Locating Pleasure in Indian History is one of the first works on the subject of the 'discourse of pleasure' in Indian history and culture. A rigorous, source-based work, it examines the cultural practices and the underlying philosophic matrix of pleasures, big or small. It recovers the production and consumption of beauty, desire and gratification in the world of pleasure, pleasurable pursuits and pleasant experiences of viewing, performing, thinking, debating, cooking, eating, listening, writing, creating and procreating. The contributions retrieve the discourse of pleasure in visual and literary cultures-in elite and popular spheres, including the public and private domains of the bazaar, the temple, the household, the court and the garden. Further, it is examined in the urbane art of Mathura, Ravana's palace in the art of 7th CE western Deccan, the suratkhana of Rajput royalty or domestic pleasures of women in the labyrinths of the Puranas. With over 40 photographs, it historicises ideological and experiential conundrums thrown up by the idea of pursuing alimentary, carnal and even pious desires in visual and literary cultures. The reflexivity inherent in the work of artists, poets, dramatists and even shastrins is brought out through moments of pleasure and counter-pleasure as revealed through anecdotes, narratives, artefacts and objects of aesthetic gratification. Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements: Looking for Hur in History Introduction: Pleasures-Proscribed and Prescribed - Seema Bawa 1. Seeking Pleasure: Representations of Pleasure and Domesticity in Textual Traditions - Jaya S. Tyagi 2. Idyllic, Intimate, Beautiful Pleasures in Visual Culture at Mathura - Seema Bawa 3. Satire and Desire in Caturbhani - Ashish Abrol and Janica Paul 4. Courting Pleasure in Ravana's Lanka : The Aesthetics of Power and Desire in Early Medieval Deccan - Parul Pandya Dhar 5. Pleasant and Unpleasant Moments: The Life and Time of a Jain Merchant in Early Modern North India - Shalin Jain 6. 'Aashiq ko tow Allah na Dikhlaai Bhudhapa': Nazir Akbarabadi and the Celebrations of the Little Pleasures of Life in Urdu Poetry - Raziuddin Aquil 7. Painting Pleasure: The Genealogy and Dichotomies of Gender-based Identities - Preeti Sharma 8. Celebrating Adversities in the 17th and early 18th Century North India: The Case of Mir Ja'far Zatalli - Saifuddin Ahmad 9. Pleasures of Fashion and Sorrows of Production: The Handloom Industry in United Provinces, India, 1860s–1940s - Santosh Kumar Rai 10. Devotion and Pleasure: Vantages of Rebellion - Kota Neelima About the Editor and Contributors Index