Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 239-264, August 2023.
This article seeks to analyse how the concept of masculinity is embedded in the cultural discourse of Ancient India. It is also our contention that since in the ancient Indic context, the sex-gender system was a reality, we cannot discount the existence of a ‘masculinist’ structure which had a role to play in shaping the perception/functioning of a masculine persona. The article is an attempt to unravel the mystique of Indic manhood across a broad temporal frame by focusing on different themes such as varn˙a status, male body, fatherhood and sexuality and its framing within the discourse on masculinity. Since masculinity was constructed in opposition to both femininity and the defective/deficient male, these two aspects have also been focused upon.
Category Archives: Studies in History
Book review: K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 280-283, August 2023.
K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab, Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Primus Books, 2021, pp. 372+xi, ₹1,250.
K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab, Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Primus Books, 2021, pp. 372+xi, ₹1,250.
Nationalism, Revivalism and Pan-Islamism: Shifts in the Political and Cultural Imaginings of Allama Iqbal’s Poetry
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 199-238, August 2023.
This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates not from 1930 (when he apparently moved towards the acceptance of the two-nation theory at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League) but to his stay in Europe from 1905 to 1908 (after which he made a complete and abrupt shift from Indian nationalism to revivalism and Pan-Islamism). This shift is powerfully expressed in the political and cultural imaginings of both his Urdu and Persian poetry. His poetry becomes suffused with the ideas of revivalism and Pan-Islamism in counter-position to those of composite nationhood and territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was premised. The shift is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, especially the dominant idea of Indian nationalism. Iqbal’s later thoughts concerning Islam’s relations with non-Muslims in India and elsewhere promote an adversarial historical and cultural narrative of Islam.Though triggered by a passionate rejection of the West and its modernity, the shift manifested not just in a critique of the West but also of all non-Islamic cultures and civilizations. Iqbal’s narrative of Islam is teleological and triumphalist. Far from being defensive about the charges of intolerance and aggression levelled against Islam by its critics, he proudly invokes imagery of the sword and the conquest in the history of Islam, while bemoaning the decline of its political power in the modern era. Iqbal’s quest is for a supposedly pure Islam of the past and its revival in the twentieth century in the form of a redefined, reconstituted and revitalized Umma which cuts across boundaries of nations, continents and ethnicities. Few poets in the history of the modern world have had such influence as Allama Iqbal, and fewer still have made such fundamental shifts.
This paper argues that contrary to some popular perceptions, the ideological shift in Iqbal dates not from 1930 (when he apparently moved towards the acceptance of the two-nation theory at the Allahabad Session of the Muslim League) but to his stay in Europe from 1905 to 1908 (after which he made a complete and abrupt shift from Indian nationalism to revivalism and Pan-Islamism). This shift is powerfully expressed in the political and cultural imaginings of both his Urdu and Persian poetry. His poetry becomes suffused with the ideas of revivalism and Pan-Islamism in counter-position to those of composite nationhood and territorial nationalism on which the Indian national movement was premised. The shift is embodied in poetic imagery and metaphor incompatible with the modern idea of nationalism, especially the dominant idea of Indian nationalism. Iqbal’s later thoughts concerning Islam’s relations with non-Muslims in India and elsewhere promote an adversarial historical and cultural narrative of Islam.Though triggered by a passionate rejection of the West and its modernity, the shift manifested not just in a critique of the West but also of all non-Islamic cultures and civilizations. Iqbal’s narrative of Islam is teleological and triumphalist. Far from being defensive about the charges of intolerance and aggression levelled against Islam by its critics, he proudly invokes imagery of the sword and the conquest in the history of Islam, while bemoaning the decline of its political power in the modern era. Iqbal’s quest is for a supposedly pure Islam of the past and its revival in the twentieth century in the form of a redefined, reconstituted and revitalized Umma which cuts across boundaries of nations, continents and ethnicities. Few poets in the history of the modern world have had such influence as Allama Iqbal, and fewer still have made such fundamental shifts.
Book review: Pankaj Jha, A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 283-286, August 2023.
Pankaj Jha, A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2019, pp. xxxviii+272.
Pankaj Jha, A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2019, pp. xxxviii+272.
Book review: Prachi Deshpande, Scripts of Power: Writing, Language Practices and Cultural History in Western India
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 286-288, August 2023.
Prachi Deshpande, Scripts of Power: Writing, Language Practices and Cultural History in Western India, Permanent Black, Ranikhet, 2023, ₹995.
Prachi Deshpande, Scripts of Power: Writing, Language Practices and Cultural History in Western India, Permanent Black, Ranikhet, 2023, ₹995.
Epigraphic Practice and the Making of State Society in Eastern Madhya Pradesh (Circa Fifth–Sixth Centuries ce)
Studies in History, Ahead of Print.
The essay explores the process of state formation under the Parivråjakas and the Uccakalpðyas in eastern Madhya Pradesh (MP) during circa fifth–sixth centuries ce. A total of 14 epigraphic records inform us about the development of the institutional structures under these two local powers. We delve into the process of transformation of the a»avika-råjya into full-fledged monarchical powers. Besides the internal factors, an attempt has been made to understand the external Gupta and Våkå»aka influence, in relation to the spread of Sanskrit culture, state society and pattern of patronage in eastern MP. Like the well-known Malwa corridor on the western side of MP, the present essay finds the making of another corridor that formed under these two local powers to the eastern side of MP. It, therefore, suggests the existence of another route that connected north India and the Deccan via central India, which catalysed the state formation in the region.
The essay explores the process of state formation under the Parivråjakas and the Uccakalpðyas in eastern Madhya Pradesh (MP) during circa fifth–sixth centuries ce. A total of 14 epigraphic records inform us about the development of the institutional structures under these two local powers. We delve into the process of transformation of the a»avika-råjya into full-fledged monarchical powers. Besides the internal factors, an attempt has been made to understand the external Gupta and Våkå»aka influence, in relation to the spread of Sanskrit culture, state society and pattern of patronage in eastern MP. Like the well-known Malwa corridor on the western side of MP, the present essay finds the making of another corridor that formed under these two local powers to the eastern side of MP. It, therefore, suggests the existence of another route that connected north India and the Deccan via central India, which catalysed the state formation in the region.
Epigraphic Practice and the Making of State Society in Eastern Madhya Pradesh (Circa Fifth–Sixth Centuries ce)
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 133-153, August 2023.
The essay explores the process of state formation under the Parivråjakas and the Uccakalpðyas in eastern Madhya Pradesh (MP) during circa fifth–sixth centuries ce. A total of 14 epigraphic records inform us about the development of the institutional structures under these two local powers. We delve into the process of transformation of the a»avika-råjya into full-fledged monarchical powers. Besides the internal factors, an attempt has been made to understand the external Gupta and Våkå»aka influence, in relation to the spread of Sanskrit culture, state society and pattern of patronage in eastern MP. Like the well-known Malwa corridor on the western side of MP, the present essay finds the making of another corridor that formed under these two local powers to the eastern side of MP. It, therefore, suggests the existence of another route that connected north India and the Deccan via central India, which catalysed the state formation in the region.
The essay explores the process of state formation under the Parivråjakas and the Uccakalpðyas in eastern Madhya Pradesh (MP) during circa fifth–sixth centuries ce. A total of 14 epigraphic records inform us about the development of the institutional structures under these two local powers. We delve into the process of transformation of the a»avika-råjya into full-fledged monarchical powers. Besides the internal factors, an attempt has been made to understand the external Gupta and Våkå»aka influence, in relation to the spread of Sanskrit culture, state society and pattern of patronage in eastern MP. Like the well-known Malwa corridor on the western side of MP, the present essay finds the making of another corridor that formed under these two local powers to the eastern side of MP. It, therefore, suggests the existence of another route that connected north India and the Deccan via central India, which catalysed the state formation in the region.
Representations of the Body and Gender in Varāhamihira’s Jyotiṣaśāstra
Studies in History, Ahead of Print.
Based primarily on the analysis of Varāhamihira’s writings on Jyotiṣaśāstra, particularly of his Bṛhajjātaka and Bṛhatsaṁhitā, the paper tries to explore how the human body was brought within the realm of auspicious and inauspicious and created certain gender markers and distinctions, which presented socially contingent views of ideal types in early India. It also examines, with the help of arguments and episodes from the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas, the narrative that came to be woven about gender differences within the context of the evolution of what historians have termed ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’.
Based primarily on the analysis of Varāhamihira’s writings on Jyotiṣaśāstra, particularly of his Bṛhajjātaka and Bṛhatsaṁhitā, the paper tries to explore how the human body was brought within the realm of auspicious and inauspicious and created certain gender markers and distinctions, which presented socially contingent views of ideal types in early India. It also examines, with the help of arguments and episodes from the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas, the narrative that came to be woven about gender differences within the context of the evolution of what historians have termed ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’.
Representations of the Body and Gender in Varāhamihira’s Jyotiṣaśāstra
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 2, Page 154-171, August 2023.
Based primarily on the analysis of Varāhamihira’s writings on Jyotiṣaśāstra, particularly of his Bṛhajjātaka and Bṛhatsaṁhitā, the paper tries to explore how the human body was brought within the realm of auspicious and inauspicious and created certain gender markers and distinctions, which presented socially contingent views of ideal types in early India. It also examines, with the help of arguments and episodes from the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas, the narrative that came to be woven about gender differences within the context of the evolution of what historians have termed ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’.
Based primarily on the analysis of Varāhamihira’s writings on Jyotiṣaśāstra, particularly of his Bṛhajjātaka and Bṛhatsaṁhitā, the paper tries to explore how the human body was brought within the realm of auspicious and inauspicious and created certain gender markers and distinctions, which presented socially contingent views of ideal types in early India. It also examines, with the help of arguments and episodes from the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas, the narrative that came to be woven about gender differences within the context of the evolution of what historians have termed ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’.
Is Medical Tourism Transcultural Hypogamy?
Studies in History, Volume 39, Issue 1, Page 109-124, February 2023.
This article attempts to make a set of interrelated arguments. It claims that the epithet ‘medical tourism’, which is of recent provenance, tacitly subscribes to a particular and narrow understanding of ‘medicine’, namely, the Anglo-American variant of biomedicine. This variant, unlike its Continental European counterpart, does not countenance the spa (Kur, Kuur, Termas, etc.) as ‘medical’ therapy, a therapy that is part of orthodox biomedicine on the continent, albeit on its fringe and one where pleasure and therapy often coexist. The Anglo-American variant leads to an exclusive focus on what may be called organ-based therapy with an emphasis on surgical and technological intervention, where uninsured and under-insured ‘middle-class’ patients travel from the White world to wog-land. This is a reversal of older forms of medical travel where rich wogs travelled from wog-land to the White world for medical treatment. The reversal results in a binary of White vampires and wog victims and is responsible, in part, for the moral tension of the oxymoron called ‘medical tourism’, with the other part of the oxymoron being constituted by the contradiction between pleasure and therapy. The vampire-victim binary in turn often mutes the mediating virtuosos— doctors, hospitals, medical travel operators, firms, companies, websites and most importantly, medical expertise and technology—in the analytical and explanatory canvas. In light of this, the article not only suggests that the epithet ‘medical tourism’ requires careful scrutiny and needs to be situated as part of a longer genealogy and larger canvas to include all kinds of transnational, transcultural and transregional medical travel, but it also makes a plea for re-examining the kind of morality play that the epithet engenders by asking, among other things, if vampires could also be victims, and what happens to this binary when the biomedical fringe (the Continental spa/Kur/Kuur/Termas) and alternative systems of medicine (e.g., Ayurveda and host of other therapies) are brought into play, or when doctors and therapists undertake travel for medical/therapeutic expertise.
This article attempts to make a set of interrelated arguments. It claims that the epithet ‘medical tourism’, which is of recent provenance, tacitly subscribes to a particular and narrow understanding of ‘medicine’, namely, the Anglo-American variant of biomedicine. This variant, unlike its Continental European counterpart, does not countenance the spa (Kur, Kuur, Termas, etc.) as ‘medical’ therapy, a therapy that is part of orthodox biomedicine on the continent, albeit on its fringe and one where pleasure and therapy often coexist. The Anglo-American variant leads to an exclusive focus on what may be called organ-based therapy with an emphasis on surgical and technological intervention, where uninsured and under-insured ‘middle-class’ patients travel from the White world to wog-land. This is a reversal of older forms of medical travel where rich wogs travelled from wog-land to the White world for medical treatment. The reversal results in a binary of White vampires and wog victims and is responsible, in part, for the moral tension of the oxymoron called ‘medical tourism’, with the other part of the oxymoron being constituted by the contradiction between pleasure and therapy. The vampire-victim binary in turn often mutes the mediating virtuosos— doctors, hospitals, medical travel operators, firms, companies, websites and most importantly, medical expertise and technology—in the analytical and explanatory canvas. In light of this, the article not only suggests that the epithet ‘medical tourism’ requires careful scrutiny and needs to be situated as part of a longer genealogy and larger canvas to include all kinds of transnational, transcultural and transregional medical travel, but it also makes a plea for re-examining the kind of morality play that the epithet engenders by asking, among other things, if vampires could also be victims, and what happens to this binary when the biomedical fringe (the Continental spa/Kur/Kuur/Termas) and alternative systems of medicine (e.g., Ayurveda and host of other therapies) are brought into play, or when doctors and therapists undertake travel for medical/therapeutic expertise.