CHAPTER 1

Introduction

uojle; lc /keZe;] jktuhfre; ekuA1

ohj pfj= fofp= fd; dslonkl izekuAA
Distinguished in nine rasas, aesthetics, dharma and politics accomplished
Keshavdas composed strange Vir Charitra.

This is the self-introduction of poet Keshavdas, who lived during the

reigns of the Mughal Emperors Akbar and Jahangir and of Bir Singh
Deo, a contemporary Bundela ruler. Keshavdas used his mastery of
biography (charitra) not to write about Emperor Akbar, but the Bundela
ruler. His biography is a critical and relative assessment as he might have
deployed his wisdom in the construction of the text. He also had to his
credit works on poetics, philosophy, mythology and the eulogy, Jahangir
Jas Chandrika, in praise of Jahangir, but no biography of Akbar. Why
would this have happened? Also important is Keshavdas’s assertion that
he composed his poetry in the language of the masses:

nso nsoHkk"kk djh ukx ukx Hkk"kkfuA2

uj gksbZ ujHkk"kk djh xhrk Kku izekfuAA
Gods composed in the language of gods, snakes in the language of
snakes/being a man, reveal the knowledge of Gita in the language of
the masses.

This poet and his use of language aroused my interest and I began to
explore the literature composed in Nara Bhasha during the seventeenth
and the eighteenth centuries. A corpus of texts in this language was
composed between AD 1650 and 1850. This period is known as Riti Kal
in the history of Hindi literature, and this Nara bhasha is known as
Braja. Keshavdas and his many contemporary and successor poets, who
enjoyed patronage in different courts, composed poetry on divergent
themes: politics, society, religion, and culture.
This is not the first attempt to study Braja poetry or to locate it in
a historical context. I am aware of at least two important Ph.D.
2 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

dissertations submitted in American Universities,3 but my contribution

is the first detailed study of this vernacular literature. It explores Riti
Kal literature as a window to the history of the period. The purpose is
not to produce a literary or philological criticism but to obtain a historical
perspective and also to ask why this poetry, written over two centuries
and two significant phases of medieval Indian history, remains
unattended. The first phase covers the decades when the Mughal Empire
scaled the highest point of glory; towards the end of this phase the first
symptoms of decline had begun to surface. The second phase, which
covers the long eighteenth century, witnessed the withering away of its
authority. Both phases have fascinated historians, but controversies rage
around the period that saw the first symptoms of decay and where
beginnings of the decline of the Empire are located. These years are
interpreted as decline, crisis, or transition. Some recent research
concentrates on the emerging regional entities, but most of it is focused
on political developments. There is a kind of imperial perspective in
these studies and thus the interconnection between different regions and
different social levels has not been given due attention.
I have read the poetry as a historian and attempt to use it as
evidence for the social conditions of the period. History in vernacular
sources is a much contested issue for historians and I shall try to be
critical—in a manner the poets themselves had been critical while using
this vernacular language—in examining these sources. In my under-
standing, the language of the poetry, besides the content, is the reference
point for a review of premodern society and culture. Otherwise largely
confined to the dim rooms of institutions and individuals, it throws
light on emerging regional entities and the interconnections between
regions and different social levels.

Riti Poetry
The period of Riti poetry, a poetry dominated by mannerism, extends
between the mid-seventeenth and the late nineteenth century. Riti refers
to one of the most propounded doctrines of Sanskrit poetics which
were elaborated by Sanskritists during the eighth and ninth centuries.
The poetics, like alamkara, rasa or dhvani, were complex theories which
frequently accommodated all the attributes of poetry, though with a
difference. Vamana and Dandi believed that the real essence of poetry
lay in composing verses based on certain lakshana or gunas. This style of
writing poetry was called marga or riti.4 The number and definitions of
lakshana, gunas and riti varied according to the explanations offered by
Sanskritists. These characteristics thus defined and differentiated
meticulously created the charm of the poetry.
 INTRODUCTION 3

Riti is therefore interpreted differently by scholars. All major

Sanskrit poetics were discussed and delineated by the poets in Braja
during the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries, and the poetry of the
period was assigned different names.5 It came to be known as Riti, Riti
Shringar or Alankrit Kal poetry, but most commonly as Riti Kal poetry
characterized by Riti baddha kavya and Riti mukta kavya. The poets
and poetry abiding by the doctrines of Riti school of Sanskrit poetics
fall in the Riti baddha category known for a particular style. The term
Riti was also understood to indicate a trend among poets desiring to be
great acharyas like the erstwhile Sanskritists and to secure royal patronage
for fame and wealth.6 In this sense, Riti poetry represents a process of
historical development in which literature became a link between politics
and culture. I consider it appropriate to ignore the controversies as none
of the rhetoric, metaphor, tropes and genre are exclusive to the period.
This poetry has not been used as a source of history because of its
intricate imagery and ornamental language. There are some references
to Riti Kal poems such as Jangnama, Chhatra Prakas, Sujan Charitra,
and Nadirshah in some historical studies. Allison Busch has analysed in
brief Ratan Bavani, Vir Charitra, and Jahangir Jas Chandrika of
Keshavdas.7 However, even these poems, let alone numerous other
collections of Riti poetry, deserve much closer attention, more so because
the period is an important subject of debate among historians.
Students of literature have been indifferent to this poetry for many
other reasons.8 In their opinion, Riti poetry did not reflect any new
features that merit study. Moreover, literary critics felt that most Riti
poets were not sufficiently conversant with Sanskrit poetics, and therefore
could not produce good work. The poetry remained limited to a
stereotyped diction, stale and clichéd. None of the Riti poets could be
given credit for a distinctive style. The language has also been criticized
for its imperfections and more than that, for its deviation from established
grammatical principles. Further, the Riti poets are commonly dismissed
as darbari kavis on account of their association with one court or another.
It is contended that the main aim of these poets was to please their
patrons by describing them or their courts and by composing poetry on
topics suggested by their patrons. Worse, their patrons were not always
aware of the finer points of poetics. Riti poetry has also been condemned
for its erotic descriptions, considered prurient.
While much of the generally accepted evaluation of Riti poetry
may be valid in terms of literary criticism, its examination as a source of
history demands serious consideration; all the more because the themes
of Riti Kal poems were expressed with equal force through other cultural
media such as music and painting. In the field of music, Dhrupad occupied
the highest place during the reign of Akbar. However, by the end of the
4 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

seventeenth century, it lost its popularity with audiences, and Khyal,

Thumri and bhajans were generally sung.9 All the Hindustani music
compositions in Braja were based on themes constituting the core of
Riti poetry. The forms and structures of these compositions have also
been criticized as being more or less fixed and devoid of innovative
rhythmic schemes.10 More significant for us is the fact that the themes
prevalent among common people had become dominant features of
court culture by replacing the most revered and formal style. Pahari
painters too were considerably influenced by themes about the nayak–
nayika (hero–heroine) in Riti poetry. Radha and Krishna were portrayed
as nayak and nayika (see Plates 1 to 5). The subject matter of paintings
during the eighteenth century comprised court and kings, religion and
mythology, popular folk themes and ethnological depictions.11 The
painters borrowed verses from Keshavdas’s Rasikpriya and Bihari Satsai
(Plates 6 to 10) and presented them in their paintings.12 They were
influenced by Matiram’s classification of heroines and depicted different
sorts of heroines. The paintings also depicted the verses of Bihari.13
More importantly, the literary themes that had been monopolized
by the élite using a highly developed Sanskrit language now became
subjects for commoners using the Braja dialect. I call it a dialect because
the then contemporary scholars like Amir Khusro and Abul Fazl did not
recognize it as a codified literary language. The poets themselves believed
that use of Bhasha was an aberration from erstwhile literary traditions.
The contemporary Hindi scholars also do not consider Braja as a literary
language because it was devoid of grammar. I, however, argue in the
following pages that Braja was gradually emerging as a literacy language.
Riti poetry in this sense also represents aspirations of the lower sections
of people in different spheres of life.
Sanskrit poetics seemed to have started with an inclusive theory
which took into consideration the whole domain of poetic figures,
emotions, genres, and styles and then remained confined to somewhat
mechanical formulae as techniques of expression. Numerous definitions
of poetics have been offered according to what is perceived as the essence
of poetry. Four principal concepts or theories dominated the critical
scene from the eighth century onwards: rasa (emotive expression),
alamkara (figurative speech), riti (style), and dhvani (indirect expression).
The scholars who wrote on the history of Sanskrit poetics as a discipline
admit that they could only make a few surmises from the extant material
on the subject, from stray references in general literature, and from
references in other disciplines.14 I rely on these secondary works to
understand the different schools of poetics.
The earliest exponent of the rasa school of Sanskrit poetics is Bharat
who wrote Natyashastra, though speculations about rasa had been
advanced earlier. Rasa primarily means taste, flavour, or relish but
 INTRODUCTION 5

metaphorically it means the emotional experience of beauty in poetry

or drama. Natyashastra deals with the emotional effect to be produced
on the audience. The theory of rasa therefore has a physiological and
psychological basis and tries to explain how human feelings and emotions
are incited and roused by poetry. For Bharat, the aesthetic pleasure that
is rasa is the principal sentiment, but the pleasurable feeling, experience
or effect could be distinguished in eight sorts: shringar (erotic), hasya
(humour), raudra (terror), vira (heroism), bhayanak (fear), bibhastsa
(aversion), adbhuta (astonishment) and karuna (pity). The rasa is evoked
when the principal or permanent mood (sthayibhav) is created through
three elements, the vibhava, anubhav and vyabhichari bhav.15 Vibhava
may be taken as that which makes the permanent mood capable of
being sensed; anubhav as that which makes it actually sensed; vyabhichari
bhav is that which acts as auxiliary or gives fresh impetus to it. It is not
feasible to discuss sub-divisions of these elements here. Udbhata, Lollata
and Abhinavgupta later added santa rasa (peaceful) as the ninth rasa.
Rasa theorists, however, discussed other elements of the poetics though
they subordinated them to the principal purpose of awakening rasa.
Other theorists demanded ornamentation and elaboration
appropriate to thought and word. Bhamaha, the earliest exponent of
alamkara, believed that shabda (word) and artha (meaning) make the
external framework of the poetry and the alamkaras (embellishment)
adorning these two are to be taken as the essential features of poetry. He
attempted to classify poetic expression into fixed rhetorical categories
and then to provide a technical manual comprising definitions with
illustrations and empirical canons. After Bhamaha, Dandi and Kuntaka
developed new theories with emphasis on yamak and shelesha alamkara.
Only four alamkaras were cited by Bharat, but the number was raised
to between thirty and forty by the time of Dandi and Kuntaka, and
commentators of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries mentioned
a hundred.16
Vamana is the foremost representative of the Riti School. Riti
consists of special arrangements or combinations of words, and its
speciality lies in certain gunas or qualities that give poetry its charm.17
Vamana named three types of Ritis, depending on the combination of
gunas: vaidarbhi, guari, and panchali. Rudrata, a follower of Vamana
added lati riti later. The Riti theory, despite well-defined formulations
and advocacy, never wielded great influence.18
The dhvani theory is considered to be an extension of rasa theory.
The theorists of this school showed that the essence of poetry is to suggest,
but not directly express rasa. Hence, the best poetry is that which charms.
Earlier theorists had discussed this idea in general but had not defined
dhvani as the essence of poetry. Dhavanikar wrote that the indicated
expression, resolving into the metaphorical is the source of beauty in
6 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

the poetry because the special motive or prayojan is being apprehended

without being directly expressed.
There was also vakrokti theory, developed by Kuntaka. He believed
that vakrokti or a striking mode of expression is the essence of poetry.
A number of commentaries on Sanskrit poetics were written
between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries by Jaideva, Vidyadhara,
Vishwanath, Rupa Goswami, Keshav Mishra, Appay Dixit, Jagannath,
and others. Theoretical criticism appeared in the form of translations of
some popular works on Sanskrit poetics. A modern scholar, Nagendra
informs us that attempts to translate Sanskrit poetics were also made in
other languages during the medieval period. Madhva Kavi translated
Dandi’s Kavyadarsha into Kannada during the sixteenth century;
Jayendra translated Appay Dixit’s Kuvalayananda in the same language;
Bhanudatta’s Rasamanjari was translated into Marathi, and there are
references to several adaptations in Telugu, Bengali, and Gujarati
literature.19
It was, however, Hindi/Hindvi literature that was flooded with
translations and adaptations of Sanskrit poetics and rhetoric. General
principles of Sanskrit poetics, canons, and forms of poetic compositions
were enunciated in great detail. There are differences of opinion among
historians of Hindi literature about the beginning of poetics in Riti
literature. Ramchandra Shukla says that Kriparam, Gang, and Karanesh
discussed poetics even before Keshavdas.20 Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana,
who wrote various works in Hindi, Sanskrit and a language mixing
Hindi, Sanskrit, and Persian, wrote Barvai Nayika Bhed based on shringar
rasa.21 Keshavdas was a scholastic poet who applied the rules of rhetoric
to demonstrate his academic knowledge. It took almost fifty years after
Keshavdas for the trend to become general. Chintamani Tripathi is
considered the first poet of this phase.
Who is to be regarded as the foremost exponent of the Riti School
in Hindi poetry is not the concern here. What is more important is to
note that all early Riti poets were contemporaries of Pandit Jagannath,
the last theorist in the series of Sanskrit poetics. It is also clear that
Jagannath and other theorists had been enjoying fame and honour in
the imperial Mughal court and in regional courts. Hence some modern
scholars believe that most Riti literature was written to exhibit a
knowledge of Sanskrit poetics and to prove one’s learning to the patron.
Excessive preoccupation with the rasa theory in general and shringar
in particular resulted in texts containing many subtle ramifications of
the erotic sentiment. Love in union, love in separation, the relative
superiority of the love of a married woman to that of a paramour, and
of a paramour to that of a courtesan, the bliss of conjugal love in the
first flush of youth, conjugal quarrels, bickering, the nakh-shikh
descriptions, the barahmasas and shad ritu varnana were all indulgently
 INTRODUCTION 7

analysed. Kripa Ram, an early poet, calls his text Hit Tarangini, a rasa-
based composition:

xzUFk vusd i<s+ izFke] iqfu fcpkfj dS fprA22

eSa cjU;ksas flaxkj jl] ltu frgkjs fgrAA
I read many texts first, then contemplated in my heart. I describe
shringar rasa for you, my beloved.

Bhikharidas, whose patron Hindu Pati was well acquainted with the
conventions of the ancient texts, composed Shringar Nirnaya:

JhfgUnwifr jhfr fgr leqf> xzFa k izkphuA23

nkl fd;ks Ük`x
a kj dks fuju; lqukS izohuAA
Shri Hindu Pati understands the trends in old texts. Das composes a
treatise on shringar, intellectuals should listen to it.

Shringar became such a dominant trend that some modern Hindi scholars
like Vishwanath Prasad Mishra characterize the period as shringar kal.24
Between 1650 and 1850, almost all the prominent doctrines of
Sanskrit poetics were adapted by different poets and different works
were composed emphasizing one or other theory of Sanskrit poetics.
Mishrabandhu therefore termed the period as alamkrit kal. 25 For
Bhagirath Mishra it was the riti shringar kal. Various doctrines of Sanskrit
poetics discussed by Sanskrit theorists and Hindi Riti poets, were not
mutually exclusive, but varied in their emphasis on different aspects.
Due to the inter-relationship of these doctrines in Riti Kal, the poetry of
the period has been differently evaluated by scholars.
Bhagirath Mishra and Nagendra rightly believed that during this
period the term riti had no exclusive link with the Riti School of Sanskrit
poetics. These scholars suggest that it was not the Riti school of Sanskrit
poetics headed by Vamana after which the literature was called the Riti
literature. To them the term does not imply a special grammatical
arrangement or combination of words in accordance with certain
principles as laid down by Sanskritists during the eighth and ninth
centuries. The ambition to become great acharyas like the Sanskritists
motivated Hindi poets to discuss poetics and to demonstrate their skills.
Kriparam, during the initial phase of Riti Kal, guided poets to display
their skills at the right time and place:

le; lkt yksa cjfu,] dfodqy dh ejtkfnA26

Describe the prestige of the lineage of a poet after judging time
and place.

Other verses in Hit Tarangini explicitly reveal the desire of the poet to
receive court patronage. Thakur, poet of the last decades of the eighteenth
8 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

century, expressed his dislike for those who received court patronage
without possessing any talent:

Bkdqj lks dfo Hkkor eksfga tks jktlHkk esa cM+Iiu ikoSA27
iafMr yksd izohuu dks tksbZ fpÙk gS jlkS dfoÙk dgkoSAA
Thakur says that he likes only those poets who get honours in the court
assembly. Also he who enraptures the knowledgeable and intelligent
people through his rasa verses.

It is evident that poets were competing for honour and position in the
courts. Thakur criticized those who considered versification an easy task
and came to the court with light verses. He cautioned that composing
poetry was a difficult task and that a poet should demonstrate his skills
without any expectations. It is thus incorrect to say that a component
of poetics was the essential feature of Riti Kal poetry.
Poets taught poetics to their disciples. Thus wrote Bhikharidas:

cankS lqdfcu ds pju v: fcu ds xzUFkA28

tkrsa dNq gkSgWw yg;ks dfcrkbZ dks iaFkAA
I touch the feet of great poets and bow before their texts. From them
have I learnt the tradition of poetry.

It was the trend or riti, on the part of every poet of the period, to discuss
various elements of Sanskrit poetics that gave the period its name.29 I
believe that Riti poetry cannot be defined in terms of theories or a
particular trend. As will be discussed in following section, the poetry
was a reflection of complex socio-cultural and political processess, the
temporal and topographical factors constantly influencing the forms of
expression.
As the theoretical concepts of Sanskrit poetics were elucidated by
quoting examples from the epics or Puranas from legends or myths,
discussions on poetics certainly reveal an understanding, on the part of
the audience, of Sanskritic culture. This audience was largely the ruling
elite. Presumably, the rulers encouraging such themes were aware of
their implications, or desired to learn the concepts at least. This also
shows that elements of high culture were appreciated by the newly
emerging elites.
That the Mughals were great patrons of learning and art is well
known. Not so well known is the fact that they patronized Sanskritic
culture. Their courts were adorned with Sanskrit scholars and writers of
high repute who received encouragement, monetary or otherwise. Rahim,
Akbariya Kalidasa, and Jagannath were noted poets in the courts of
Akbar and Shah Jahan. Rahim himself was a patron of a number of
Sanskrit scholars.30 As for the famous poet Keshavdas, he was a close
associate of Jahangir. Vrind was the teacher of Prince Azam Shah.31 The
 INTRODUCTION 9

Mughals also extended patronage to the emerging literatures in regional

languages. Kalidas Trivedi, a noted Hindi Riti poet, accompanied
Aurangzeb to Golconda. Alam was patronized by Prince Muazzam even
after he became the Emperor in 1707.32 Abdur Rahman Premi lived in
the court of Farrukhsiyar while Surati Mishra and Ghananand
illuminated the court of Muhammad Shah. It is in this milieu that
vernacular expression was enriched with gems from classical Sanskrit.
It may not be incorrect to say that initially there was a deliberate
attempt by regional Hindu rulers to promote Sanskritic culture. Generally
brahmins by caste, these men found shelter in the courts of Braja, Awadh,
and Bundelkhand. Perhaps these regional rulers and local chiefs attempted
to integrate and consolidate their position by mobilizing local support.
For this purpose, they employed learned brahmins and reputed poets to
narrate popular legends, enact Sanskrit drama, or expound religious
themes in local languages. The literature produced a common culture
out of a vast and heterogeneous mass of local belief, myth, and legend.
The regions where these poets lived were significant in the politics of the
eighteenth century. It is evident that patronage of Riti poetry soon cut
across distinctions between imperial and regional ruler on one hand and
between regions on the other.

Significance and Scope of Riti Poetry

Riti Kal literature assumes significance as a source of history in the light
of recent literary criticism. The scope of historical enquiry expands as
one moves away from traditional ways of analysing and interpreting
social reality. 33 The rhetoric and tropes are open to interpretive
approaches, and arguments are extended in favour of locating texts in
their historical, cultural, and ideological contexts.34 Thus historians have
now begun to probe different literary traditions, metaphors, irony and
other literary tropes in narrative are viewed as representations of reality.35
It is not only codified texts, but literature in any form which may be
valuable for historians. Responding to the criticism on their use of
vernaculars in the context of south India, V. Narayana Rao, David
Shulman and Sanjay Subrahmanyam suggest an examination of the
textures of the literary texts for historical analysis.36 Sheldon Pollock
also admits that distinctions between imagery and imagination may
facilitate the reading of poetry as a source of history.37 Kumkum
Chatterjee examines the Mangalkabya narratives of eighteenth-century
Bengal and observes that these genealogical narratives if read contextually
reflect the interface between the Mughal political culture and the local
traditions.38 She also sees the Mangalkabyas as a process of cultural and
historical development reflecting society’s sensitivity to its past in both
popular and elite circles. While poets may not be furnishing ‘facts’, they
10 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

may be presenting some ‘historical truth’, which could be different for

different people at the same time. In all the historical works mentioned
earlier, the nature of literary texts, methodology and justification for
the use of a particular source vary significantly.
Having no preconceived notions about the period under review, I
propose to read Riti poetry in its own context to review the period. The
analysis would show that the period did see historical literature flourishing
in Braja.
Despite linguistic and cultural differences, the Mughal patronage
of a pan-Indian literary heritage needs clarification particularly in the
light of an argument by Muzaffar Alam that Hindvi was accorded
significance by the Mughals in the face of assertive regional forces in the
eighteenth century.39 There had otherwise been conscious efforts to make
Persian a language of the Empire.40 Still, the unprecedented use of Braja
dialect during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the
Mughals was not merely a political factor, for certain cultural changes
did influence the growth of the language.
Braja was one among different regional languages in the medieval
period. Amir Khusro in Nuh Sipahr wrote that Zaban-i-Dehlavi or
Hindvi was influenced by Lahori, Awadhi, and Khari Boli.41 Abul Fazl
in Ain-i-Akbari listed the languages of India and Braja found no place
there, though Keshavdas had already composed poetry in this language.
It can be presumed that Braja was desi dialect, but gradually assumed
the status of a codified literary language. This development was in no
way an aberration in the process of the growth of a linguistic tradition
in which Braja, a desi dialect, debased Sanskrit as the existing literary
language.
Moreover, there is the reference of Subedar Nizam Shah (1510–
53) under Sher Shah who patronized the great Sanskritist Bhanukar.
This poet in turn composed many verses in praise of Sher Shah. The
compositions of the Sanskrit scholars and those of the Riti poets in
course of time included not only discourses on poetics but also biographies
of their patrons which constituted a significant part of their writings.
Jagannath and Bhanukar wrote biographies of Prince Khurram and Prince
Daniyal respectively; Rudra Kavi wrote Nawab Khan-i-Khana Charitram
and Jahangir Charitram. It is not known if the patrons had an
understanding of Sanskrit. They might have employed learned scholars
only as a matter of power and prestige. Also, the desire to be known in
literary circles could have been a motivation to incorporate Sanskrit
into Mughal literary traditions. When the themes of Sanskrit literature
were adapted in Braja poetry, the rulers readily acknowledged the use of
the Braja language.
Thus Riti poetry may be accredited for maintaining the continuity
of the classical tradition which otherwise would have vanished by the
 INTRODUCTION 11

sixteenth century. Yet historians of Sanskrit poetics believe that the

stream of Sanskrit theorizing that originated with Bharat’s Natyashastra
had gradually become weak. Maturity of interpretation, subtlety of
analysis, and logical consistency of exposition all tended to disappear in
the course of centuries. The innumerable adaptations and commentaries
written during the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries are not highly
appreciated in terms of conventional literary value. At this crucial
juncture, then, one may speculate that Riti poetry emerged to sustain
poetics well before its disappearance. Even if the poets did not discuss
or add to the already existing doctrines and deviated from the theories,
their contribution to the process of acculturation is of considerable
significance.
The recognition to the language was however not a simple process.
The poets of the initial phase of Riti Kal had to explain their choice of
the dialect. Allison Busch has rightly observed that use of Braja was not
appreciated even by the poets themselves.42 As stated, Keshavdas confessed
his guilt about employing Braja or Nara Bhasha. In the introductory
verses of his text Vigyan Gita, he offers an apology again:

ew<+ ygSa T;kSa xw<+ efr vfer vuUr vxk/kA43

Hkk"kk dfj rkrsa dgkSa Nfe;kS cq/k vijk/kAA
Even the ignorant, like the intelligent ones, can comprehend the
undefined, infinite and deep concepts. For that matter, I compose in
bhasha; the learned one may forgive my fault.

Other poets did not explicitly defend their dialect but it was validated
on account of making the poetry accessible to the masses. Still, the
acceptance of bhasha as a literary language was a matter of its connection
with some Sanskrit text. Kriparam, a poet of the mid-sixteenth century,
tacitly acknowledged Bharat’s Natyashastra:

fcuk iz;kstu O;FkZ gw¡] vdFk dgS cgq ckjA44

rkfg izyki dgS lqdfo] HkjFk xzFa k vuqlkjAA
To utter many times aimlessly what is not needed, that is called pralap
or futile discourse according to the granth of Bharat.

It is not difficult to discern implicit reference to the ancient Sanskrit

texts. Veda, Purana, Shruti, Smriti were judiciously utilized to add weight
to Braja poetry.
Thus, the new language could gain popularity and become a literary
language only when linked to Sanskrit texts. Yet many other factors
were accountable for its origin and acceptance. One may find that once
this language was accommodated, reference to the erstwhile elite language
became weak. Bhikharidas, who wrote during the first half of the
12 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

eighteenth century, told his audience that he described the poetics

according to his own wisdom:

;ksa lc Hksn flaxkj ds cjus efr&vuqlkjA 45

dNw use rkds dgkS]a lqfu;s lfgr&fopkjAA
All kinds of shringar or erotic rasa I described as per my understanding.
I tell you some principles of it, listen carefully.

His contemporary, Somnath, a poet in the court of Jat ruler Suraj Mal,
also made reference to earlier texts:

dfcuh cuk, xzFa k cgq jl ds lfgr gqyklA 46

Nk;k ck¡f/k lq gkSa jprq ;g flaxkj fcyklAA
The poets composed many delightful texts on rasa. I produce this
shringar bilas as a reflection of those.

This poet had lived in the first half of the eighteenth century, when a
large number of treatises on rasa were available in Braja. Somnath
could have read either Braja or Sanskrit texts. One should not
therefore consider Riti poetry merely as an offshoot of the literate
traditions of Sanskrit poetics. Kriparam considered the impact of
prevailing popular traditions as an additional factor in the ascent of
this literature.
As we read a poet of a still later period, Giridhar, Sanskrit not only
lost ground but became obsolete and troublesome:

a ds] lM+h laLÑr Mkj 47

Hkk"kk Hkwlk Qsd
Hk; vkjksir ftl fo’ks] lksga fpn fuj/kkj
lksga fpn fuj/kkj] R;kx flxjh flj njnh
ij dks fdLlks NksM+] [kcj ys vius ?kj nh
dg fxfj/kj dfojk; osn dh le>ks vk’kkA
rq>esa ;qx v/;Lr] nso&ok.kh uj Hkk"kkA
Ornamental language is promoted by rejecting rotten Sanskrit. Think
which theme arouses fear in your heart. Identify the trouble and get rid
of all headache. Leave the concerns of others and take care of your
own house. Giridhar, the great poet, says, one should understand what
the Vedas expect of him. Nara bhasha is the abode of the gods and
their sayings.

In this departure from the earlier diction, an interface between Sanskrit

and Braja was being proposed. By the end of the eighteenth century, the
vernacular language which once needed approval apropos to Sanskrit
texts, became one’s own self-expression. Sanskrit was then the other
language. The poets could succeed in elevating their language with the
 INTRODUCTION 13

support of their patrons and regional rulers made special efforts to

popularize regional languages and make them literary languages:

lHkk ef) ,d fnu dgh Jh lqtkWua eqflD;kbA 48

lkSeukFk ;k xzaFk dh Hkk"kk nsgqa cukbA
One day, Shri Sujan said, smiling, in the court, Somnath, convert this
text into bhasha.

The Riti poets were practical and experimental. While a common reader
could not grasp the highly condensed phraseology of the Sanskritists,
Riti poets writing for the people produced sophisticated theories.

le>sa ckyk ckydgq¡] o.kZu iUFk vxkèkA 49

dfo fiz;k ds’ko djh] Nfe;ks dfo vijkèkAA
Even children understand the description of the detailed literature.
Keshav composes Kavi Priya: forgive the poet for this fault.

These poets explained theoretical principles by selecting examples from

popular belief and everyday life. Vrind found that people enjoyed the
language as it was fluid and had rhythm. Even deep meaning could be
explained to the masses by illustration in simple language:

fd, o`na izLrko ds nksgk lqxe cuk;A - - -50

mfDr vFkZ n`"Vkar djS n`<+ dS fn, crk;AA
Hkko ljl le>r lcS Hkys yxSa ;g Hkk;A
Vrind simplified the proposed verses … Communicated the meaning of
complex phrases through illustrations. Language is pleasurable and all
enjoy it.

Interestingly, the poets mentioned yet another source of their themes.

Newaj closed his text with a disclaimer, shedding his responsibility of
any distortion in the plot of his story as he had written what he had
seen:

tks ns[kk lksbZ fy[kk eksj nks"k dNq nsoA 51

Whatever I saw, I wrote; one should not blame me.

The poet seems to have lived during the second half of the seventeenth
or in the early eighteenth century. His patron was either Prince Azam
Shah, the son of Emperor Aurangzeb, or Emperor Farrukhsiyar. It emerges
that ancient drama was staged during his time. He did not mention any
place where he had seen such performance, but it is significant for this
study that ancient Indian themes were performed on stages in public
places. Some years later, Brijwasidas, the poet who composed the Braja
version of Sanskrit drama Prabodh Chandrodaya, projected similar
14 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

evidence. He wrote that he had heard about this granth in satsang

(company of wise people) and he wrote the same in Braja for the stage:

lRlax esa ,sls lquh eSa xzFa k dh mRifÙkA - - -52

uV yhyk ds C;kt dfj ije rRoe;Hkksf/kA
I heard about the creation of this granth in satsang…. I compose
this substantial thesis for the jester’s performance.

The stage show in his text was performed in the court for the king, who
wanted solace for some reason. Sanskrit drama was thus converted into
a rasa-oriented text that could be staged. The poet went on to describe
the way it was performed and called this show a swang or burlesque.
The early literary traditions were thus not known only to men of
letters. They were communicated to people through public shows,
discourses, and discussions. Storytelling was prevalent during the period
and Newaj called his Shakuntala a Katha (story). It was a reciprocal
process as we find in the case of Prabodh Chandrodaya Natak by
Brijwasidas. Here, the poet heard a piece and transformed it into drama
for performance. Both modes were directly accessible to the people, even
to the unlettered.
The origin, spread, and acceptance of Braja poetry was thus the
outcome of diverse literatures, court patronage, wisdom of the poets,
social conventions and simplicity of the language. Braja was emerging
as a court language and it had begun to influence the writing of Sanskrit
poetics in the Deccan courts around AD 1660. Allison Busch believes
that Braja poetry had moved beyond the courts of north India to become
transregional and intellectual.53 Richard Eaton too is not clear about
how vernaculars became the codified literary languages in the Deccan.
Still, he believes that Hindvi was known to Deccanis from the time of
the Sultanate, and it was used as a mode of communication till the
ascent of other vernaculars like Telugu or Marathi.54 Sheldon Pollock,
however, traces processes in the development of local languages as
vernacular and then as textual languages to Sanskritic, political, and
cultural factors.55 He concludes that medieval rulers, in the course of
regional state emergence patronized local languages while retaining the
connection with Sanskrit in the initial stage. The gradual displacement
of Sanskrit, the language of gods, by the vernaculars, the languages of
men, was a complex process involving ‘localization, vernacularization
and literarization’. He writes, ‘A wholly Sanskritic definition of the
literary, as a very specific way of using language in written form was
fully present to the minds of medieval vernacular literati, and it had a
decisive role to play in the history of regional literatures. On the contrary,
we may be seeing here a strong tendency with wider application, perhaps
even a law: it is only in response to a superposed and prestigious form of
 INTRODUCTION 15

pre-existent literature that a new vernacular literature develops.’56 A brief

review of the social background of the poets and compositions may
facilitate a better understanding of these developments.

The Riti Kal Poets and their Anthologies

Hindi scholars have evaluated Riti Kal poetry in terms of linguistic
standards and, depending on the nature of the text, accorded their authors
a place in the tradition. The various groupings classify the poets as great
Riti Acharyas, specialized in particular branches of poetics: Riti-Baddha
or Riti-Mukta poets, Bhakti and Sufi love lyricists. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi
called Mubarak, Alam, Rasnidhi, Bodha, and Thakur ‘poets of Persian
influence’.57 Such categorization has its limitations for my study and I
have therefore divided the corpus thematically. The different poets and
their anthologies under review have been grouped as Riti poets, Nakh–
Shikh poets, Bhakti poets, and those dealing with political and
miscellaneous themes. These categories are not exclusive as many poets,
Keshavdas for instance, transgressed the division and composed poetry
on diverse themes.
Barring a few exceptions, the poets did not reveal their identity.
Details of their lives are therefore based on estimations and scanty
information implicit or explicit in their texts. The information available
in histories of Hindi literature and in editorial prefaces has been extracted
to construct the brief biographical sketches of the poets. Though some
poets had easy access to the courts as their ancestors had political
connections, in many cases it was literary merit that secured for them
positions in different courts. Even poets with obscure origins could be
rewarded for their talents.

THE RITI POETS

1. BIHARI. Some say he was the son of the Riti poet Keshavdas, and
Agra, Mathura, Gwalior and Orchha have been associated with
his birth. Others, however, believe he was born to Keshav Rai, a
Brahmin, near Gwalior in 1595 and that his father settled in Orchha.
It was here that Bihari got an opportunity to learn to write poetry
from Keshavdas. During his stay in Vrindavan, Emperor Shahjahan
visited Vrindavan. The Emperor was impressed by his talent, and
took him to Agra. Disappointed by the factionalism in the court,
the poet left for Amber where Raja Jai Singh offered him patronage.
There he composed his Satsai which secured him great fame. He
died in 1663.
2. BHIKHARIDAS. He received the patronage of Raja Hindupati Singh,
brother of Prithvipati Singh of Pratap Garh during the period
16 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

1734–50. Ras Saransh, Kavya-nirnaya, Shringar-nirnaya,

Shabdakosh, Shatranshatika, and Vishnu-Purana Bhasha are his
compositions.
3. DEV. Born in 1667, he visited the courts of Azam Shah, Seth Bhawani
Datt Vaisya of Charkhi, Raja Kushal Singh of Phaphund, Raja
Bhogilal, Zamindar Udyot Singh of Dondia Khera, Sujanmani (an
affluent resident of Delhi), and a ruler of Pihani, Akbar Alikhan.
He dedicated a composition to each of them. He composed Bhav
Vilas, Ashtayan, Bhawani Vilas, Kushal Vilas, Prem Chandrika,
Sujan Vinod and Sukh Sagar Tarang. References have been taken
from his Sukh Sagar Tarang.
4. JASWANT SINGH. The ruler of Marwar from 1626 to 1673, was an
eminent scholar of poetics and he wrote an adaptation of Prabodh
Chandrodaya Natak, which I shall discuss at length in this book.
Among the several texts attributed to him, Bhasha Bhushan has
been considered his mature creation.
5. KESHAVDAS. This great poet is believed to have lived between 1555
and 1616. His father was the court poet of Madhukar Shah
Bundela. Indrajit Singh, Ram Shah, and Bir Singh Deo of the same
lineage also honoured Keshavdas and granted him twenty-one
villages in Bundelkhand. He also acted as an advisor to Ram Shah
and Bir Singh Deo. His Rasik Priya, Kavi Priya, Nakh-Shikh, Veer
Singh Deo Charit or Veer Charitra, Ratan Bawani, Vigyan Geeta,
Ram Chandrika and Jahangir Jas Chandrika are incorporated in
Keshav-Granthavali in three volumes.
6. KRIPARAM. Known as the foremost Riti poet to have a treatise on
nayika-bhed, but no hint of his life survives. His Hit Tarangini has
been assigned to around the mid-sixteenth century. This text is
believed to have initiated a trend in the Riti tradition, and is a part
of my study.
7. PADMAKAR BHATT (1752–1832). He hailed from Banda and was the
son of a court poet of Raja Raghunath Rao of Nagpur. A minister
of a local raja, Guman Singh of Bundelkhand, was among his
earliest patrons. Himmat Bahadur Anup Giri Gosain, the noted
mercenary commander of the eighteenth century, later offered him
a place in his court. He also visited the courts of Jagat Singh of
Jaipur and Raghunath Rao. His works (Himmat Bahadur Virdavali,
Jagat Vinod, Kali Pacheesi, Prabodh-Pachasa, Padmabharan and
Parkeernak) have been compiled in Padmakar Granthavali.
8. RASLEEN. Saiyyid Gulam Nabi Rasleen was a resident of Bilgram,
near Hardoi. Despite the genealogy tracing his descent to eight
generations, and the contributions of his ancestors to the promotion
of Hindvi poetry in Ras Prabodha, the date of his own birth is
missing. It is believed that he composed Ras Prabodha and Anga
 INTRODUCTION 17

Darpan around 1740. Nawab Safdarjung acknowledged his

soldiering skills and accommodated him in his court.
9. SOMNATH. The court poet of Raja Badan Singh, the Jat ruler,
Somnath wrote under the pseudonym Shashinath. His father was
Neel Kantha Mishra. His work is collected in Somnath Granthavali
in three volumes. Ras Piyush Nidhi, Shringar Vilas and Sujan Vilas
receive attention in this book.

NAKH-SHIKH POETS
1. ABDUR RAHMAN PREMI. The poet, known for his brief text Nakh–
Shikh, lived in the court of Farrukhsiyar (1712–19).
2. BALBHADRA. It is believed that Balbhadra was born in 1543 and
that he composed his works during the last decades of the century.
His Nakh–Shikh, a pioneering work in the tradition of describing
a nayika’s body as the embodiment of power, constitutes part of
this study.
3. CHANDRA SHEKHAR BAJPEYI. He was a resident of Asni (Fateh Pur),
probably born in 1798. Sources confirm his visits to the courts of
Darbhanga, Jodhpur, and Patiala.
4. NRIP SHAMBHU. King Shambhu Nath Solanki of Sitrara Garh (born
in 1681) was known as Nrip Shambhu. Matiram, a contemporary
Riti poet, had friendly relations with him. He composed a Nakh–
Shikh which has been regarded very highly by modern scholars.
Apart from these poets, the pages that follow will refer to the
Nakh–Shikh poetry of Bhikharidas, Rasleen, Keshavdas and Dev.

THE BHAKTI POETS

1. BAKSHI HANSRAJ.
Born in Panna in 1732, he was a follower of Sakhi-
Sampradaya, a Vaishnava cult. He later joined the Nijananda
Sampradaya of Prannath. Some modern Hindi scholars treat him
as a Sufi poet while some identify him as a Vaishnavaite. His Saneh
Sagar, however it is categorized, deals with the legends of Radha
and Krishna. His father Harikrishan was a bakshi in the court of
the Bundelas at Panna. The poet lived in the reign of Amar Singh
(1752–6).
2. BODHA. Budha Sen or Bodha was a resident of Raja Pur, Prayag.
Due to family disputes he went to Panna. His relatives held
important positions in the Bundela court and he was
accommodated there. Scholars attach to him the story of Subhan,
a court prostitute, to whom he is believed to have dedicated his
poetry. Hindi scholars consider his works Ishqnama and Viraha–
vareesh as allegories.
18 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

3. TOSH . Hindi scholars consider him an Acharya Kavi. For me,

however, his poetry is religious-erotic. His father Chaturbhuja
Shukla was a native of Singror. Sudhanidhi was composed in the
mid-seventeenth century.
4. SURATI MISHRA . He was born in 1674 in Etawah. He spent his
childhood in the company of saints and ascetics and later joined
the court of Zorawar Singh of Bikaner. The period assigned to his
Bhakti Vinod is disputed. This is a highly devotional poem and
contains verses in praise of Krishna, but venerates other gods and
goddesses also.
5. THAKUR. Khag Rai, his grandfather, was a military commander in
the imperial army during Akbar’s reign, and Gulab Rai, his father
migrated to Orchha. Thakur joined the court of Kesari Singh of
Jaitpur as a court poet. During his permanent stay in Jaitpur he
visited the courts of many other rulers where he interacted with
poets like Padmakar. The verses in Thakur Thasak are largely
addressed to Radha and Krishna.
6. RASNIDHI. Prithvi Singh, an affluent zamindar of Datia, wrote under
the pseudonym Rasnidhi. The period assigned to his compositions
span between AD 1603 and AD 1710. Ratan Hazara is a collection
of the devotional compositions of the poet.
7. LALDAS. He was a disciple of Prannath, the founder of the Prannathi
cult. A tradition of writing hagiographic texts had prevailed in the
cult, and Laldas composed his Beetak in that context. Beetak
literally means discourse. Internal evidence suggests that it was
obligatory for eminent disciples to transcribe the existing scriptures
of the cult or to compose new Beetaks. Laldas was a revered
businessman of Kathiawar. He had a flourishing trade in Thatta,
owning ninety-nine ships. He was known as Lakshmana Seth in
business circles. Yet he renounced his worldly identity to be known
as Laldas, disciple of Prannath, and later continued preaching
independently. Contemporary believers call him Swami Laldas.

‘HISTORIAN’ POETS
1. BRIJWASIDAS. He translated Prabodh Chandrodaya Natak into Braja.
His source was not the original Sanskrit but a Persian version of
the Sanskrit text.
2. GORE LAL PUROHIT or LAL KAVI. A native of Mau in Bundelkhand, he
is famous for his Chhatra Prakas. Scholars are silent about his
personal life. He has been identified only as the court poet of
Chhatrasal.
3. GULAB SINGH. He composed translations of Prabodh Chandrodaya
Natak in Braja during the eighteenth century.
 INTRODUCTION 19

4. MAAN. The identity of the poet has not yet been established. He is
known to us only as the protegé of Rana Raj Singh (1653–80).
The political narrative Raj Vilas (1660–80) contains lively
descriptions of political developments during the Rana’s reign.
5. SHRIDHAR OJHA. Born in Prayag supposedly in 1680, he lived in the
court of Nawab Muslih Khan, a noble of emperor Farrukhsiyar.
Jangnama, a narrative describing the war of succession between
Jahandar Shah and Farrukhsiyar (1712), is one amongst a few Riti
Kal texts to get notice from historians.
6. SUDAN . The author of Sujan Charitra hailed from Mathura. A
contemporary of Somnath, he composed this narrative for his
patron Badan Singh, the Jat ruler of the Agra and Mathura region
during the eighteenth century.
7. KESHAVDAS’s Veer Charitra and Jahangir Jas Chandrika also throw
light on contemporary politics.
8. NEWAJ. Scholars hold that he composed Shakuntala in 1680 for his
patron Prince Azam Shah, the son of Emperor Aurangzeb. For
others, however, he was a Muslim who composed his poetry during
Farukhsiyar’s reign. The details of his identity will be considered
later in this text.

OTHERS
1. VRIND. A nonconformist thinker of his age, Vrind is known for his
pragmatic treatment of ethics. He was associated with the imperial
court as the tutor of Prince Azam Shah, the son of Aurangzeb. It
still remains unexplored as to why he later joined Rana Raj Singh
of Mewar in 1703 (the imperial court and Mewar had been the
rival powers during the period). Vrind Satsai is the collection
included in this study.
2. GIRIDHAR. Some scholars believe that he was the father of Bhartendu
Harishchandra and composed his poetry around 1840. Yet
Nagendra, in his Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihas, assigns his work to the
period around the mid-eighteenth century. Some citations have
been taken from his work to illustrate changes in the general
attitudes of people towards worldly life between the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries.

Though much is not known about the lives of the poets, the poetry
is not anonymous in my understanding. Poets identified themselves as
the members of a larger community which they called the kula or family
of poets (kavikula). The community of poets was a heterogeneous group
which included poets of unknown backgrounds, people of obscure origin,
rulers, and nobles of the imperial court. It is now apparent that these
20 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

poets first acquired writing skills and then moved to different courts for
a position, carrying recommendations with them.
The remarkable feature in the biographies of the poets is the
prevalence of a literary culture. To become a poet of repute, a person
had to know the literary traditions of ancient times. Frequent references
to such texts indicate that the poets were well acquainted with the early
literature. The composition of Riti poetry called for a mastery of
Sanskrit poetics. It was thus an academic pursuit to learn and teach
poetry. People had different potentials and the poetry they composed
was accordingly evaluated:

Ykksxu dfcÙk dhcks [ksfy dfj tkukS - - -58

Bkdqj dgr ;k dh cM+h gS dfBu ckr
People think composing verses is play, the way…. Thakur says it is
very difficult.

The poets, we have seen, lived in the northern plains and central India,
but also travelled as far as the Deccan and Darbhanga. The number of
scholars, as suggested by Thakur, was also significant. There might have
been as many teachers too. I therefore understand that even smaller
towns were under the sway of this academic culture.
The literature abounds with themes of spiritual illumination
through love and devotion. An abundant literature based on emotional,
devotional and compassionate feelings was created by poets like
Ghananand, Bodha, Bakshi Hansraj, Surati Mishra, and Thakur, whom
we can place in the category of saint poets of the Sufi-Bhakti tradition.
Like the Sanskritists of the earlier period, these writers presented an
erotic-religious sentiment; physical pleasure was enjoyed by the body
and divinity was attained by the enlightened and elevated soul, who
otherwise was paralysed by passion. In Haqaiq-i-Hindi, Abdul Wahid
Bilgrami explains the suggested implications of ishq and nakh-shikh
descriptions of Riti poets.59 Various themes concerning the divine essence
and reality were discussed at great length. Mystical and philosophical
thought thus constituted an important part of Riti poetry.
Riti poetry signified a perfect blend of different elements of poetics,
including rhetoric, affective aspects, and indirect expression. Though
the poets of the seventeenth century confined themselves to poetic
expressions with artistic devices, they gradually began to include different
and varied subject matter. They became enthusiastic about antiquity, its
revival and transformation. Transmission necessarily implied change,
sometimes interpreted as distortion of the original text or as deviation
by literary critics. Somnath, for example, wrote Shringar Vilas and Ras
Piyush Nidhi during his early years and then translated the Sanskrit
Singhasan Battisi and Maltimadhav. Shakuntala was a dramatic version
 INTRODUCTION 21

of the love theme of Dushyanta and Shakuntala as narrated in the

Mahabharata and the Abhijnana Shakuntalam of Kalidas. Prabodh
Chandrodaya, a Sanskrit play, is available in many versions of the period,
and the sources used were not always the original play. Wars and battles,
courts and palaces, were also described with fervour. The poetry of the
period concerned thus included a very varied body of axioms, aphorisms,
treatises on metaphysics and religion, social and political concepts, and
myths and legends, many of these known even to the unlettered.
Yet another achievement of the Riti poets is reflected in the effective
use of metaphor. The metaphorical expressions became profoundly
significant when correctly interpreted. They demand continuous word-
play; it is perhaps for this reason that the Riti poets mixed Awadhi and
Braja whenever appropriate. The language of this literature is peppered
with local vocabulary, and Persian and Arabic words were also frequently
incorporated with or without modulation. The meanings of such words
need to be located contextually. We are guided by the intention and
tone of the poet and his social and historical presuppositions.
These factors may have deep implications for the historian,
especially for the period of the climax of the Mughal authority and
during the process when it withered away. A brief review of the political
and social culture of the period is now appropriate.

The Historical Context

The eighteenth century in India witnessed not only the decline of the
Mughal power but also saw the penetration of the English East India
Company into the country. The displacement of the Mughals in the
first half of the eighteenth century has been much argued and historians
view this phase as a period of crisis, decline, or transition. Various
explanations are proffered for the imperial decline, depending on the
understanding of the nature of the Mughal state. Centrality of the Empire
being the main criterion, the historiography of Mughal India was at
first largely Mughal-centric, discussing individual responsibilities,
institutional flaws, and cultural factors as the major causes of the decline.
The political demise, in this perspective, was both the cause and effect
of the economic decline, and resulted in the destruction of the social
order. It turned the eighteenth century into a bleak century. These notions
were challenged by ‘revisionist’ historians who portrayed the decline as
a crisis of the Mughals which led to a transition. The emphasis on
region and locality in their research reveals shifts of political power
from the centre to regions that continued to flourish due to their
vibrant economies.
Jadunath Sarkar and S.R. Sharma believe that Aurangzeb, being a
puritan, carried out various acts of oppression or bigotry with the
22 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

objective of establishing an Islamic state,60 but S.A.A. Rizvi, I.H. Qureshi,

and Z. Faruki project his image differently.61 Satish Chandra views his
religious attitude in two phases and evaluates his acts as political
exigencies.62 Jadunath Sarkar and William Irvine explain the decline in
terms of the weakness of Aurangzeb’s successors.63
Many scholars took notice of institutional shortcomings and flaws
in the imperial administrative system as major causes of the decline.
Satish Chandra suggests that the Mughal government failed to maintain
a balance between peasants, zamindars, and revenue officials. The
problems were further aggravated by the crisis of jagirdari that was
precipitated by the influx of the Deccani nobles.64 Aspirants competing
to receive jagirs indulged in factional politics that enhanced the decay.65
Imperfect revenue policies and a crippled system resulted in an agrarian
crisis seriously damaging the empire.66 M. Athar Ali connects the decline
to the shortage of paibaqi lands to be assigned to mansabdars. 67
Claimants competed for positions in the mansabdari hierarchy but
resources were limited due to inflationary tendencies in the ranking system
and the influx of the Deccanis. The gap between the yield and expected
income encouraged nobles to farm out their jagirs. J.F. Richards however
suggests that the Deccan was not a deficit area causing shortage of paibaqi
land.68 M. Athar Ali further also perceived a ‘cultural’ decline and believes
that the inadaptability of the Mughals to the changing circumstances
(caused by the growing prices of luxury goods in the European markets)
forced them to increase their revenue by intensifying exploitation.69 This
resulted in the economic and political rupture.
The economic crisis paved the way for revenue farming. The
emergence of revenue farmers has been interpreted either as causing
decline by exploiting the peasantry or as leading to a high degree of
monetization.70 The inability of the empire to adjust its monetary and
fiscal system to the needs of a growing mercantile economy, it has been
said, resulted in its disintegration.71 Some historians reacted sharply to
this hypothesis and suggested that the imperial authority was not the
only sector governing the production system.72 All these arguments appear
valid only if the Mughal Empire is viewed as a highly centralized state,
exercising effective control over vast territories. The concept of patrimonial
bureaucracy as used by Stephen Blake now becomes meaningful.73
The idea of centralization has recently been challenged. The
understanding of the Mughal decline was reviewed and the period came
to be recognized as a transitional one.74 There has been a shift in emphasis
in the study of late medieval India, from the high imperial government
and administration to the regional economy and local social context of
power politics.
According to the new perspective, the period shows an improvement
in the status of the inferior social groups in different parts of the empire.
 INTRODUCTION 23

Factionalism within the nobility strengthened the tendencies towards

provincial autonomy. The governors of the various provinces in course
of time acquired power to act independently.75 They began to nominate
their successors. Provincial governors enhanced their position after the
Persian invasion by mobilizing landlords and local social groups in their
support.
Such changes in the understanding of the history of this period
came in large measure because of the emphasis in new studies on regional
and local developments. This comes out in particular from the researches
published on different regions and sub-regimes of the empire. Prominent
are the works of C.A. Bayly, Richard Barnett, Muzaffar Alam, Chetan
Singh, and Meena Bhargava.76 Bernard Cohn’s study of the Benaras region
and his reference to ‘little kingdoms’ is also significant.77
Many features of the history of this period taken earlier as signs
and symptoms of decay are in fact now viewed as symbols of dynamism.
Zamindar uprisings showed the strength of a locality which became
powerful by binding the local social groups, and establishing cities of
their own.78 The revenue farmers also appeared, as noticed earlier, as a
consolidated social group indicating a highly monetized commercial
economy. The eighteenth century, then, is marked not simply by the
dissolution of the Mughal imperial polity, but also by the emergence of
regional growth and regeneration.79
Local and regional centres of power became affluent as a result
of their buoyant trade. Hermann Goetz however believed that the
flourishing states and towns had to live on the wealth and livelihood of
their neighbours. 80 Public life had become a system of plunder.
Nevertheless, despite the absence of political acumen and sense of
responsibility, the rulers, together with their aristocratic cliques living in
well-fortified and luxurious palaces, patronized artists and courtesans
and still exhibited high cultural refinement. The Dig and Udaipur palaces
are examples of fairy-like architecture. Wonderful gardens and
landscaping indicated perfect harmony. There were flourishing schools
of painting in Hyderabad, Poona, Udaipur, Gwalior, and most notably,
Kangra. Literature in different languages was equally cultivated in
different courts.
For Goetz, the culture did not reflect real life and was consciously
artificial.81 It was a refuge from everyday life—an escape into beauty.
The Riti poets, however, portray the regional rulers as perfect kings
abiding by their duties and responsibilities. The patronage of art and
literature was a part of kingship and was certainly neither escape nor
refuge from real life. It reflected, instead, the stability and prosperity of
their kingdoms. Political enterprises including warfare were necessary
evils, not occasions for plunder. They did not affect social life in any
way. There is evidence in Dargah Quli Khan’s Muraqqa-e-Dehli to suggest
24 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

that the political changes did not influence the life of the people even in
Delhi. This presents a fascinating picture of Delhi’s social and cultural
life in the eighteenth century.82 Quli Khan wrote about Sufi saints, the
ceremonies of urs connected with them, market places, Hindu and
Muslim festivals, rituals, and various social practices. He also gave
accounts of the Indo-Persian and Urdu poets. It is significant that all
the poets mentioned by Dargah Quli Khan were associated with courts.
In the declining phase, the mehfils were still embellished.83 The narratives
of Daragh Quli Khan and those of Riti poets, therefore, open up several
possible avenues for research. Used as source material, Riti literature
provides support for the revisionist view.
I propose that the study of the eighteenth century in Indian history
and an insight into the regional identities in relation to the declining
Mughal Empire needs reference to the seventeenth century. The emergence
of the regional kingdoms and the waning of Mughal supremacy were
intertwined developments. Instead of viewing the emerging regional
entities against the weakening of the Mughal power, one should
understand the political culture of these regions at the time when the
Empire was being established and consolidated. What was the political
status of these kingdoms which are seen as centres of regeneration during
the seventeenth century? To what extent did the Mughals succeed in
incorporating these regions into the empire? Was incorporation political
or also social and cultural?
Clues may appear in the Riti Kal historical narratives. I have taken
notice of some historical texts composed in some regional courts in
Chapter 5 of this volume. These texts are versified histories written in
Braja. I will attempt to analyze the ways in which the court poets, as
spokesmen of their patrons, perceived their region, ruler, and Mughal
overlord. Orchha under Bir Singh Deo Bundela, Mewar under Rana Raj
Singh and Agra-Mathura region under Suraj Mal and his predecessor
Badan Singh form the core regions for analysis. Descriptions of their
interaction not only with the Empire but with other regional kingdoms
are available. These poems cover the periods of Akbar, Jahangir,
Aurangzeb and Muhammad Shah. Jangnama of Shridhar Ojha is witness
to the politics at the Mughal court after the death of Bahadur Shah in
1712. Chhatra Prakas of Gore Lal will also be discussed. I examine
these texts to explore the role of the emperors and regional rulers in the
processes of adjustment and accommodation in the making of the empire
and the processes of contest and conflict in debasing it.
The kind of materials used here need validation as sources of history
for various reasons. In previous sections, the significance of vernacular
poetry has been stressed. Still, it needs further clarification as there have
been controversies concerning vernacular literature, especially poetry, as
historical evidence. The Textures of Time by V. Narayana Rao, David
 INTRODUCTION 25

Shulman, and Sanjay Subramanyam has recently been questioned for

its use of vernacular sources and methods of their interpretation. In my
understanding, these researches challenge the perception that Indians
lacked historical consciousness in the premodern period. Vernacular
literature should not be treated as fanciful and imaginative. Moreover,
vernaculars, in spite of being uncodified languages, deserve attention.
Sheldon Pollock suggested that vernacular literature represented the
people who spoke these dialects. He blames the colonial attitude for the
neglect of such sources, which otherwise could have been used as rich
sources of information.84 I also believe that Riti Kal narratives projected
here as meaningful source on society and culture of the period, are
representations of the ideologies and mentalities that influenced historical
processes. There are texts which could justifiably be called chronicles,
histories in the same way as are Persian histories of the period.
First, the idea of history was not unknown to the poets whose
texts I have included in this work. Brijwasidas explained in subtle verse
in Prabodh Chandrodaya Natak that world history was revealed in the
discourses of the wise:

a lksa fcfnr fofoèk bfrgklA 85

Tks dqN gksr lqlx
Qwy fcuk ufga gks lds fry ras rsy lqcklA
Wise discourses could reveal world history. Sesamum oil can not have
fragrance without flowers.

He added that the jesters on the stage presented history for society and
this history was appropriately dramatized in accordance with the
historical tradition:

vfr lqHkx ldy lekt - - -86

cjuSa fofo/k bfrgklA /kkjSa fcfc/k cgq :iA
bfrgkl ds vuq:iA Y;koS prqj cgq rdZA
The entire society is extremely delighted…. They enact many histories.
In different attire they present different characters. In accordance with
history, the intelligent (jester) brings out many arguments.

The poet in this case knew that there were many pasts. Different
histories were being communicated to the masses through verbal and
visual means.
Second, themes were invoked from the past. The choice of these
historical concepts was not random, but poets had to apply their wisdom
in retrieving a particular story, drama or historical event that was
contextual. It was not always the classics which were to be selected and
references were drawn from little traditions also. Interest in past polities
and culture is evident in this period, it is the framework that combined
26 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

classical or traditional with the local on one hand, and indicated various
modes of popular self expression on the other.
Third, I consider Riti Kal as an era of intellectual movement.
Although the historical trajectory of every society is different, the literature
here studied has echoes of the European Renaissance in large measure.
My intention is not to offer any comparison with European modernity
because texts and their contexts are always different. There is a plea in
my argument for considering Riti poets and their poetry as voices of the
literati, sensitive to their surroundings and expressing their ideas in Braja.
In medieval India, historians have looked at language as a political
device. Muzaffar Alam believes that the Mughals deliberately promoted
Persian as the court language and the accommodation of Braja in the
imperial court too was a political consideration. I agree that language
was used as a matter of politics but I go a little further. In addition to
many vernacular languages of the period, some alien languages were
also in use. There had existed different literary modes also. This verse by
Giridhar is proof that an intense literary culture was prevalent in the
eighteenth century:
uj ukfj o`) cky] xzfed uxj oklh]87
Å¡p uhp ;kor] in dfFk ds vykors
Lojfpr vU; jfpr okfrZd 'yksd c)
'kCn] lk[kh] lksjBk pkSikbZ lqukors
laLÑr izkÑr vjch v¡xjsth iLrks
Qkjlh ejgVh rSyaxh c¡xyk xkors
o.kZu dks tksM&
+ tksM&
+ dFkuh rkS cgqr djS
uoks jl esa tks jl] rkdks ugh ikorsA
Men, Women, old, young, rural and urban people, high or low born
compose sing verses. They read and recite self composed prose and
shlokas, shabda, sakhi, soratha, shloka (different metres of poetry) and
compositions of others as well.They sing in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic,
Prakrit, Marathi, Telugu, Bangla, English and Pashtun languages. Many
temper the vowels to write poetry but Braja is the best which expresses
all nine emotions.

In another verse Giridhar says that Braja was an expression of authority,

grace, morals, stories of the sword, and Brahmanical traditions.88 Why
was it Braja that was destined to become the dominant mode during
the period, in spite of the Mughal preference for Persian?
The answer to this question is difficult. The language that poets
called Nara Bhasha was promoted in the imperial, regional, and local
courts, in the homes of affluent merchants, and in the courtyards of
zamindars, over northern, western, central and southern India. The poetry
was blossoming under Mughal patronage. At regional levels, ruling groups
 INTRODUCTION 27

with varying powers promoted this language. The poets and their
audiences were people of different origins. At any level, the primary aim
was to create poetry for the masses. It may then be said that through
this language, an attempt was made to make people conscious of their
past. An awareness of the then contemporary political culture was being
created in the remotest corners and at each level of the social hierarchy.
Therefore, the use of Braja eliminated the differences between Mughals
and regions, even though political ambitions were a different matter. It
will be discussed in Chapter 5 that Maharaja Suraj Mal, in spite of
constant armed conflict not only with the Mughals but with other
regional powers, acknowledged Mughal suzerainty. Is it then possible
that, despite the prevalence of regional identities, Indian people were
groping for a common identity across the regions? That a feeling of
commonality was in the process of being shaped?
Further to be noted is the fact that Braja was not particularly
uncodified by then. As discussed earlier, to become a poet needed special
training. Verses were to be written according to rules laid down by
authorities addressed as kabin ke panch (the pancha of poets), sukavi
(wise poet), parbin (intellectual), and so on. Newaj could not ascertain
the accuracy of his story Shakuntala but he was sure of his linguistics:

tks ns[kk lksbZ fy[kk eksj nks"k ftfu nsoA 88

ek=k v{kj nksgjk cq/k fopkj dfj ysoA
I wrote whatever I watched, do not blame me for anything. The
enlightened people could assess my short vowels and word arrangements.

In Ras Piyush Nidhi, Somnath produced a few tables giving the break-
up of words used in verses to prove grammatical correctness. This may
reasonably be treated as a source of history.
I have not analysed the poetry to accept or reject any perspectives
on the period between 1550 and 1800. Still, when some terms understood
as creations of nineteenth-century encounters with the British, can be
traced to Riti Kal poetry, this requires explanation.
Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the sources and the ways in
which these may be utilized as source of history. Chapter 2, ‘Kinship,
Caste and Gender’, deals with the relationship between the individual
and society. An attempt is being made to see if patriarchal joint families,
propounding the notions of kula and tied closely to other families
through kinship norms, constituted kin groups that gradually assumed
the form of a caste. The dynamics that emanated from the family, and
also from its larger kinship milieu, kutumba will be addressed. Discussion
on caste will be a part of the chapter, as kinship and clan identities as
described by the poets, influenced the caste structure. It will be interesting
to know if patriarchy acted as a bulwark against change. One may then
28 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

ask if these ideologies as binding forces made society insensitive to external

factors. Here, I will discuss the relationship between the individual and
society, and the conformist and nonconformist traditions as indicators
of continuity and change. Gender relations will be reviewed not in terms
of our standards but according to the historical milieu. Contrary to
recent charges by feminists, gender equalities were actually proposed by
the medieval male poets. The attitude of the poets to women will be
analysed with reference to existing notions about women as being docile.
A reading of the poetry suggests that the poets generally had conservative
attitudes about women, placing them in subordination to men for various
reasons; their poetry reflected a protest against the idealization of women
which encouraged oppression and the treatment of women as objects. I
shall analyse various agencies that could conceivably have assigned them
an inferior position in society. I also seek to examine how different
poets viewed gender relations in different surroundings over this period
of time. The construction of femininity is apparent in some Nakh-Shikh
descriptions where women were represented as symbols of power, and
emerged as embodiments of all the divine and mythological attributes.
Chapter 3, ‘Radha and Krishna’, recounts the incidents, attributes
and myths attached to the legends of the duo over time. The conclusions
of nineteenth-century scholars and contemporary historians concerning
Krishna and Radha will be revalued through the sources of this study.
The emotional-devotional portrayal of the two divine figures in divergent
traditions, their incarnations in human form and as more humanized
nayak and nayika enable the reader to reassess the colonial perception
of premodern Indian religious traditions. It will be worth asking if these
legends were just mythical or they represented in some way the existing
concepts of medieval mysticism, asceticism, and literary convention. Of
further interest will be to trace altered gender relations wherein Radha
emerges as a symbol of power, over and above the divinity of Krishna in
the world of the poets. I will attempt, in this discussion, to see if Riti
poetry was degenerate and reduced the divinity of the Lord of the Epic,
or in some way, emasculated Krishna.
Chapter 4 examines three narratives with diverse themes—
Shakuntala, a love story, Prabodh Chandrodaya Natak, an allegorical
discourse on ethics and Sujan Vilas, a reiteration of Singhasan Dwa
Trinsica and largely describing the theme of statecraft and notions of
morality. These texts will be used as evidence to argue that Riti poets,
their patrons or the audience were making attempts to revive their past.
A comparison of these eighteenth-century texts with the ancient versions
will help us re-examine the question of historical consciousness in
premodern India.
Chapter 5 is an analysis of the political narratives of the period.
Keshavdas’s text furnishes significant information which is essential for
 INTRODUCTION 29

understanding the political culture of the time. The reading of Veer

Charitra and Jahangir Jas Chandrika of Keshavdas, Chhatra Prakas of
Lal Kavi, Raj Vilas of Man, Jangnama of Shridhar Ojha and Sujan
Charitra of Sudan facilitates an understanding of the relationship
between the Mughal court and different regions. The poetry apparently
reveals shifting patterns of alliances and rivalries between the regions
and the Mughal Empire during the sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries and it may be valuable to review the notion of the centrality
of the Empire and thereby the theories of decline, transition, and change
in terms of the complex political processes described in the poetry.
The last chapter summarises the observations and some conclusions
which emerge through the analysis in the foregone chapters.

Notes
1. Keshavdas, Keshav Granthavali, Part III, ed., Vishwanath Prasad
Mishra, Allahabad: Hindustani Academy, 1987, Veer Charitra, p. 477.
2. Ibid., Vighyan Gita, p. 644.
3. Baron Gregory Holland, The Satsai of Bihari: Hindi Poetry of Early
Riti Period, Introduction, Translation, and Notes, Ph.D. thesis,
Department of Near Eastern Languagses, University of California, 1969;
Allison Busch, The Courtly Vernacular: The Transformation of
Brajbhasa Literary Culture (1590–1690), Ph.D. thesis, Department of
South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, 2003.
I have not got access to these theses. Allison Busch’s work has however
been cited.
4. P.V. Kane, History of Sanskrit Poetics, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas,
1971, p. 380.
5. Bhagirath Mishra, Hindi Riti Sahitya, Bombay: Raj Kamal Prakashan,
1956, pp. 30–5. See also Ram Chandra Shukla, Hindi Sahitya Ka
Itihas, Varanasi: Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1992, pp. 161–7.
6. Bhagirath Mishra, Hindi Kavya Shastra Ka Itihas, Seth Bhola Ram
Saksaria Smarak Granthmala- I, Lucknow: Lucknow University, 1948,
p. 37. See Nagendra (ed.) Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihas, National Publishing
House, Delhi. 1973, p. 292.
7. Allison Busch, ‘Literary Responses to the Mughal Imperium: The
Historical Poems of Kesavdas’ in South Asia Research, Delhi: Sage,
2005, pp. 31–54 and ‘The Anxiety of Innovation: The Practice of
Literary Science in the Hindi/Riti Tradition’, Comparative Studies of
South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol. 24, no. 2, 2004.
8. Bhagirath Mishra, Hindi Riti Sahitya, pp. 30–5 and Shukla, Hindi
Sahitya, pp. 161–7.
9. Bonnie C. Wade, Creativity within North India’s Classical Music
Tradition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984, p. 278.
10. O. Goswami, The Story of Indian Music, Bombay: Asia Publishing
House, 1961, p. 140.
30 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

11. W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills: Paintings of the
Sikhs, London: George Allen and Unwin. B.N. Goswami, Paintings at
the Sikh Court Based on Twenty Documents, Wiesbaden:Verlag Steiner,
1975.
12. Chintamani Vyas, Rasikpriya, Jhansi: Gita Publishers, 1988.
13. M.S. Randhawa, Kangra Paintings of the Bihari Satsai, Delhi: National
Museum, 1966.
14. De, Sushil Kumar, History of Sanskrit Poetics, vol. II, Calcutta: Firma,
K.L. Mukhopadhya, 1960, p. 1, and Kane, History of Sanskrit Poetics,
p. 354.
15. De, History of Sanskrit Poetics, vol. II, p. 22.
16. Ibid, p. 66.
17. Kane, History of Sanskrit Poetics, p. 380.
18. De, History of Sanskrit Poetics, vol. II, p. 103.
19. Nagendra, Literary Criticism, pp. 19 and 20.
20. Shukla, Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihas, p. 161.
21. Jatindra Bimal Chaudhury, Muslim Patronage to Sanskrit Learning,
Calcutta: Prachyavani, 1954. The small booklet gives a brief account
of Khan-i-Khana’s style and some verses from his poetry.
22. Kriparam, Kriparam Granthavali, ed., Sudhakar Pandey, Varanasi:
Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1971, Hit Tarangini, v. 6.
23. Bhikharidas, Bhikharidas Granthavali, ed., Vishwanath Prasad Mishra,
Varanasi: Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1956, Shringar Nirnaya, v. 3.
24. Kishori Lal, Riti Kaviyon Ki Maulik Den, Allahabad: Hindustani
Akademi, 1971, pp. 6–13.
25. Bhagirath Mishra, Hindi Kavya Shastra Ka Itihas, p. 37.
26. Kriparam, Hit Tarangini, v. 11.
27. Thakur, Thakur Thasak, ed., Chandra Shekhar Mishra Shastri,
Varanasi: Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1973, v. 13.
28. Bhikharidas, Shringar Nirnaya, v. 5.
29. De, op. cit., vol. II, p. 1, and see also Kane, op. cit., p. 354.
30. Jitendra Bimal Chaudhary, Muslim Patronage, Chapter V.
31. Vrind Satsai, ed., Bhagwandeen, ‘Introduction’. Shukla, Hindi Sahitya,
p. 182.
32. Shukla, Hindi Sahitya, p. 180.
33. Richard Harvey Brown, ‘Poetics, Politics and Truth: An Invitation to
Rhetorical Analysis’ in Idem (ed.), Writing the Social Text: Poetics
and Politics in Social Science Discourse, New York: Aldine De Gruyter,
1992, pp. 3–6. The author recounts the arguments of various schools
between positivism and post-modernism and treats the study of rhetoric
semantically.
34. The focus on language and rhetoric calls forth a debate on text and
context. For text/context dichotomy, see Julie Thompson Klien,
‘Text Context: The Rhetorics of the Social Sciences’ in Richard Harvey
Brown ed., Writing the Social Text, pp. 9–30. Terry Eagleton, ‘Ideology
and Scholarship’ in Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Historical Studies
and Literary Criticism, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985,
pp. 114–25; Hayden White, ‘New Historicism: A Comment’ in
 INTRODUCTION 31

H.A. Veeser (ed.), The New Historicism, London: Routledge, 1989,

pp. 293–302.
35. Lloyd S. Kramer, ‘Literary Criticism and Historical Imagination: The
Literary Challenge of Hayden White and La Capra’ in Lynn Hunt
(ed.), The New Cultural History, Berkeley: University of California,
1989, pp. 97–128. Peter Hardy, ‘Approaches to Pre-Modern Indo-
Muslim Historical Writing: Some Considerations in 1990–1991’ in Peter
Robb (ed.), Society And Ideology, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994,
pp. 57–61. For literary genre as a basis of historical writing, Ronald
Inden, Text and Practice: Essays on South Asian History, New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2006, and Rhetoric and Reality: Gender and
the Colonial Experience in South Asia (ed.), Avril A. Powell and Siobhan
Lambert-Hurley, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006. For the
use of Itihasa Purana as source of history, see Romila Thapar, History
and Beyond, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 137–73.
36. V. Narayana Rao, David Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Textures
of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600–1800, New York: Other
Press, 2003. For their response to the criticism, V. Narayana Rao, David
Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ‘Forum: Texture of Time—A
Pragmatic Response’, History and Theory, 48, 2007, pp. 409–27.
37. Sheldon Pollock, Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from
South India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004; Idem,
Languages of Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture and Power
in Premodern India, New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2007. For his
perspective on the methodology of utilizing vernaculars, see also,
‘Pretextures of Time’, History and Theory, 46, 2007, pp. 366–83.
38. Kumkum Chatterjee, ‘The Persianization of Itihasa: Performance
Narratives and Mughal Political Culture in Eighteenth-Century Bengal’,
The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 67, no. 2, 2008, pp. 513–43. See
also, ‘Textual Traditions and Social Realities Communities, Kings and
Chronicles The Kulgranthas of Bengal’, Studies in History, vol. 21,
no. 2, 2005, pp. 173–213.
39. Muzaffar Alam, ‘The Pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal Politics’,
Modern Asian Studies, vol. 32, 1998, pp. 317–49.
40. I also notice in the hagiographic text Beetak that Aurangzeb did not
encourage Hindvi as a medium of conversation. Sudipta Kaviraj believes
that language was not a determinant of political ideologies in pre-
modern India: ‘The Imaginary Institutions of India’, in Partha Chatterjee
and Gyanendra Pandey (eds.), Subaltern Studies VIII, Writings on South
Asian History, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994. I also suggest in
the following pages that Braja was a political expression, but its use by
the Mughals does not indicate any protective political ideology.
41. Amrit Rai, A House Divided, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986,
pp. 56, 156.
42. Allison Busch, ‘The Anxiety of Innovation: The Practice of Literary
Science in the Hindi/Riti Tradition’, Comparative Studies of South Asia,
Africa and the Middle East, vol. 24, no. 2, 2004, p. 56.
43. Keshavdas, Vigyan Gita, p. 644.
32 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

44. Kriparam, Hit Tarangini, v. 375.

45. Bhikharidas, Ras Saransh, v. 425.
46. Somnath, Somnath Granthavali, Part I, Ras Piush Nidhi, ed., Sudhakar
Pandey, Varanasi: Nagri Prachrini Sabha, 1972, p. 269.
47. Giridhar, Giridhar Kavirai Granthavali, ed., Kishori Lal Gupta,
Allahabad: Madhu Prakashan, 1977, Kundaliyan, v. 125.
48. Somnath, Sujan Vilas, p. 815.
49. Keshavdas, Kavi Priya, v. 3.
50. Vrind, Vrind Satsai, ed., Bhagwandeen, Prayag: Hindi Mandir, 1897,
v. 3, 4.
51. Newaj, Shakuntala, n.d. The text was located at the Allahabad
University Library. In the available mutilated copy, it is complete but
details of the publisher or editor could not be traced.
52. Brijwasidas, Prabodh Chandrodaya Natak, ed., Munshi Nawal Kishore,
Kashi: Sisakshar Yantralaya, 1875, v. 16, 28.
53. Allison Busch, 2004, p. 47. For the growth of literary culture and
promotion of vernaculars in Deccan, see Richard M. Eaton, A Social
History of the Deccan, 1300–1761: Eight Indian Lives, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 141–5.
54. Ibid.
55. Sheldon Pollock, Languages of Gods in the World of Men,
pp. 283–329.
56. Ibid., pp. 328.
57. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Hindi Sahitya Udbhav aur Vikas, 6th edn,
Delhi: Raj Kamal Prakashan, 1990, pp. 185–8.
58. Thakur, Thakur Thasak, v. 12.
59. Abdul Wahid Bilgrami, Haqaiq-i-Hindi, tr., S.A.A. Rizvi, Varanasi:
Nagri Pracharini Sabha, 1966, pp. 35–103.
60. Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb, Sarkar is obsessed in all five
volumes with the religious bigotry of Aurangzeb, see in particular vol.
III, pp. 249-50. S.R. Sharma, The Religious Policy of the Mughal
Emperors, pp. 98–174.
61. Zahiruddin Faruki, Aurangzeb and His Times, Delhi: Idarah-i-Adabiyat-
i-Delhi, 1972. I.H. Qureshi, The Architect of the Mughal Empire, Delhi:
Idarah-i-Adabiyat, 1987. Compare Faruki’s sympathetic treatment of
incidents and events with that of Qureshi’s appreciation for Aurangzeb
as a believer and criticism of Akbar for initiating the decline by
alienating the Muslims.
62. Satish Chandra, Mughal Religious Policies, Delhi: Vikas Publishing
House, 1993, pp. 170–89 and 194–215.
63. William Irvine, Later Mughals, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1971,
vol. I, pp.190–8 and 372-3 and Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal
Empire, vol. I, Delhi: Orient Longman, 1988, pp. 4–9.
64. Satish Chandra, Medieval India: Society, the Jagirdari Crisis and the
Village, Delhi: Macmillan, 1982, pp. 60-1.
65. Idem., Parties and Politics at the Mughal Court, 1707–40, Delhi: Peoples
Publishing House, 1982, ‘Introduction’.
 INTRODUCTION 33

66. Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, Delhi: Asia
Publishing House, 1963, pp. 317–51.
67. M. Athar Ali, Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb, Delhi, Oxford
University Press, 1997.
68. J.F. Richards, Mughal Administration in Golconda: 1687–1724, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1975.
69. M. Athar Ali, ‘Passing of the Empire: the Mughal Case’, Modern Asian
Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 1975, pp. 175–86.
70. S.P. Gupta, The Agrarian System of Eastern Rajasthan, Delhi: Manohar,
1984 p. 22. Muzaffar Alam, Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India,
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 40, 218.
71. Sanjay Subramanyam (ed.), Merchants, Markets and State in Early
Modern India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 9–14.
72. Tapan Raychaudhury, ‘Non-agricultural Production in Mughal India’
in Raychaudhury and Irfan Habib (eds.), The New Cambridge
Economic History of India, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, Delhi:
Orient Longman edition, 1982, pp. 261–307. This corollary, however,
demands reference to Irfan Habib’s, ‘The Potentialities of Capitalistic
Development in Mughal India’ in Researches in History of India: 1200–
1750, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995 and also to J.F. Richards,
‘Mughal State Finance and the Pre-Modern World Economy’,
Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 23, no. 2, 1981,
pp. 285–308. Also Karan Leonard, ‘The Great Firm Theory of the
Decline of The Mughal Empire’, Comparative Studies in History and
Society, vol. 21, no. 2, 1979, pp. 161–7.
73. Stephen P. Blake, ‘The Patrimonial-Bureaucratic Empire of the
Mughals’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 39, no. 1, 1979,
pp. 77–94.
74. Burton Stein, Peasant, State and Society in Medieval South India,
Introduction and Chapter I; B. Stein, ‘The Segmentary State in South
India’, in Richard Fox (ed.), Realm and Region in Traditional India,
Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1977, pp. 1–36. Stein explains the
dispersal of power among regional chiefs, who were de facto kings of
their territories and exhibited allegiance to the Chola only as a matter
of ritual.
75. Muzaffar Alam, The Crisis of Empire, pp. 59–70 reviews the period
between 1707 and 1748 in the context of Awadh and Punjab and shows
the ways in which nawabi rule was established in Awadh but opposed
in Punjab by the local groups.
76. C.A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazars, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1983. Richard B. Barnett, North India Between
Empires: Awadh, the Mughals, and the British, 1720–1801, Delhi:
Manohar, 1987, pp. 1–42 and 240–9; Chetan Singh, Region and
Empire Punjab in the Seventeenth Century, Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1991, pp. 31–4 and 259–66. Meena Bhargava, State, Society
and Ecology: Gorakhpur in Transition, 1750–1830, Delhi: Manohar,
1999.
34 LITERATURE, CULTURE AND HISTORY IN MUGHAL NORTH INDIA

77. Bernard Cohn, ‘The Initial British Impact on India: A Case Study of
Banaras Region’ in Seema Alavi (ed.), The Eighteenth Century in India,
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 225–48.
78. Muzaffar Alam, ‘Aspects of Agrarian Uprisings in North India in the
Early Eighteenth Century’ in S. Subrahmanyan and M. Alam (eds.),
The Mughal State 1526–1750, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
pp. 449–75. C.A. Bayly, Indian Society and the Making of the British
Empire, pp. 8–10.
79. C.A.Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazars.
80. Hermann Goetz, The Crisis of Indian Civilization in the Eighteenth
and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Calcutta: Calcutta University Series,
1938, p. 12.
81. Ibid., p. 17.
82. Dargah Quli Khan, Muraqqa-e-Delhi, tr. Chandra Shekhar and Shama
Mitra Chenoy, Delhi: Deputy Publication, 1989, ‘Introduction’.
83. Ibid., pp. 53–65.
84. Sheldon Pollock, ‘Forms of Knowledge in Early Modern South Asia’,
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East,
vol. 24, no. 2, 2004.
85. Brijwasidas, v. 45.
86. Ibid., v. 27. See also Thakur Thasak, v. 185. Thakur himself treated
poetry as a mode of historical writing. He appreciated Tulsidas for
delineating history:

Bkdqj dgr /kU; rqylh frgkjh ckuhA

vdg dgkuh jl lkuh ljlr gSA
Thakur says that blessed is the voice of Tulsi. / Untold stories are narrated
interestingly.

87. Giridhar, Pratyakanubhava Shatak, v. 52.

88. Giridhar, Kundaliyan, v. 224.