Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India

Early modern India-a period extending from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century-saw dramatic cultural, religious, and political changes as it went from Sultanate to Mughal to early colonial rule. Witness to the rise of multiple literary and devotional traditions, this period was characterized by immense political energy and cultural vibrancy. Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India brings together recent scholarship on the languages, literatures, and religious traditions of northern India. It focuses on the rise of vernacular languages as vehicles for literary expression and historical and religious self-assertion, and particularly attends to ways in which these regional spoken languages connect with each other and their cosmopolitan counterparts. Hindu, Muslim, and Jain idioms emerge in new ways, and the effect of the volume as a whole is to show that they belong to a single complex cultural conversation.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration Introduction Tyler Williams and Anshu Malhotra Part One Between Cosmopolitan and Bhasa 1. The Emergence of Hindi Literature: From Transregional Maru-Gurjar to Madhyadesi Narratives Imre Bangha 2. Urdu as Persian: Some Eighteenth-Century Evidence on Vernacular Poetry as Language Planning Arthur Dudney 3. Muslim Mahakavyas: Sanskrit and Translation in the Sultanates Luther Obrock 4. Making Sense of Bhasa in Sanskrit: Radhamohan Thakkur's Mahabhavanusarini-tika and Literary Culture in Early Eighteenth-Century Bengal Samuel Wright 5. Commentary as Translation: The Vairagya Vrnd of Bhagvandas Niranjani Tyler Williams Part Two Poetic Genres and Personalities 6. Poetry in Ragas or Ragas in Poetry? Studies in the Concept of Poetic Communication Raman P. Sinha 7. Searching for the Source or Mapping the Stream? Some Text-Critical Issues in the Study of Medieval Bhakti Jaroslav Strnad 8. Duality in the Language and Literary Style of Raskhan's Poetry Hiroko Nagasaki 9. Religious Syncretism and Literary Innovation: New Perspectives on Bhakti and Rasas in the Vijnanagita by Keshavdas Stefania Cavaliere 10. 'This Is How We Play Holi': Allegory in North Indian Digambar Jain Holi Songs John E. Cort 11. Hindi Barahmasa Tradition: From Narpati Nalha to Present-Day Folk Songs and Popular Publications Teiji Sakata Part Three History in Hindi 12. War and Succession: Padmakar, Man Kavi, and the Gosains in Bundelkhand William Pinch 13. The Poetics of History in Padmakar's Himmatbahadurvirudavali Allison Busch 14. Making the War Come Alive: Dingal Poetry and Padmakar's Himmatbahadurvirudavali Dalpat Rajpurohit 15. Alam: A Poet of Many Worlds Shreekant Kumar Chandan 16. The Pursuit of Pilgrimage, Pleasure, and Military Alliances: Nagaridas's Tirthananda Heidi R. M. Pauwels Part Four Sampraday and Beyond 17. Gopal Bhatt: Carrier of Bhakti to the North Shrivatsa Goswami 18. Gadadhar Bhatt and His Family: Facilitators of the Song of Bhakti in Vrindavan Swapna Sharma 19. Bhatts in Braj John Stratton Hawley 20. 'Why Do We Still Sift the Husk-Like Upanisads?' Revisiting Vedanta in Early Chaitanya Vaishnava Theology Rembert Lutjeharms 21. Religious Reading and Everyday Lives Emilia Bachrach About the Editors and Contributors Index