James Mchugh
Biographic Data
| ID | 3768624 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James Mchugh |
| GIVEN NAMES | James |
| FAMILY NAME | Mchugh |
| SIGNATURE | MCHUGH J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Dr. Mildred Schwartz (1932-2023)
The Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS), the American Review of Canadian Studies, and the scholarly community in general lost one of its most gracious and accomplished fri
An Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian History and Religions
An Unholy Brew is the first book on alcohol in premodern India. Using a wide range of sources from the Vedas to the Kāmasūtra , the book explores the drinks, styles of drinking, and sophisticated theories of abstinence found in South Asia from our earliest Sanskrit written records through the second millennium CE. It begins with the intoxicating drinks people devised over the centuries, made from grains, sugars, fruits, and herbs. Texts describe …
Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian History and Religions
Surā Brewing and Public Drinking
Chapter 3 contains a study of surā breweries and surā shops, institutions somewhat analogous to alehouses of premodern England. The chapter presents texts on communal drinking, public places where people both made and sold drinks to all comers, and festivals and fairs. Savory snacks, essential to South Asian drinking cultures, are also considered in this chapter. Open, public drinking is sometimes represented as “common” and morally dubious, and …
Firewater and Corpse-Reviver: Alcohol in Later Sanskrit Sources
Chapter 9 contains some very brief observations on what happened to the drinks, ideas, narratives, and rituals discussed in this book over the later second millennium CE. Although limited to certain narrow sectarian and professional contexts, many of these ancient intellectual resources still formed a repertoire of materials with which to think about drink and drugs in very changed historical circumstances. The chapter first examines what happene…
Surā Made from Grains
This chapter focuses on the ancient, prototypical drink of premodern South Asia: surā . The word “ surā ” means a lot of things and can even be a generic word for alcoholic drinks, but as a named type of drink in ancient texts it often refers to a drink brewed from cereal grains along with special fermentation starters and herbs. The chapter first presents a very early “recipe” for surā from a text on Vedic rituals. Then the chapter examines late…
Theorizing Alcoholic Drinks in Ancient India: The Complex Case of Maireya
An alcoholic drink called maireya is prominent in ancient texts from South Asia, and features prominently in Buddhist law on alcohol. The article considers what we can say about the chronology, the nature, and the cultural significance of maireya. Maireya became prominent several centuries BCE, maintaining this high profile until the early first millennium CE. It was theorized to be made with an innately flexible formula with a secondary fermenta…
Grape wine in ancient and early Medieval India: The view from the centre
Grape wine is not mentioned in our earliest texts from South Asia, the Vedas nor in the epics, yet these texts contain evidence of an established drinking culture based on grain and sugarcane liquors. When did grapes and wine appear in the Indic cultural world and how were they received? Previous scholarship has focused on peripheral, Hellenised, wine-producing regions, like Gandhāra, or on finds of Roman amphorae, thus emphasising possible influ…
Ancient Indian Alcoholic Drink Called Surā: Vedic Evidence
A drink called surā is the alcoholic drink mentioned in our oldest Indian text, the Ṛg Veda, and people continued to make a drink called surā for millennia . This article uses the methodology of the comparative study of fermentation methods in order to make sense of the earliest descriptions of surā brewing processes . Surā was brewed in a semi-solid state, using malts for saccharification, perhaps also with a complex microbial ferment starter as…
Varieties of Drunk Experience in Early Medieval South Asia
Scholars of Indian cultural history have neglected the topic of alcohol and drinking, instead mostly emphasising a discourse of abstinence. Yet many Sanskrit technical and literary texts of the first through the early second millennium CE describe drinking in a positive light. There, drink is presented as a vital accessory for pleasure: drink is tasty, drink enhances the senses, loosens inhibitions and is associated with the enjoyment of sex for …
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Patrick Olivelle. Edited by Steven E. Lindquist
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Patrick Olivelle. Edited by Steven E. Lindquist. Cultural, Historical and Textual Studies of South Asian Religions. London.: Anthem Press, 2011. Pp. 392
Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell
Journal Article Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell. Get access Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell. (Studies in Sensory History.) Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. xi, 279. Cloth $95.00, paper $27.00. James McHugh James McHugh University of Southern California [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Hist…
From precious to polluting: Tracing the History of Camphor in Hinduism
Recently some Hindu temples stopped using camphor lamps because of the soot and pollution they produce. In this article I explore this contemporary problem, tracing how a network of plants, geography, physico-chemical qualities, traders, perfumers, celluloid factories, and ancient scriptures came together to construct camphor, first as a precious perfume, and later as a polluting chemical. In the medieval period, rare camphor was imported from So…
Blattes de Byzance in India: Mollusk Opercula and the History of Perfumery
Aromatics derived from animals have played a very important role in the history of perfumery. The most well-known of these materials are musk from the preputial glands of the musk deer, ambergris produced in the stomach of the sperm whale, and civet from the anal glands of the civet cat. Two other notable materials are castoreum from the beaver, and hyraceum from the solidified urine of the African hyrax. The material that I will call ‘sweet hoof…
Allies, Enemies, and Yakṣa Mud
What were perfumes and incense actually like and what did people do with them? This chapter explores the theory and practice of perfumes. Medieval South Asians did not talk of “top notes” and “base notes”, but of “allies” and “enemies” in the structure of a perfume. Perfumes ranged from simple pastes of sandalwood and saffron to complex oils containing dozens of ingredients subject to numerous processes. The chapter also analyzes a literary episo…
Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture
The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India
James McHugh, The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 2 (April-June 2012), pp. 245-273
The Incense Trees of the Land of Emeralds: The Exotic Material Culture of Kāmaśāstra
Seeing Scents: Methodological Reflections on the Intersensory Perception of Aromatics in South Asian Religions
The Classification of Smells and the Order of the Senses in Indian Religious Traditions
In the course of producing complex analyses of sensory experience, traditional Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist scholars in South Asia examined the nature of smell. These scholars were most often interested in the fundamental qualities of smells, i.e. how many types of odor there are. Faced with this difficult task, the three sectarian groups initially produced three different accounts, though in later works most scholars adopted very similar classifica…
Ex Uno Plura: State Constitutions and Their Political Cultures
The Quebec Constitution
Dans certains milieux, un débat se poursuit sur l'opportunité de doter un Québec éventuellement souverain d'une constitution de type enchâssé. En revanche, il est possible d'affirmer qu'une constitution québécoise existe déjà. Une tradition constitutionnelle québécoise se baserait sur la constitution de type non-enchâssé que le Québec a héritée du modèle de Westminster, et plus globalement de la gouvernementalité britannique. Cette tradition comp…
The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India
James McHugh, The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 2 (April-June 2012), pp. 245-273
The Incense Trees of the Land of Emeralds: The Exotic Material Culture of Kāmaśāstra
The Classification of Smells and the Order of the Senses in Indian Religious Traditions
In the course of producing complex analyses of sensory experience, traditional Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist scholars in South Asia examined the nature of smell. These scholars were most often interested in the fundamental qualities of smells, i.e. how many types of odor there are. Faced with this difficult task, the three sectarian groups initially produced three different accounts, though in later works most scholars adopted very similar classifica…
Grape wine in ancient and early Medieval India: The view from the centre
Grape wine is not mentioned in our earliest texts from South Asia, the Vedas nor in the epics, yet these texts contain evidence of an established drinking culture based on grain and sugarcane liquors. When did grapes and wine appear in the Indic cultural world and how were they received? Previous scholarship has focused on peripheral, Hellenised, wine-producing regions, like Gandhāra, or on finds of Roman amphorae, thus emphasising possible influ…
Seeing Scents: Methodological Reflections on the Intersensory Perception of Aromatics in South Asian Religions
The Quebec Constitution
Dans certains milieux, un débat se poursuit sur l'opportunité de doter un Québec éventuellement souverain d'une constitution de type enchâssé. En revanche, il est possible d'affirmer qu'une constitution québécoise existe déjà. Une tradition constitutionnelle québécoise se baserait sur la constitution de type non-enchâssé que le Québec a héritée du modèle de Westminster, et plus globalement de la gouvernementalité britannique. Cette tradition comp…
Ex Uno Plura: State Constitutions and Their Political Cultures
The Classification of Smells and the Order of the Senses in Indian Religious Traditions
In the course of producing complex analyses of sensory experience, traditional Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist scholars in South Asia examined the nature of smell. These scholars were most often interested in the fundamental qualities of smells, i.e. how many types of odor there are. Faced with this difficult task, the three sectarian groups initially produced three different accounts, though in later works most scholars adopted very similar classifica…
The Incense Trees of the Land of Emeralds: The Exotic Material Culture of Kāmaśāstra
Seeing Scents: Methodological Reflections on the Intersensory Perception of Aromatics in South Asian Religions
Allies, Enemies, and Yakṣa Mud
What were perfumes and incense actually like and what did people do with them? This chapter explores the theory and practice of perfumes. Medieval South Asians did not talk of “top notes” and “base notes”, but of “allies” and “enemies” in the structure of a perfume. Perfumes ranged from simple pastes of sandalwood and saffron to complex oils containing dozens of ingredients subject to numerous processes. The chapter also analyzes a literary episo…
Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture
The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India
James McHugh, The Disputed Civets and the Complexion of the God: Secretions and History in India, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 132, No. 2 (April-June 2012), pp. 245-273
Blattes de Byzance in India: Mollusk Opercula and the History of Perfumery
Aromatics derived from animals have played a very important role in the history of perfumery. The most well-known of these materials are musk from the preputial glands of the musk deer, ambergris produced in the stomach of the sperm whale, and civet from the anal glands of the civet cat. Two other notable materials are castoreum from the beaver, and hyraceum from the solidified urine of the African hyrax. The material that I will call ‘sweet hoof…
From precious to polluting: Tracing the History of Camphor in Hinduism
Recently some Hindu temples stopped using camphor lamps because of the soot and pollution they produce. In this article I explore this contemporary problem, tracing how a network of plants, geography, physico-chemical qualities, traders, perfumers, celluloid factories, and ancient scriptures came together to construct camphor, first as a precious perfume, and later as a polluting chemical. In the medieval period, rare camphor was imported from So…
Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell
Journal Article Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell. Get access Jonathan Reinarz. Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell. (Studies in Sensory History.) Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. xi, 279. Cloth $95.00, paper $27.00. James McHugh James McHugh University of Southern California [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Hist…
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Patrick Olivelle. Edited by Steven E. Lindquist
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Patrick Olivelle. Edited by Steven E. Lindquist. Cultural, Historical and Textual Studies of South Asian Religions. London.: Anthem Press, 2011. Pp. 392
Varieties of Drunk Experience in Early Medieval South Asia
Scholars of Indian cultural history have neglected the topic of alcohol and drinking, instead mostly emphasising a discourse of abstinence. Yet many Sanskrit technical and literary texts of the first through the early second millennium CE describe drinking in a positive light. There, drink is presented as a vital accessory for pleasure: drink is tasty, drink enhances the senses, loosens inhibitions and is associated with the enjoyment of sex for …
An Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian History and Religions
An Unholy Brew is the first book on alcohol in premodern India. Using a wide range of sources from the Vedas to the Kāmasūtra , the book explores the drinks, styles of drinking, and sophisticated theories of abstinence found in South Asia from our earliest Sanskrit written records through the second millennium CE. It begins with the intoxicating drinks people devised over the centuries, made from grains, sugars, fruits, and herbs. Texts describe …
Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian History and Religions
Surā Brewing and Public Drinking
Chapter 3 contains a study of surā breweries and surā shops, institutions somewhat analogous to alehouses of premodern England. The chapter presents texts on communal drinking, public places where people both made and sold drinks to all comers, and festivals and fairs. Savory snacks, essential to South Asian drinking cultures, are also considered in this chapter. Open, public drinking is sometimes represented as “common” and morally dubious, and …
Firewater and Corpse-Reviver: Alcohol in Later Sanskrit Sources
Chapter 9 contains some very brief observations on what happened to the drinks, ideas, narratives, and rituals discussed in this book over the later second millennium CE. Although limited to certain narrow sectarian and professional contexts, many of these ancient intellectual resources still formed a repertoire of materials with which to think about drink and drugs in very changed historical circumstances. The chapter first examines what happene…
Surā Made from Grains
This chapter focuses on the ancient, prototypical drink of premodern South Asia: surā . The word “ surā ” means a lot of things and can even be a generic word for alcoholic drinks, but as a named type of drink in ancient texts it often refers to a drink brewed from cereal grains along with special fermentation starters and herbs. The chapter first presents a very early “recipe” for surā from a text on Vedic rituals. Then the chapter examines late…
Theorizing Alcoholic Drinks in Ancient India: The Complex Case of Maireya
An alcoholic drink called maireya is prominent in ancient texts from South Asia, and features prominently in Buddhist law on alcohol. The article considers what we can say about the chronology, the nature, and the cultural significance of maireya. Maireya became prominent several centuries BCE, maintaining this high profile until the early first millennium CE. It was theorized to be made with an innately flexible formula with a secondary fermenta…
Grape wine in ancient and early Medieval India: The view from the centre
Grape wine is not mentioned in our earliest texts from South Asia, the Vedas nor in the epics, yet these texts contain evidence of an established drinking culture based on grain and sugarcane liquors. When did grapes and wine appear in the Indic cultural world and how were they received? Previous scholarship has focused on peripheral, Hellenised, wine-producing regions, like Gandhāra, or on finds of Roman amphorae, thus emphasising possible influ…
Ancient Indian Alcoholic Drink Called Surā: Vedic Evidence
A drink called surā is the alcoholic drink mentioned in our oldest Indian text, the Ṛg Veda, and people continued to make a drink called surā for millennia . This article uses the methodology of the comparative study of fermentation methods in order to make sense of the earliest descriptions of surā brewing processes . Surā was brewed in a semi-solid state, using malts for saccharification, perhaps also with a complex microbial ferment starter as…
Dr. Mildred Schwartz (1932-2023)
The Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS), the American Review of Canadian Studies, and the scholarly community in general lost one of its most gracious and accomplished fri
History (17 works) · Art (11 works) · History (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Ancient history (7 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (7 works) · Literature (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Archaeology (6 works)