against which Bangladeshi judicial decisions have to be evaluated, the author appreciates the recent judicial trend to refer to international human rights norms to clarify the ambit of domestic sources of law. He expects more judicial activism to empower the Bangladeshi judges to base decisions directly on international human rights norms. Appreciably, he shows that this is quite possible under the present constitutional scheme and also argues that the task of implementing international obligations should not be left to the judiciary alone; rather, the burden should be shared by the other two organs of the state. Moreover, there should be clear constitutional and statutory stipulations concerning ratication of international treaties, the status of customary international norms, and the relationship between domestic and international laws. A minor limitation of the book is the absence of a concluding chapter. Perhaps the author thought that conclusions drawn in each chapter and arguments made in the Introduction would meet the readers demand. On the whole, the book is exceedingly well argued. It enriches our understanding of the imperative of global human rights

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values and standards and of the judicial role in improving justice by domestically enforcing these values. Also, the book provides a wealth of references for potential researchers, and contains an annexe of important documents and ndings, with an index of Bangladeshs adherence to international human rights instruments. The book will undoubtedly be of value to students and scholars of international law, lawyers, judges, human rights activists, legislators and other policymakers. Ridwanul Hoque Department of Law Chittagong, Bangladesh D.L. Haberman, River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), x + 278 pp. This is an eminently readable account of life, religion and environmental pollution along the banks of the Yamuna, one of the holiest rivers in Northern India, which runs from a glacier in the Himalayas, past several major industrial towns, through Delhi and Agra to its conuence with the Ganges at Allahabad. Through ethnographic description, interviews and textual analysis, Haberman seeks to explore the rivers religious signicance, asking specically what relevance this has for tackling its increasingly high pollution. Situated within the new eld of religion and ecology, this study is largely premised on Lynn Whites seminal essay The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis (Science 155 (3767), 1967: 120312), which argued that JudeoChristian religious values could be an underlying cause of environmental problems, but could also become part of a creative solution. The exploration of the Yamuna in chapter one starts with a general discussion of Hinduism and the possible roots within Hinduism for emerging environmentalisms, particularly river protection. Haberman argues for an interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita that claims it is clearly at the heart of many ecological considerations in India (p. 29), and strongly refutes earlier standard interpretations of Hinduism which have overemphasised the world-denying ascetic minority, as opposed to the majority who see the Gita as a source of ecological inspiration and who worship the natural world. This argument provides the context for chapter two, starting with an in-depth ethnographic description of the source of the Yamuna, the Yamunotri. Haberman describes pilgrims cooking rice in the hot pools, groups performing pujas with priests and leading his four year old son up to the site of pilgrimage on a small donkey along a treacherous mountain path. The pilgrims convey how they see the river as a mother and as a daughter of the Sun. Dams are seen as killing the river, which leads to a discussion about forms of resistance and environmental movements in India. As A. DeNicola has argued in a recent review of Habermans book (in Anthropological Quarterly 80(3), 2007: 91114), this outline of the role of Gandhian ideals and the South Asia Research Vol. 28 (3): 307316

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signicance which the Chipko movement had on Indian environmentalism overlooks the ongoing debates over environmental politics movements in India. Chapter three (River of death) is qualitatively different from the preceding and following chapters in that it deals with the river as it passes through Delhi, where it gains 70% of its pollution load. This requires a step away from the religious perspective to one informed by scientic documents, NGO reports and media articles. It might have helped the reader at this point if Haberman had not simply told his story so entirely through media articles, which makes this a bitty piece of narrative more reective of journalism and somewhat loses sight of the pollution theme. Chapter four contains a detailed and at times beautiful account of the various religious meanings the river has to different people. Haberman includes a translation of Vallabhacharyas Yamunashtakam, a Sanskrit hymn of nine verses sung all over the Braj region. He outlines eight ways in which the Yamuna is conceptualised: as mother of the world, highest divinity, supreme lover of God, ultimate giver, perfector of love, purier of all, daughter of the Sun and sister of death. Haberman then proceeds to the crux of his argument, emphasising cultural views on pollution of the river, both scientic delement through pollutants and spiritual pollution. He argues that although multiple understandings of the pollution and the goddess Yamuna exist, the transcendent view that pollution does not affect the river or the goddess (as found in K. Alleys On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River, 2002) is only a minority perspective. The majority accepted that pollution was harming both the river and the goddess. Haberman therefore concludes this chapter optimistically that religion can be a source of environmental protection as well as a hindrance. Chapter ve builds on this optimism with an exploration of current attempts at river protection including those with religious justications and other schemes such as the Yamuna campaign run by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit. The key insight here is the development of the concept of seva, a word with a range of meanings, from religious worship to a more inclusive concept of service. Haberman argues that this is the closest analogy to Western environmental activism. Chapter six concludes the book with a discussion of the role religion plays in environmentalisms both in India and the US and considers possible futures for the Yamuna. Interestingly, Haberman (p. 178) admits that he was worried about reading too much religion into environmental work, but became convinced this was not the case. His argument did not wholly convince this reader, however. Haberman does not engage with the growing literature in environmental sociology and psychology, of how values and worldviews lead to activism or environmental behaviours. This shows multiple factors involved in generating environmental concern, in which religion has not been shown to be signicant, and there is certainly no simple relationship between environmental values and action. It is overly simplistic to set up a deterministic framework, as Haberman does in the rst chapter, claiming to explore how an expressed worldview determines particular beliefs, practices and interactions regarding the non-human world (p. 17). The author accepts uncritically the claims by a few of his

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informants that only religion will motivate environmental action and does not fully consider the motivations of other environmental activism around the river, such as those currently in Delhi. That religion is part of an accepted justifying discourse is one argument; whether it can actually be a primary motivating force is quite another, which would need much further research. Whilst Haberman has set up an interesting and detailed account of the religious signicance of the river to contribute to the emerging debates on the importance of religion in environmental activism, he could have engaged more actively with existing research outside the narrow eld of religion and ecology. Susannah Fisher University College London Joanne Punzo Waghorne, Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), xviii + 292 pp. This book fulls the promise of its title by taking the reader on a journey in the steps of a multiplicity of Hindu deities, whose changing forms, colours, materials, dimensions, abodes and many more sensorial outputs merge at one time and stand out at other times, thereby characterising the evolving social and urban landscape of their middleclass worshippers. As a soft-spoken and indefatigable guide, Waghorne recreates the religious sensibilities of the Hindu middle-class through their own bourgeois discourses of liberal professionalism, gender equality, and democratic multi-caste vitality. Gods are born and re-born from the unconventionally imaginative creativity of their patrons across the world. In metal instead of stone, on an oval instead of a squared sanctum, portable trompe loeil deities or lavish sculptures: they all embody the unique likemindedness of the middle-class. Waghorne displays ethnographic sensibility by stopping, admiring and making sense of the history of each new Hindu temple that she tracks down almost stone by stone. The reader might suspect a slightly patronising overtone in the repeated acknowledgments of the singular kindness of her escorts in many of her discoveries. But all in all she acts as the perfect insider with an added touch of middle-class mannerism that privileges the ofcial tones and refrains from any political incorrectness. By detailing the signicant elements that tangibly shape the peculiar atmosphere of the new Hindu temples for its worshippers in Southern India as well as in London and in Washington, this book depicts rst of all the Hindu middle-classes; but by establishing historical links and theoretical similarities, it progresses further. How much further is the question that might engross and captivate the attention of the reader through the seemingly neutral description of the uncountable yet detailed peculiarities of the religiousness of the Hindu middle-class: a particular combination of nancial acumen with a genuine religious enchantment. South Asia Research Vol. 28 (3): 307316

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Waghornes scope is not only to understand the Indian middle-class within a religious context but also to investigate the meaning of class as lifestyle with religious overtones (p. 23). Hence the notion of new is crucial to Waghornes analysis for being closely embedded in middle-class Hinduism. New temples date back to centuries ago not only because of the ancient history of India, but essentially because the rise of the middle-class was accomplished thanks to its own original investment in building new temples. The patrons, not kings anymore but small communities of professionals, started to direct Brahman priests while abiding by government policies. Goddesses traditionally associated with rural religious practices were urbanised and, as Waghorne says, democratised (p. 135)a democracy based on the likeness inter pares more than on participation from the bottom. The Hindu middle-class is pleased with its own disregard for traditional divisions that, for example, would traditionally look at the Brahmans who perform funerals as inferior to other Brahmans (p. 198). Hence the creation of a globalised social divide on which basis the Indian middle-class feels closer to the British respectable middle-class neighbourhood and distances itself from the South Asian refugees coming from rural areas (p. 199200). Localism appears as another crucial conceptual tool: Localism of the global middle-class sensibility that not only shares similarities with other middle-class groups across the world but also deepens the divide between the urban and the rural in South Asia (p. 201). Waghorne successfully overcomes the mainstream description of middle-class idiosyncrasies and thereby responds to a need for respectability that grounds a neglected identity (pp. 13334 and 201). The middle-class member is proposed as the layman par excellence who displays a genuine religious belief as common attitude and lifestyle shared not only with other Hindus but sharable with a wider middle-class of professionals who chant mantras and light incense to rediscovered gods in their New Age spirituality (p. 227). As such, the Hindu middle-class at the same time draws upon and rejects local practices for their close link to the rural, from which it must distance itself for realising the alchemical process that turn[s] the wealth of merchant unto the abodes of God/s (p. 232). The new temples of the Hindu middle-class claim for themselves the spaces of widely shared values that can accommodate democratically not only Hindus but also many more religious people (pp. 23233). Waghorne, even if evidently seconding the Hindu middle-class encompassing ideology of her sources, does not seem to be lured into their universalistic claims: However this new sense of public life does not always become all encompassing. Sometimes middle-class sensibilities even in religious life become so normalized in India, as in the United States, that the lower classes drop out of sight except as recipient of charity (p. 34). This initial thread continues in the conclusion where the author points out the difcult departure from the British colonial heritage. The Hindu educated middleclass was co-partner, along with many British Orientalists, of the reconstruction of the orientalism that featured in many mainstream conceptualisations until recently (p. 234). But a further development of this issue is avoided in favour of a shift to the dangerous similarities between Hindu middle-class and Hindu fundamentalist values.

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Both tend to equate religion with culture and ethics (p. 235), but contrary to the Hindu fundamentalists, the legitimacy of the Hindu middle-class religion is deeply embedded within the social and nancial accomplishments of its patrons and devotees (p. 237), thereby physically creating a specic space that accommodates tolerance, democracy and miracles as a potentially universal lifestyle of the Hindu middle-class. Diaspora of the Gods rehabilitates the identity of the Hindu middle-class for its accomplishments of transnational and transcultural social change through a peculiar combination of religious sensibility and nancial entrepreneurship. It does this based on empirical data that refreshingly contradict the static Dumontian perspective for which the caste system crystallises Hindu society in perpetuity. Waghorne suggests that contrary to Habermans vision, the rise of the middle-class does not necessarily happen with a distance from religion. By challenging at the same time Webers cynicism, Waghorne even offers religion as a medium for social change. In conclusion, Diaspora of the Gods constitutes a potential for multiple elaboration. The religious sensibility of the Hindu middle-class as identity marker of a new lifestyle might allow for a greater discovery of the alternative creativities beyond the middle-class itself and among the poorer strata of Hindu society. Or, it might otherwise conceal the risk of a mere superimposition of middle-class discourse onto the mainstream ideology of the Hindu hierarchy based on caste. As such it is compelling reading for social science students and general scholarship alike, who are seeking not only to understand the rise of the Hindu middle-class and its link with a specically global religious sensibility, but who are also ready to explore the creative potential of the empirical data as a challenge to mainstream conceptualisations. Livia Holden Grifth University Lalita du Perron, Hindi Poetry in a Musical Genre: T . humr Lyrics (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2007), xxii + 234 pp. Among the musicological literature on the North Indian (Hindustani) traditions and l, only a few studies link linguistic and performance on . thumr , dhrupad and khya aspects. The introduction to this well-produced, handsome book indicates that its special contribution lies not only in contextualising the lyrics in a performance setting, but that it is primarily a textual analysis in which musical observations are based on existing studies, augmented by my own experiences as a student of Hindustani vocal music (p. 1). Having undergone partly similar artistic training, I approached this study with high expectations and am glad to say that my anticipations were not disappointed. T . humr as known today is not really an old art form, but has ancient roots, more recently contaminated by association with less respectable performance contexts. South Asia Research Vol. 28 (3): 307316

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Termed semi-classical and not always adhering strictly to the rules of ra g, it is a type of song loved by everyone, compared to a delicious dessert after a heavy main course of khya l singing (p. 2). Its concise and often deeply romantic language, with a rst part (stha yi) and an end piece (antara ), often drawn from Braj Bhasha, allows such texts to be interpreted in a variety of situation-specic contexts, owing with the times. Current understandings of . thumr elegantly hide that such songs were originally a vehicle for dance, both in its bhakti-related aspects and slightly later as the primary avenue for emotional expression in songstress-courtesan (tava yaf ) performance (p. 2). But even though its connection with courtesan life has affected both its musical and its textual shape (p. 2), this art form has survived the transition to a sanitised modernity. However, it is suggested, [i]n the process, its meaning has been changed, its tradition has been reinvented and its history has been denied (p. 2). The main aim of this study is thus a detailed linguistic analysis of . thumr lyrics to understand how the reconstructed, sanitised meanings attached to this art form have been facilitated during the twentieth century by changed use of language. The history of . thumr parallels the trajectory of classical Indian dance, suffering loss of status as a result of pollution by morally delicate performance contexts. Haunted by this somewhat disreputable past (p. 10), those concerned to preserve . thumr managed to engineer an increasingly dominant perception of bhakti characteristics for it, so that today, many members of an audience will remain unaware of earlier connections with courtesan life, ourishing particularly under the aristocracy of Lucknow during the nineteenth century and the patronage and artistic intervention of Wajid Ali Shah. Forgetting to rule, he was unseated by the British in 1856, but gave t .humr an orientation that many good Indians today are trying hard to ignore. Chapter 2 studies the female voice in . thumr and clearly identies its two main types, bol bana v and bandish. Though there is no monopoly on female speakers, in devotional contexts the female voice is commonly a metaphor for the longing of the soul for union with the divine (viraha). Lyrics express the female heroines sentiments of pain, separation from her lover and the joy of union. Performed by songstress-courtesans, bol bana v used to dramatise emotional expressions connected with femininityagain the problematic connection with dance resurfacesbut there is little evidence that such songs were composed or written by females. The songs often address Krishna or an unnamed lover in rst person narrative (p. 22). Beautiful examples of texts illustrate stylistic differences. The narrator in bandish thumr is not always female (p. 25). Some texts are ambiguous about the narrators . gender and identity, which may be claried through an accompanying narrative dance performance. Involvement of some male khya l singers has helped escape the courtesan stigma, and . thumr is now performed by many respectable middle-class women and men, but throughout the book some evidence of disparaging attitudes is reected. Chapter 3 focuses on the themes of pining and pranking, both devotional and secular, the distinction constantly blurred by the prominent RadhaKrishna theme. Expressing the sentiments of the text as if they were her own and engaging the audience

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in the emotional aspects of the lyrics, the traditional performer created rasa as well as loosening purse strings. While erotic sentiment is fundamental to the effects of . thumr , overdevotionalism has possibly destroyed its essence. The discussion proceeds in four parts: The amatory mood of . thumr links it to . ga rin S ra rasa, which connects with a vast body of complex literary theory and Krishnaite theology and is eventually paired with the emotion of love, the highest rasa, as foundation for the bhakti movement. Linked to this is the distinction of mystical and secular sentiments in theoretical contexts in Hindi literature; thirdly, it is shown that the heroines characteristics in terms of the na yika -bheda concepts in Sanskrit literature did not become prominent in Hindi literature until the courtly and amateurish riti poetry of the seventeenth to nineteenth century; fourthly, an analysis of . thumr texts as independent items of poetry is undertaken, with a fascinating discussion of eye symbolism (pp. 469). Chapter 4 focuses on the context of . thumr in relation to courtesans and patrons, ranging from bazaar prostitutes to highly accomplished songstress-courtesans, largely depending on musical skills. Anti-nautch campaigns during the nineteenth century meant that dance remained extremely problematic (p. 53) and was discouraged altogether. As . thumr was part of dance, the performance of seated abhinaya became accepted. Increased popularity was gained when talented musicians from Banaras transformed it into a more profound and expressive medium, the bol bana v . thumr , while the bandish faded away. Changing performance contexts and the effects of modern concert stages meant that contemporary singers also altered the lyrics of . thumr , sanitising it, for example, by replacing the empty bed with town (p. 56), so that now a woman no longer pines for the absent hero, but a whole town misses Krishna. Since the theme of viraha is a prominent feature of bol bana v . thumr , both mystical and secular interpretations can be read into the text. The chapter also discusses the important role of patronage (pp. 5963). Court patronage for performing arts declined considerably by the twentieth century, but in some cases lasted until independence in 1947, after which some reformers and educationalists, such as Tagore, Bhatkhande and Paluskar developed Indias cultural heritage of classical and folk traditions to a respectable height. The biggest patron of classical musicians became the Government-controlled All India Radio. Teaching colleges, public concerts and radio stations all propagated classical music and gave India a sense of pride in national arts and cultural heritage. Chapter 5 analyses the language of . thumr and nds a remarkable cohesiveness in the texts of this genre, also between bol bana v and bandish. Though there are different opinions, the prominent view, conrmed here through assumption of a primarily Braj Bhasha matrix, is that the texts are often inuenced by Khari Boli and Awadhi, while a number of other North Indian languages have also been used for compositions. Conciseness of texts makes analysis difcult; while reconstruction of an original text is not useful, exploration of different styles is productive. Consistent use of diminutives is a striking linguistic feature and results in a lyrical language in which elements of rhyme South Asia Research Vol. 28 (3): 307316

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are often crucial. Since . thumr texts are not part of a xed body of work and ascribed to a particular poet or poetic tradition, they are theoretically open to additions from anyone who wishes to engage with the genre. Some texts have more than one antara and the prime mood of the text is of course romantic. Chapter 6 considers rhyme and metre as a form of . thumr and discusses the dichotomy between musical texts as they exist in performance and their shape on the written page. Use of lines, length of vowels, ller words and stock phrases are examined. But . thumr is also based on its musical structure and the way it is used by each performer. Hence performance vowel length largely depends on musical and rhythmic considerations and varies from time to time and performance to performance. Detailed examples of . thumr texts explain what happens to the text in performance. There are vast differences between texts, and a performer is unlikely to perform the same text exactly in the same way. Chapter 7 contains interesting discussions of genre, authenticity and tradition of t humr , comparing the work of different writers and suggesting that the invention . (p. 99) of a . thumr tradition was partly achieved by denial of its real history. The carefully constructed image of a romantic genre becomes primarily located in a devotional idiom and a profound sense of continuity is provided by the formulaic nature of the texts (p. 117). This careful reconstruction has ensured . thumr s survival into the modern age. In fact, the more up to date . thumr gets, the more traditional it appears to be. The conclusion succinctly sums up the aims of the study and its major ndings and constitutes a very readable addition to knowledge. The main corpus of texts (pp. 128205) makes this book eminently useful not only for academics but also for dancers and singers, for whom such wonderful material is not easily available. A glossary, useful notes, a bibliography and a decent index complete this ne book. No doubt, a documentary lm would be a useful supplementary resource for practitioners of classical dance and music to illustrate even better . thumr s changed status from the nineteenth century to today. Nilima Devi Centre for Indian Classical Dance, Leicester

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