Inscriptions and regional identity

2. Regional identity

Formation of regional identity

Bhairabi Prasad Sahu, has aptly put into words how colonialist writings characterised Indian
history either in terms of its bewildering variety by constructing exclusive identities on
considerations of region, caste, language, ethnicity, etc., which renders it impossible to hold
together a socio-cultural and political unit. He further added as to how this disconcerting
characterisation of Indian history has constructed a totalising and consequently hegemonic
picture where the unchanging caste system and ‘the village community’ were represented as
the defining qualities. It is well understood that the imperial politics demanded these
patronising tactics for subjugation of the people and administrative supervisory over the
conquered subjects. The irony however, as Sahu added is, ‘Despite the denial of many
aspects of the imperialist reconstructions, Indian historians wittingly or unwittingly accepted
the idea of India as an undifferentiated entity and, deriving from it, as a given cultural and
political reality.’

The uncritical acceptance of reading India as one entity and integrating regional histories into
the history of India denotes ‘a condescending (patronising, snobbish, superior, arrogant)
attitude’. Because writing history from outside is not the same as writing history from within
thus encompassing lived reality of the people concerned across regions. The periodization
and understanding of regional history is complex and it cannot be read within the
convenience of the Indian history at large.

India as a nation coexists between the state and regions, though the priority of one over the
other is context specific. In this sense, the idea that the Indian union share a one unanimous
monolithic concept of shared history is wrong. The universality of regions being formed
through certain arrangement of historical forces over time must be acknowledged.

Scholars have generally agreed that the earlier theory that India was colonized by light-
skinned migrants from Central Asia was probably not true and that there is a need to discard
such history in favour of the evidence for interaction and common beneficial relationship
between these migrant groups and speakers of non-Aryan languages. Positing example in
support of this argument is that, the boundaries of Aryavarta as a cultural region were not
very sharply defined. They were both porous and flexible; firstly, it is flexible in so far as it
extended geographically and incorporated new regions within its ambit and, secondly, it is
porous because, contrary to general perception, it was inclusive.

However, postulating such theory does not mean accommodation of different groups took
place on a footing of equality. Brahmanical tradition practised integration and hierarchization
of peoples, places, customs and rituals by assigning them different positions within its fold
through the dominant structures ever since its emergence and simultaneous evolution.
Brahmanical tradition did not expand by itself – it owes its expansion to those people who
emulated brahmanical rituals considering it to be superior to other practices and therefore
started following and participating in Brahmanical rites and rituals in aspiration of raising
their status. Thus, the widening geographical focus of Brahmanical ideology was a two way
process since its inception.

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Facilitation of acculturation

Puranic tradition best illustrates the accommodation and irregular assignment of different
cults, sects and castes in the socio-religious hierarchy. This is reflected in the local state
formation and land grants in regions largely outside the Indo-Gangetic plains that created
conditions for a common boundary between Brahmanical ideology and the tribal world,
which carried ways of worship, spread of deities and developmental works such as the hectic
temple building activity. Tirthas, in the outlying regions such as Jharkhand, Orissa,
Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan provided cultural connectivity and facilitated the
assimilation of different cultures.

The expanding notion of Orissa is perhaps visible in the spatial distribution of the
Chamucitaus (royal letters) issued by the Khurda Rajas who appropriated the Gajapati legacy.
Consequent to the evolution of a regional kingdom under the Kakatiyas and the gradual
convergence of language and territory almost during the same period, i.e., 11 to 16th centuries
Andhra too experienced emerging identity formation. Later the emergence of a sense of
shared history going back to the Kakatiyas helped to strengthen the awareness of belonging to
a region.

Works such as the Harsacarita, among other things, incorporated the past and transmitted it to
the present and future. In the process they tried to revitalise and reproduce society.
Inscriptions and literature not only reflected society but through a conscious use of ideas and
symbols, perhaps, also tried to change it, especially in regions experiencing the interplay of
multiple processes of change.

Romila Thapar, points out how by the latter part of the 12th century Chola ascendency was
weakening and its neighbours were annexing its territories at the frontiers of the kingdom. As
the Chola power declined the subordinates rule in the Deccan increased and as they pursued
frequent campaigns against these subordinates, Chola supremacy was exhausted at the cost of
their own stability.

In the race for independent power against the Cholas were the Yadavas, the Hoysala and the
Kakatiyas. The Yadavas kept mainly to the Deccan, but their final disintegration began from
12th century onwards. In comparison, the Hoysalas did not do much except for the periods
when they were in action against the Cholas.

In case of the Kakatiyas, they became visible when they moved from the fortress of
Hanamkonda to the plains in its vicinity, establishing their capital at Warangal. The city and
the power that it captured was largely the work of the 13th century King Ganapatideva and his
daughter, Rudrammadevi, who succeeded him. In order to build up the capital which was
surrounded by less fertile tracts, major investments in clearing wasteland and building tanks
and canals were required to establish agriculture. Deserted villages were reclaimed by order
of the Kakatiya rulers and new villages were established, involving colonization or
encroachments into forests. This was actively encouraged by the Kakatiyas and their tributary
rulers through grants of land, especially to brahmans. All these contributed towards the
pursuit of establishing independent regional identity.

Word meaning
Tirthas: A Hindu place of pilgrimage, especially one by a river or lake.