Description
Book SynopsisCulture of Encounters recasts the Mughal Empire as a polyglot polity that collaborated with its Indian subjects to envision its sovereignty. This study also reframes the development of Brahman and Jain communities under Mughal rule, which coalesced around carefully selected, politically salient memories of imperial interaction.
Trade ReviewIn Culture of Encounters, Audrey Truschke makes a compelling argument for the importance of Sanskrit and Sanskrit intellectuals in the Mughal court. Although certain aspects of these 'encounters' have been researched before, Truschke's work is more comprehensive, and her precise textual analyses go further than any others so far. This is an important and impressive work that should change the field of Mughal studies. -- Francesca Orsini, SOAS, University of London A remarkable achievement. Exploiting a substantial archive of Sanskrit materials, Truschke reveals a vibrantly multicultural Mughal court, one more thoroughly Indian than is commonly thought, owing to its close engagement with the land's oldest literary culture. -- Richard M. Eaton, University of Arizona Cultures of Encounter is a breakthrough in modern scholarship on the history and culture of South Asia. This absorbing account of the interaction of Persian and Sanskrit offers a powerful corrective to conventional one-sided narratives. -- Carl W. Ernst, University of North Carolina The benefits of this book make it richly worth the while of cultural historians of Mughal India and literary scholars of precolonial Persian, Sanskrit, and South Asian vernacular literatures. International Journal of Middle East Studies
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Other Scholarly Conventions Introduction: The Mughal Culture of Power 1. Brahman and Jain Sanskrit Intellectuals at the Mughal Court 2. Sanskrit Textual Production for the Mughals 3. Many Persian Maha bharatas for Akbar 4. Abu al-Fazl Redefines Islamicate Knowledge and Akbar's Sovereignty 5. Writing About the Mughal World in Sanskrit 6. Incorporating Sanskrit Into the Persianate World Conclusion: Power, Literature, and Early Modernity Appendix 1: Bilingual Example Sentences in Krsnadasa's Parasiprakasa (Light on Persian) Appendix 2: Four Sanskrit Verses Transliterated in the Razmna mah (Book of War) Notes Bibliography Index
