History of Science in Early South Asia

 
The Sumhuram Yakṣī, an index of metal reuse?
 
Divya Kumar-Dumas (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW))
 
Although certain objects from South Arabia exhibit hybridity, a fragmentary bronze female figurine currently in the collection of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian (accession # S2013.2.378) excavated from Khor Rori (aka. ancient Sumhuram), which is in modern-day Oman, is of Indian manufacture and was brought to its findspot via maritime networks in the early centuries CE. Discussion of this figurine has considered its iconographic similarity to larger scale salabhanjika (also śālabhañjikā) sculptural motifs and its corroboration of the Western Indian Ocean trade linking South Asia with the Mediterranean via ports on the Arabian Peninsula. In this talk, I will review the art historical and archaeological arguments, before suggesting a more robust understanding of the Sumhuram yaḳsī requiring greater future engagement with texts and material science. My discussion emerges from a 2021-2022 collaboration with scholars specializing in South Asian art history, literature, and Ancient Near East art and archaeology.