Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern South India

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
VELCHERU NARAYANA RAO ◽  
SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAM
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
South India ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Broad Category

AbstractThis essays deals with a neglected and significant strand of Indian political thought by describing and analysing the corpus known as nīti in the context of medieval and early modern South India (in particular with reference to the Telugu-speaking region). Works of nīti are presented here within a larger context, as they evolve from the medieval Andhra of the Kakatiyas into the Vijayanagara period, the Nayakas, and beyond. They are also opposed and contrasted to other texts written within the broad category of dharmashāstra, which seem to deal with a far more conservative project for the management of society and politics within a caste-based framework. Authors and compilers dealt with include Baddena and Madiki Singana, but also the celebrated emperor-poet Krishnadevaraya (r. 1509–29). An argument is made for the continued relevance of these texts for the conduct of politics in South Asia, into and beyond the colonial period.

The Maratha Brahmin model in south India

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Washbrook
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
South India ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Western Education ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Acceptable Model ◽  
The Relationship

Many of the social groups who acquired scribal skills in the early modern period went on to acquire western education in the colonial period, and to lead the growth of the professions and the development of science and technology even into the postcolonial era. Yet, especially for Brahmins, the transition in both the early modern and modern epochs was never easy and raised awkward questions about the relationship between their ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ identities, about the nature of the different ‘knowledges’ which they possessed. This article argues that, for the transition in southern India, developments among Brahmin communities in Maharashtra from the fifteenth century were crucial. They established an acceptable model of secular Brahmin behaviour, which, if not without difficulty, eventually came to establish itself as normative across the South.

scholarly journals The European Influence on Sikh Portraiture: Representations of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Sher-e-Punjab (the Lion of the Punjab)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Ikeda ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Social Growth ◽  
Modern Period

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was one of the greatest patrons in the early modern period of South Asia. Under his sovereignty, local ateliers like the Imam Bakhsh workshop developed and many European artists like August Schefft and Emily Eden visited the Punjab region. His reign was also the period of economic and social growth, which fostered the spirit of Punjabi cultural identity across the Sikh Kingdom. Representations of Ranjit Singh changed significantly from his lifetime to posthumous portraits; the latter is characterized by advanced pictorial expression rather than the simply realistic technique. More development is evident in the colonial period, when the number of single portraits increased perhaps due to the import of small media like ivory and mica. Portraits of Ranjit Singh represent increasing European influence on Sikh art.

Identity Politics Revisited: Secular and ‘Dissonant’ Islam in Colonial South Asia

2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
TEENA PUROHIT
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vernacular History

AbstractThis paper analyzes the political project of secular Islam as outlined by the Indian political and religious leader, Muhammad Shah—also known as Aga Khan III (1877–1957). As first president of the All India Muslim League, Muhammad Shah facilitated the installation of separate electorates for Muslims as well as the call for Partition. The reformist notion of Islam he invoked for this separatist programme was informed by the secular and modernizing projects of the colonial public sphere. Simultaneously, however, Muhammad Shah claimed a divine role as Imam of the Ismaili Muslim community—a position validated by Ismaili beliefs and teachings of messianic Islam. The paper engages Muhammad Shah's writings and the devotional texts of the Ismailis to illustrate how the heterogeneous forms of practices peculiar to the vernacular history of Islam in early modern South Asia were displaced by the discourse of religious identity in the colonial period.

Public Space, Public Canon: Situating religion at the dawn of modernity in South India

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 1486-1541
Author(s):  
ELAINE FISHER
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
South India ◽  
Early Modernity ◽  
Secularization Theory ◽  
Historical Archive ◽  
The City ◽  
Distinctive Role

AbstractWhat is ‘early modern’ about religion in South India? In theorizing early modernity in South Asia, the category of religion has been viewed with scepticism, perhaps to avoid painting India as the exotic ‘Other’ that failed to modernize in the eyes of Western social theory. And yet, Western narratives, drawn from secularization theory, fail to do justice to our historical archive. As a vehicle for approaching the experience of religion in early modern South India, this article invokes the category of space as a medium for the publicization and contestation of meaning across diverse language, caste, and religious publics. In the process, it excavates the codification of the ‘Sacred Games of Śiva’ as public religious canon of the city of Madurai, exemplifying the distinctive role played by religion in public space in early modern South India.

Philosophic Pride

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Brooke
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
Marcus Aurelius ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Modern Era ◽  
Modern Era

This is the first full-scale look at the essential place of Stoicism in the foundations of modern political thought. Spanning the period from Justus Lipsius's Politics in 1589 to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile in 1762, and concentrating on arguments originating from England, France, and the Netherlands, the book considers how political writers of the period engaged with the ideas of the Roman and Greek Stoics that they found in works by Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The book examines key texts in their historical context, paying special attention to the history of classical scholarship and the historiography of philosophy. The book delves into the persisting tension between Stoicism and the tradition of Augustinian anti-Stoic criticism, which held Stoicism to be a philosophy for the proud who denied their fallen condition. Concentrating on arguments in moral psychology surrounding the foundations of human sociability and self-love, the book details how the engagement with Roman Stoicism shaped early modern political philosophy and offers significant new interpretations of Lipsius and Rousseau together with fresh perspectives on the political thought of Hugo Grotius and Thomas Hobbes. The book shows how the legacy of the Stoics played a vital role in European intellectual life in the early modern era.

What is military labour? War, logistics, and the Mughals in early modern South Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 096834452091861
Author(s):  
Pratyay Nath
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
Early Modern South Asia

The category of ‘military labour’ has traditionally been used to designate ‘combat labour’ – the labour of soldiers. Focusing on the case of early modern South Asia, the present essay argues that this equivalence is misplaced and that it is a product of a distorted view of war defined primarily in terms of combat. The essay discusses the roles played by the logistical workforce of Mughal armies in conducting military campaigns and facilitating imperial expansion. It calls for broadening the category of ‘military labour’ to include all types of labour rendered consciously towards the fulfilment of military objectives.

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