Author: Cynthia Talbot
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 305
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195654404
Description
Thousands of temple donors in medieval Andhra recorded the details of their charitable gifts on stone pillars, rock slabs, and temple walls. Using these records of what people actually did, Cynthia Talbot reconstructs the precolonial past as it existed in practice during the period when India’s distinctive regional societies were taking shape.
Beginning with an examination of the historical processes that ushered in Andhra’s long period of inscriptions (c AD 1000 – 1650), this book moves to an in-depth analysis of the society, temples, and polity in the Kakatiya era (c AD 1175-1325). It concludes with a section on the later historical memories relating to the Kakatiyas.
Talbot’s interpretation of medieval Andhra as a period of dynamic change, characterized by extensive social and physical mobility and a notable militaristic ethos, offers a significant alternative to the earlier depictions of the history and society of traditional India. In serving as a corrective to the conventional models of the Indian past derived from brahmanical literature, modern ethnography, and colonial observation, this case study of a neglected period and region has important ramifications for our general understanding of the history of precolonial India.
Precolonial India in Practice makes a useful contribution to the manner in which scholars need to re-envision medieval India as a complex kaleidoscope of diverse regions and cultures, where a multiplicity of historical processes, cultural practices, and powerful agents interacted with each other to produce a dynamic and expansionist world. It will thus be of relevance to historians, sociologists, and those interested in the realm of politics and religion, state formation, and community identity.
Contents
LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
ABBREVIATIONS
INTROUCTION
ANDHRA’S AGE OF INSCRIPTIONS, 1000-1650
Physical Environment and Early history
Distribution of Andhra Inscriptions
The Telugu Linguistic Region
Settlement of Interior Andhra
The Frontier in Andhra History
THE SOCIETY OF KAKATIYA ANDHRA
Varna, Jati, and Clan in Andhra Inscriptions
A Typology of Statuses
Social Mobility and Individual Achievement
The Militarism of Kakatiya society
Physical Movement in a Changing Landscape
Fresh Perspectives: Collectives and Women
Summary: The Fluidity of Social Identities
TEMPLES AND TEMPLE PATRONAGE IN KAKATIYA ANDHRA
The Religious Gift in Theory and in Action
Agrarian Expansion through Temple and Tank Construction
The Temple as a Redistributive Center
Diversity of Temple Types
Motives for Temple Patronage
Summary: Subregional Patterns of Endowment
THE KAKATIYA POLITICAL NETWORK
Expansion of Kakatiya Power
Royal Religious Patronage and Dharmic Kingship
Warrior Prowess and Military Service
Classifying Kakatiya Subordinates
Political Economy of the Kakatiya Era
Conceptualizing the Kakatiya State
THE KAKATIYAS IN TELUGU HISTORICAL MEMORY
Reviving Past Glory: Warrior Appropriation of the Kakatiyas
Prataparudra Caritramu, a Telangana Chronicle
The Vijayanagara Connection
Village Accounts and Popular Traditions
Conclusion: Toward a New Model of Medieval India
APPENDIX A
Andhra Inscriptions, 1000-1649
APPENDIX B
Kakatiya Andhra Inscriptions
Notes
References
Index