Cultural history of Medieval India / edited by Meenakshi Khanna

Readings in history.

Cultural History of Medieval India is a part of the series, Readings in History. The books in this series have been edited and put together by eminent historians for their students. This anthology of readings seeks to explore Indian culture in the medieval period through five themes: kingship traditions, social processes of religious devotion, inter-cultural perception, forms of identities and aesthetics. Written by well-known scholars, the eleven essays in this book present sub-cultures in diverse regional settings of the subcontinent. The articles suggest that culture does not exist as fragments of the ‘great’ and ‘little’, or ‘classic’ and ‘folk’ in any given tradition. In fact, variants within a given tradition interact with one another and assimilate new characteristics over time. These interactions also take place across boundaries of different religious and cultural spheres and in the process, give meaning to the notions of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. In an attempt to define the ‘other’ one discovers the ‘self’. These readings introduce a new way of understanding medieval Indian history by engaging with interdisciplinary methods of research on issues that are significant to everyday existence in a plural society like that of India. This book will be of great value to students of history, as well as to other readers interested in the culture of the medieval period in India.