The Persianization of Itihasa

This paper explores the nature and understandings of history, or itihasa/Purana, in eighteenth-century India using two Mangalkabya narratives. These materials belong to a large genre of performance narratives, usually devoted to eulogizing various deities, that were produced in Bengal for several centuries. The paper illustrates how a “traditional” genre such as the Mangalkabya was effectively used to articulate contingent political and cultural preoccupations. The narratives studied here show that the historical experiences and contexts mirrored in them were derived from Mughal rule over Bengal and large parts of India during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The paper seeks to historicize and contextualize the shifts noticeable in these narratives and to engage with the notion that premodern, precolonial India lacked a sense of history molded by contemporary material and cultural imperatives

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · BENGAL · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Asian Studies and History · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture

• Escaping from Rama

  Valentina Gamberi•Culture and Religion•2014

  Añadir item

• I’d Kill to Belong! Comparing Brahmanical, Samurai, and Gentleman Masculinities in the Early Modern Period

  Open Access•Satanik Pal•The Journal of Men s Studies•2024

  Añadir item

• The ‘World of the Text’ and Political Thought in Bengali Maṅgal-kāvya, c. 1500–1750

  Open Access•David L Curley, David Curley•The Medieval History Journal•2011

  Añadir item

• Scribal elites in Sultanate and Mughal Bengal

  Open Access•Kumkum Chatterjee•The Indian Economic & Social…•2010

  Añadir item

• Cultural flows and cosmopolitanism in Mughal India

  Open Access•Kumkum Chatterjee•The Indian Economic & Social…•2009

  Añadir item

• The power of peasant poets

  Open Access•Gunasekaran, S Gunasekaran•The Indian Economic & Social…•2026

  Añadir item

• Nobility or Utility?Zamindars, businessmen, andbhadralokas curators of the Indian nation in Satyajit Ray'sJalsaghar (The Music Room)

  Open Access•Gautam Ghosh•Modern Asian Studies•2018

  Añadir item

• Goddess encounters

  Open Access•Kumkum Chatterjee•Modern Asian Studies•2013

  Añadir item

• Shankh-er Shongshar, Afterlife Everyday

  Open Access•Sukanya Sarbadhikary•Religions•2019

  Añadir item

• The interface between the written and the oral

  Jack Goody•The interface between the written…•1987

  Añadir item

• Fabulous Females and Peerless Pirs

  Tony K Stewart•Fabulous females and peerless Pīrs•2004

  Añadir item

• Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal

  Open Access•John R Mclane•Land and Local Kingship in…•1993

  Añadir item

• Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels

  K Narayan•Storytellers, Saints, and…•1989

  Añadir item

• The Venture of Islam, Volume 1

  Marshall G S Hodgson•Venture of Islam, Volume 1•1974

  Añadir item

• A History of Muslim Historiography

  Franz Rosenthal•A History of Muslim Historiography•1968

  Añadir item

• The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal

  Asim Roy•Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in…•1984

  Añadir item

• Studies on the Civilization of Islam

  H A R Gibb•Studies on the Civilization of…•2013

  Añadir item

• A Literary History of Persia

  Edward Granville Browne•Arabian Medicine•2020

  Añadir item

• The Invention Of Tradition

  Eric Hobsbawm, Terence O Ranger•Invention of Tradition•2012

  Añadir item

• The Venture of Islam, Volume 3

  Marshall G S Hodgson•The venture of Islam•1975

  Añadir item

• Textures of time

  Open Access•Monika Rathert•Textures of Time•2004

  Añadir item

• The Nation and Its Fragments

  Partha Chatterjee•Nation and Its Fragments•1994

  Añadir item

• Purāṇa Perennis

  Nicholas F Gier, Wendy Doniger•Asian Folklore Studies•1994

  Añadir item

• Singing of Birth and Death. Texts in Performance

  Paula Richman, Paula S Richman et al.•Asian Folklore Studies•1990

  Añadir item

• Speaking Historically

  Guha, Sumit Guha•The American Historical Review•2004

  Añadir item

• The Persian Presence in the Islamic World

  Open Access•Steven Blackburn•The Muslim World•2003

  Añadir item

• The King of Controversy

  Kumkum Chatterjee•The American Historical Review•2005

  Añadir item

• The Persian Presence in the Islamic World

  Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Richard G Hovannisian et al.•Studia Islamica•2000

  Añadir item

• Rethinking Early Modern India

  M H Fisher•The English Historical Review•2003

  Añadir item

• The Cultural Heritage of India

  Hans Kohn, James Lowell Hypes•American Sociological Review•1938

  Añadir item

• The Romance Tradition in Urdu

  Julie Scott Meisami, Frances W Pritchett•Journal of the American Oriental…•1995

  Añadir item

• History's Forgotten Doubles

  Ashis Nandy•History and Theory•1995

  Añadir item

• Historians of Medieval India

  Doris Marion Kling, P Hardy•Journal of the American Oriental…•1964

  Añadir item

• Purana Perennis

  Ludo Rocher, Wendy Doniger•Journal of the American Oriental…•1997

  Añadir item

• The History of Bengal Muslim Period 1200-1757

  John F Richards, Jadu-Nath Sarkar et al.•Journal of the American Oriental…•1977

  Añadir item

• The Formation of a Regionally Oriented Ruling Group in Bengal, 1700-1740

  Philip B Calkins•The Journal of Asian Studies•1970

  Añadir item

• Sultan among Hindu Kings

  Open Access•Phillip B Wagoner•The Journal of Asian Studies•1996

  Añadir item

• History as Self-Representation

  Open Access•Kumkum Chatterjee•Modern Asian Studies•1998

  Añadir item