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.

Literary Cultures in Early Modern North India: Current Research grows out of over a 40-year tradition of the triennial International Conferences on Early Modern Literatures in North India (ICEMLNI), initiated to share 'Bhakti in current research.' This volume brings together a selection of contributions from some of the leading scholars as well as emerging researchers in the field originally presented at the 13th ICEMLNI (University of Warsaw, 18-22 July 2018). Considering innovative methodologies and tools, the volume presents the current state of research on early modern sources and offers new inputs into our understanding of this period in the cultural history of India. This collection of essays is in the tradition of 'Bhakti in current research' volumes produced from 1980 onward but reflecting our current understanding of early modern textualities. The book operates on the premises that the centuries preceding the colonial conquest of India, which in scholarship influenced by orientalist concepts, has often been referred to as medieval. However these languages already participated in modernity through increased circulation of ideas, new forms of knowledge, new concepts of the individual, of the community, and of religion. The essays cover multiple languages (Indian vernaculars, Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Persian), different media (texts, performances, paintings, music) and traditions (Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Sant, Sikh), analyzing them as individual phenomena that function in a wider network of connections at textual, intertextual, and knowledge-system levels.

This volume considers the Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka (c. 1760 CE), an allegorical drama composed by Brajvāsīdās in Brajbhāṣā. It contributes to the study of vernacular nāṭakas with its first complete English translation. Moreover, the critical analysis shows that the foundational Sanskrit texts for Vedānta and those for Bhakti play a part in the Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka's philosophical and religious edifice. At the same time, the investigation demonstrates that Brajvāsīdās expresses several philosophical ideas by adaptively reusing the Rāmcaritmānas by Tulsīdās (c. 1574 CE). Brajvāsīdās composes a dohā by combining one line of his invention with a line from the Mānas. This method is employed throughout all the personified metaphysical concepts. That Brajvāsī not only read Bhakti but also Vedānta through the Rāmcaritmānas highlights the philosophical and literary creativity in 18th c. North India. It points to the necessity to rethink the sources of Vedānta philosophies, by including works non-conventional for language and genre, because not in Sanskrit and not śāstras. Such sources may not be original in their contribution per se but are essential to understand how early modern philosophy was done, conceived and transmitted.

This book presents recent scholarly research on one of the most important literary and historical periods of the Early Modern era from a wide range of approaches and perspectives. It contains a selection of contributions presented at the 12th International Conference on Early Modern Literatures of North India which provide new material as well as innovative methods to approach it. The organizing principle of the volume lies in its exploration of the links between a multiplicity of languages (Indian vernaculars, Persian, Sanskrit), media (texts, paintings, images) and traditions (Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Muslim). The role of the Persian language and the importance of translations from Sanskrit into Persian are discussed in light of the translational turn. The relations between various yogic traditions, especially of Nath origin, from Kabir and other sampradayas, are also reconsidered.

Did modernity arrive in South Asia with British colonialism? Or was South Asia already modern by then? What might have that modernity looked like? The Early Modern in South Asia engages with these questions. It brings together ten chapters, which collectively trace the contours of South Asia's early modernity between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. They do this by examining the nature of historical change in various domains, including philosophy, warfare, law, environment, politics, violence, religion, and society. The chapters argue that in all these fields, there were noticeable developments during this period, marking a shift from the medieval to the early modern. The introductory chapter contextualizes this by analysing the politics of periodization in history-writing across the world. It discusses the meanings of the relatively new concept of early modernity and the implications of its use for how we understand historical change and continuity in South Asia.

SWASTIKA: Epigraphy, Numismatics, Religion and Philosophical Studies is a Festschrift presented to Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah a renowned Jaina Scholar in India, on his 85th birth anniversary (7th October 1936) . Prof. Hampana one of the major litterateurs of Karnataka, has authored more than 80 books in English and Kannada. His writings, spread over more than five decades, cover a wide range of topics embracing different disciplines and fields of research. Some of his books have been translated into English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tulu, Tamil and Telugu. He has taught undergraduate and post- graduates students, for over 37 years. He has served Kannada sahitya parishad , as secretary for 8 years, as well president for 8 years , With ‘hampana’ as his nam de plume , he is a recipient of a number of state and national Awards. Contemporary literati honoured him with 8 festschrifts.. His contribution to the study of Jainology, in particular, insignificant and seminal. These articles in other way serve as garland of flowers to decor Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah; A great scholar in Jainism, Literature, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Religion and Philosophy , History and Cultural Studies. There are more than 31 articles shedding light on Recent Trends in Jainism Studies. This prestigious volume contains a wide spectrum of research articles covering Jainism in Archaeology, Art, and Architecture. The volume containing a good collection of research papers contributed by renowned authors from India and abroad will serve as an important source of information and reference book for research students and teachers as well. Incidentally, this volume also highlights the love and affection of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah enjoys in the intellectual world.

The small town of Vṛndāvana is today one of the most vibrant places of pilgrimage in northern India. Throngs of pilgrims travel there each year to honour the sacred land of Kṛṣṇa’s youth and to visit many of its temples. The Building of Vṛndāvana explores the complex history of this town’s early modern origins. Bringing together scholars from various disciplines to examine history, architecture, art, ritual, theology, and literature in this pivotal period, the book examines how these various disciplines were used to create, develop, and map Vṛndāvana as the most prominent place of pilgrimage for devotees of Kṛṣṇa. Contributors are: Guy L. Beck, Måns Broo, David Buchta, John Stratton Hawley, Barbara A. Holdrege, Rembert Lutjeharms, Cynthia D. Packert, and Heidi Pauwels.

"Advaita Vedåanta is one of the best-known schools of Indian philosophy, but much of its history-a history closely interwoven with that of medieval and modern Hinduism-remains surprisingly unexplored. This book focuses on a single remarkable work and its place within that history: The Ocean of Inquiry, a vernacular compendium of Advaita Vedåanta by the North Indian monk Niâscaldåas (ca. 1791 - 1863). Though not well known today, Niâscaldåas's work was once referred to by Vivekananda (himself a key figure in the shaping of modern Hinduism) as the most influential book in India. The present book situates The Ocean of Inquiry as a representative of both a neglected genre (vernacular Vedåanta) and a neglected period (ca. 17th-19th centuries) in the history of Indian philosophy. It argues that the rise of Advaita Vedåanta to a position of prestige began well before the period of British rule in India, and that vernacular texts like The Ocean of Inquiry played an important role in popularizing Vedåantic teachings. It also offers a new appraisal of the period of late Advaita Vedåanta, arguing that it should not be seen as one of barren scholasticism. For thinkers like Niâscaldåas, intellectual "inquiry" (vicåara) was not an academic exercise but a spiritual practice-indeed, it was the central practice on the path to liberation. The book concludes by arguing that without understanding both vernacular Vedåanta and the scholasticism of the period, one cannot fully understand the emergence of modern Hinduism"--