HISTORY OF INDIA - VIT INTERNAL ASSESSMENT ‘Submitted to: Dr. Meenakshi Khanna Submitted by: Ananya Rajouria Course: History Hons. Semester: Vth Roll no: 21/HIS/O1 Email: rajouriaananya9@gmail.com Assignment word count: 2085 words.Discuss the relevance of vernacular literature as a source for Mughal history with special reference to the Mangalkavyas. The beginning of history writing in India is probably one of the most debated questions in the academic circle. Partha Chatterjee in his work ‘History in the Vernacular’, responds to this question by tracing the presence of Vernacular literature written in the Indian subcontinent before the British Colonial intervention. Chatterjee largely comments on V.N Rao, David Shulman, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s argument which suggests that there were historical narratives present in India that were “factual, bound by secular-casual explanations and were dealing with the life of the State” (Textures of Time: Writing History in South India 1600-1800). This Vernacular literature genre is contextualized in the larger Itihasa-Purana tradition of history writing. The characteristic features of the Puranas are the Panchlakshanas, which include the narratives around the creation and recreation of the universe, cosmic cycles, and Vamshavallis, or genealogy of the kings and saintly figures. Many times the texts within this genre do not always correspond to these lakshanas. According to Prof. Romila Thapar in her work “Society and Historical Consciousness: The Itihasa-Purana Tradition.” (1986), the Itihasa-Purana literature is characterized by a quality of ‘embedded tradition’. The ‘embeddedness’ here implies that Itihasa or history is often intertwined with myth through a variety of narratives, It is in this Itihasa-Purana tradition that the Vernacular literature of Bengal- The Mangalkavyas is placed, Kumkum Chatterjee defines the literary corpus of Mangalkavyas as “Vernacular Puranas with narrative poetry” that were produced between the 15th and 18th centuries, Written in Bangla, these texts are centered around eulogizing a local deity, usually a goddess, and were performed among the masses. The performative nature of the text can be gauged from the fact that the authors of the text- Brahmins, Kyasthas, and Baidyas describe the Mangalkavyas as Prabhandas (essay or narratives) and sometimes as Geet (song). According to Sukumar Sen, the Mangalkavya narratives became “Sabha Sahitya” i. Literary works patronized by the landed aristocracy. The Mangalkavya texts were also firmly tied to the political and cultural process that was unfolding during that time in the Bengal region. ‘The Mughal army military expansion into Bengal forms the context in which these texts were composed, performed, and later textualized, Hereby, there is a marked shift noticeable from one text to the other in the way the Mughals were perceived in the local region. These shifts represent the aspect of the dynamic nature of the Mangalkavya text. Kumkum Chatterjee in her article, “Goddess Encounters: Mughals, Monsters and the Goddess in Bengal” (2013) suggests that the Vernacular literature ‘complements’ the Persian historiography in the reconstruction of the Mughal history. The use of the Vernacular literature, especially the Mangalkavyas provides an alternate view of which the Mughal court chronicles have subsided. It provides an insight into the relationship between the expanding rule of the Mughal dynasty and the way the local population, zamindars, and the gentry class perceived it, Prof. Kumkum Chatterjee in her article focuses on the changes in the tradition of Goddess worship in Bengal during the 15th- 17th centuries, the period which coincided withthe expansion and consolidation of the Mughal rule in Bengal. Rachel Fell McDermott argues that the evolution of the goddess Durga, which retains her fieree demon-slaying character as described in Chandimangalkavya and at the same time is a mother and wife, is made possible through the process of Vaishnavization in Bengal. Dermott also suggests that the Mangalkavya literature acted as a ‘catalyst’ which favored the process through which gods and goddesses became more involved in people’s lives. The ‘performative’ aspect of the Mangalkavya favored the dissemination of the Goddess cult which reached as far as the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in the Annadamangal narrative. The initial and the most stereotypical view of the Mughal empire in Bengal as stated by Kumkum Chatterjee was of a “military-cum-revenue-extracting apparatus.” The symbolic representation of the Mughals and their brutality during the military expansion in Bengal can be seen in the Chandimangalkavya composed by Dwija Madhava in the late 16th century (1579). In this narrative, apart from the Kalketu story, the goddess is described as slaying a demon stated as “Mongol/Mangal Daitya’ in the text. Interestingly, such terminology has no precedent in any other textual reference including the Puranas. The term Mughal is usually considered the Inidanized version of the term Mongol. Historians Abdul Karim and M.R Tarafidar also suggest that the term Mongol implies Mughals. However, Tarafdar also states that the term Mongol was also used for the people of Central Asian d Mughals arrived in Bengal. According to him, these were people involved in trade. However, Kumkum Chatterjee argues that the term ‘Mongol’ in Mongol-Daitya in the Chandimangalkavya is method through which the author is establishing a connection between the Mughal military advancement in the 16th century and the goddess as the protector of the local population from the enemy advancement. ‘ent even before the Chatterjee’s statement could be substantiated through the work of R.D Banerjee, who points to the occurrence of the term ‘Mughalmari’ referring to the areas where large-scale killings occurred during battles in Bengal. One example of such a place could be Tukaroi, known as Mughalmari, which witnessed a battle between the Mughal army and Daud Khan Karrani in 1575 CE. Chittaranjan Dasgupta also echoes the same argument and identifies several villages named Mughalmai to the notion of the Goddess as the ‘protector’ of the local population by identifying a significant increase in the number of Chandi shrines mapped out near places and fields known as Mughalmari, Such a cluster of shrines according to Das suggests that the locals invoked the Goddess for protection against the ongoing killing. Hence, The representation of Mongol-daitya in Chandimangalkavya can be scen as a literary exaggeration of the ongoing Killing happening at the regional level. in the Midanour and Border areas of Burdwan. He further adds However, in the same text, the author in the Atmaparichay section has eulogized the Mughal ‘emperor Akbar. He is described as a reincarnation of Arjuna, as radiant as the sun, resembling Brihaspati god in his intellectual capabilities and a King like Lord Rama. Such contrasting representation of Mughals in the same text is intriguing and ironical at the same time. A discontinuity in the perception of the Mughals in Chandimangalkavya can be attributed to the extreme ‘localized’ nature of the text. Since the Mughal emperor Akbar and the author ofChandimanaglkavya have no direct contact, the eulogy of the emperor is based on the author’s imagination. Secondly, Akbar was nowhere visibly or directly involved in the killings during the Mughal Military expansion in Bengal. As a result, he portrayed in a negative light. es being This negative portrayal of the Mughal rule is by no means static. An analysis of the other two Mangalkavya narratives - Annadamangal and Maharsthapurana shows a shifting perception concerning the Mughals. From the early 17th century, the landed gentry class of Bengal were portrayed as collaborators of the Mughals, who provided them assistance in Bengal. This class also became familiarized with the Mughal warfare techniques such as the use of canons which in turn helped them to improve their quality of artillery. Raja Pratapaditya of Jessore also secured canons and other gunpowder from the Portuguese Keeping the worship of the goddess, Annada as the central theme, the Annadamangal composed by Bharatchandra Roy in 1752 incorporates not only the regional Mughal activities but emperor Jahangir in the narrative as well. The text involves Bhavnanda Majumdar as the protagonist, whose principal duty is to propagate the worship of goddess Ananda, The narrative moves on with Bhavnanadarescuing the Mughal ambassador, Raja Man Singh from food shortage and bad weather during his campaign against the Raja Pratapaditya of Jessore in Bengal. Impressed by Bhavnanda’s aid, Raja Man Singh leamed that this had been made possible with the blessings of goddess Ananda and became her devotee. On his retum, Bhavnanda accompanies Raja Man Singh to Jahangir’s court, where the latter is informed about Bhavnanda’s services and the glory of the mighty goddess. Jahangir, however, dismisses the entire scenario and the goddess leading to a heated argument with Bhavnanda After which, he sentenced Bhavnanda to prison. Angered by this treatment towards her devotee, Goddess Ananda unleashed her wrath on the Mughal capital, resulting in a food shortage. Confronted by this situation, Jahangir repented before the goddess and not only released Bhavnanda but even agreed to worship the Goddess himself. The narrative of the Annadamangal kavya implicitly explains the expansion of the goddess cult of Annada beyond the regional borders and to the social and political elite. It also establishes the supremacy of the regional goddess over the Mughal emperor, Jahangir, who is himself considered, a carrier of divine light. Similarly in the Maharasthapurana by Gangarama, the goddess is described as the protector of Nawab Ali Wardi Khan. Both texts have their concerns embedded in Mughal political culture. According to Kumkum Chatterjee, the texts highlight the ‘evolving’ relationship between political overlords and their subordinates. In both these texts, there is a disruption in the hierarchy of relations due to the failure of the subordinate to pay the revenue to the political overlord, the Mughal emperor. Payment of revenue is a theme that reoccurs in Mughal Persian chronicles as a symbol of loyalty and a non-payment of the same is represented as a breach in this relationship of loyalty. This issue of loyalty is implicitly addressed by the author of Maharasthapurana, Gangaram by connecting it to the notion of sin and virtueThe concem to secure rights is visible in the Annadamangal text as well. Raja Man Singh accompanies Bhavnanda Majumdar with him to the Mughal court to secure him a Farman from Jahangir in retum for his services. The importance of ‘Farman’ as an imperial document and the value it holds is understood by the author as well. Securing a Farman from emperor Jahangir would ultimately enhance the status of the Nadia Rajas of Bengal The Mangalkavyas also provide an insight into the unfolding cultural developments happening in Bengal. Kumkum Chatterjee in her article- ‘The Persianization of Itihasa. Performance Narratives and Mughal Political Culture in Eighteenth-Century Bengal’ (2008), states that Bengal witnessed the spread of a Persianized Mughal political culture, Richard Eaton in ‘The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier’ argues that although the use of the Persian language was known in Bnegal during the pre-Mughal sultans, a much stronger culture gained ground in Bengal only in the 17th and 18th centuries. Several Zamindars became patrons of Persian literature and a growing usage of Persian and Hindustani words such as Subah, Parganas, Bakshi, and hasil became evident in Bengali literary texts and administrative vocabulary. The Bengali gentry embraced a Persianized culture because it provided them with affiliation with the imperial tradition of the Mughals. The Kayasthas and Baidays on the other hand, saw the expansion of the Persian culture as an opportunity for intellectual occupations and administrative positions and it soon became their ‘Jati-Vyavastha’. Schools were started in which boys of the gentry class enrolled themselves to learn Persian. Bharatchandra Roy, author of Annadamangal also received training in Persian from an instructor named Ramchandra Munshi, Overtime, Brahmins too became familiarised with this culture, In the late 16th century, Jayananda author of Chaitanyamangal recorded his displeasure for the fact that Brahmnis had taken to “wearing socks, familiarising themselves with canons, and reading Persian Masnavis.” Other related features were the crystallization of the cults around composite deities such as Satya Pir, A detailed analysis of these Mangalkavyas represents the underlying political, cultural, and social changes that were taking place in the 17th-18th century Bengal. The Mangalkavyas acts as a documentation of these changes. David. L. Curley On the other hand, draws upon the work of Paul Ricocur and argues that Mangalkavya has a partial intersection between functional and actual worlds that was made possible by interweaving realistic and fabulous modes of representation, Nonetheless, even narrative requirements and literary exaggeration do not exist in a vacuum and have a base embedded in reality. In the case of Mangalkavyas, the expansion and consolidation of Mughal rule became that basis. Thus, Mangalkay; become an indispensable source for reconstructing Mughal history as it not only provides an evolving and alternate view that is different from Tarikh literature but forms a corpus that represents an understanding of the Mughal rule from ‘below’ ic. through the eyes of the local populace of Bengal.REFERENCES, Chatterjee, Kumkum. “The Persianization of ltihasa: Performance Narratives and Mughal Political Culture in Eighteenth-Century Bengal”. The Journal of Asian Studies, 67, (2008): 513-543, David.L.Curley. “The World Of The Text and Political Thought in MangalKavya, c.1500-1750". The Medieval History Journal, 14, (2011): 183-211 Chatterjee, Kumkum, “Goddess encounters: Mughals, Monsters and the Goddess in Bengal”, Modern Asian Studies, (2013): 1-53. Aquil, Raziuddin, and Partha Chatterjee. History in the Vernacular. New Delhi: Permanent Black Publishers, 2012.