| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The paper considers the trope of 'persons-in-parivaara', persons in a retinue, as a rhetorical and social form in South Asia, using Digambar Jain examples, mostly from Maharashtra. As a social form, persons-in-parivaara evokes familiar themes, especially hierarchy in relationships, the vote bank, and Mattison Mines' notion of the 'big man'. The paper shows how the persons-in-parivaara trope is used in a wide variety of media and genres, including personal curriculum vitae, adversarial journalism, graphic illustrations, photography as displayed or published, and the arrangement of persons in space during a concerted action. In this respect, the trope demonstrates that social forms, amounting to what has been called 'culture', are essentially rhetorical; that is, are used to achieve some project. Tropes are never certain of success, but are rather fragile and subject to failure as well as success.
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