Entangled Bodies and Fantastic Beasts in the Devotional Cultures of Early Modern South Asia

Scholars have long observed that devotion to Krishna was enhanced by the invitation to indulge in fantasies. The entwined bodies of eight women in the form of a magical horse supporting the corporeal form of the divine rider brings this dimension of wonderment, curiosity, and fascination with transgressive escapes from societal norms explicitly to the surface. Such wondrous creatures respond to a well-established genre of composites ranging from horses, elephants and camels to swings composed of multiple entangled animals, humans and demons in circulation across Mughal north India in several portable media. A rich repertoire of extraordinary amalgamated forms had developed in the Indo-Iranian visual worlds, their appeal predominantly associated with invoking astonishment and sacred awe for the marvels of divine creation. Such motifs were shared among mystical communities endeavoring to communicate the centrality of interior states and ineffable bodily and spiritual transformations in premodern north India. Sufi literary tropes for the marvelous (ajaib) such as travel to faraway places, encounters with radical difference, and adventures with wondrous beasts and beings draw attention to transitional states or release from the ordinary. This paper explores the role of such composites in the visual vocabulary of emergent Krishna-worshipping communities alongside another set of composites visualizing the superhuman qualities of the Hindu gods, endowing a human torso, for example, with additional heads or limbs, or animal features to highlight particular properties. Displayed on temple walls, paintings, prints, and embroideries from the 17th to 19th centuries, their circulation across media speak to their persistence