Abstract
This study seeks to analyse the iconic representations of Imam Ali depicted in
popular Shia religious art displayed in domestic and public settings. It has a great
significance in the ritual and devotional life of majority of the Shia community in
the province of Punjab. Therefore the function of such posters has been discussed
in ritual and devotional context. This study explores the achievable meanings and
characters of Imam Ali imaginary depictions in the popular posters and personal
piety. This study further discusses the representation of status and roles by also
considering the signification of paraphernalia and attributes. We discussed the
local viewer’s response and reception of such devotional posters in their
immediate environments from various perspectives: in relations to iconographic
convention, local viewer’s interpretive strategies and opinions, and the function of
images. We argue that the objects of devotion discussed in this study weld the
unity between the image itself and the beholder The popular posters of Imam Ali
are often served as votive images, the vow in presented to God through holy
personages. In this context, during ethnographic field research and through the
statements of many interlocutors we attempt to account for the expression,
reception and function of imageries in the living tradition of Shia community’s
religious life.
With the help of many male informants, this study is based on an ethnographic
field research conducted in selected cities and their suburbs in the province of
Punjab (Pakistan).
Muhammad Asghar, Muhammad Arshad Rehmani. (2018) The Lion of God: Function, Expression and Reception of Popular Devotional Posters, Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society, Volume 31, issue 1.
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