Text, Power, and Kingship in Medieval Gujarat, C. 1398-1511
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TEXT, POWER, AND KINGSHIP IN MEDIEVAL GUJARAT, C. 1398-1511 APARNA KAPADIA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY SCHOOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, 2010 1 ProQuest Number: 10672899 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672899 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract of Thesis Text, Power, and Kingship in Medieval Gujarat, c. 1398 -1511 Despite the growing interest in the region of Gujarat, its pre-colonial history remains a neglected area of research. The dissertation is an attempt at redressing this gap, as well as at developing an understanding of the role of literary culture in the making of local polities in pre-modern South Asia. The dissertation explores the relationship between literary texts and political power. It specifically focuses on the fifteenth century, which coincides with the rise of the regional sultanate, which, along with the sultanates of Malwa, Deccan, and the kingdoms of Mewad and Marwar, emerged as an important power in the politics of South Asia in this period. As the sultans consolidated their influence in Gujarat, they were forced to negotiate with a variety of locally powerful chieftains. These negotiations lie at the heart of the narratives studied here. Organised as a series of case studies, the main body of the dissertation focuses on epic poems in Old Gujarati and Sanskrit produced in the courts of these chieftains, as well as an epic poem from the court of Sultan Mahmud Begada (1458-1511). In the latter part of the dissertation, the focus shifts to another literary terrain, also associated with the warrior elite of Gujarat. It analyses the oral ‘bardic’ narratives as presented by Alexander Forbes (1821-1865) in hisRasMdla: Hindoo Annals of the Province ofGoozerat in Western (1856). India Through the analysis of these narratives from the medieval and colonial periods, the dissertation considers different aspects of power and kingship as constructed in the literary traditions of Old Gujarati and Sanskrit. Aparna Kapadia SOAS, London 2009 This is to certify th at the work presented in this thesis is my own. Aparna Kapadia SOAS, London 2010 2 Abstract of Thesis Text, Power, and Kingship in Medieval Gujarat, c. 1398 - 1511 Despite the growing interest in the region of Gujarat, its pre-colonial history remains a neglected area of research. The dissertation is an attempt at redressing this gap, as well as at developing an understanding of the role of literary culture in the making of local polities in pre-modern South Asia. The dissertation explores the relationship between literary texts and political power. It specifically focuses on the fifteenth century, which coincides with the rise of the regional sultanate, which, along with the sultanates of Malwa, Deccan, and the kingdoms of Mewad and Marwar, emerged as an important power in the politics of South Asia in this period. As the sultans consolidated their influence in Gujarat, they were forced to negotiate with a variety of locally powerful chieftains. These negotiations lie at the heart of the narratives studied here. Organised as a series of case studies, the main body of the dissertation focuses on epic poems in Old Gujarati and Sanskrit produced in the courts of these chieftains, as well as an epic poem from the court of Sultan Mahmud Begada (1458-1511). In the latter part of the dissertation, the focus shifts to another literary terrain, also associated with the warrior elite of Gujarat. It analyses the oral ‘bardic’ narratives as presented by Alexander Forbes (1821-1865) in hisRas Mala: Hindoo Annals of the Province ofGoozerat in Western (1856). India Through the analysis of these narratives from the medieval and colonial periods, the dissertation considers different aspects of power and kingship as constructed in the literary traditions of Old Gujarati and Sanskrit. Aparna Kapadia London 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF TH ESIS...............................................................................................................................3 TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................... .................................................. 6 NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION..............................................................................................................7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................. .....................8 MAP OF GUJARAT.......................................................................................................................................9 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 10 PRINCIPAL THEMES........................................................................................................................................ 12 OBJECTIVES........................................................................................................................................................15 METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES...................................................................................................................17 HISTORIOGRAPHY AND APPROACHES......................................................................................................26 PLAN OF CHAPTERS........................................................................................................................................ 42 CHAPTER 1 KINGSHIP IN EARLY MEDIEVAL GUJARAT.................................................... 46 BUILDING A KINGDOM...................................................................................................................................49 THE LANGUAGE OF KINGSHIP.....................................................................................................................55 THE MULTIPLE REPRESENTATIONS OF KINGSHIP...............................................................................61 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE ASSERTION OF RULE...................................................................71 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................................77 CHAPTER 2 LOCAL CHIEFTAINS AND THE EMERGING SULTANATE: THE STORY OF RANMALL................................................................................ 81 THE POET AND THE NARRATIVE............................. 87 POLITICAL BACKGROUND............................................................................................................................. 92 RANMALL’S CAREER IN HISTORY............................................................................................................... 94 RANMALL’S WORLD: A POET’S VISION.................................................................................................... 98 THE KSHATRIYA ETHOS OF WARFARE.................................................................................................. 104 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................... 116 CHAPTER 3 DEFENDING SOVEREIGNTY AND STATUS: THE RHETORIC OF KINGSHIP IN THE LOCAL KINGDOMS OF GUJARAT.......................................................... 118 THE NARRATIVES...........................................................................................................................................126 THE LOCAL KINGDOMS OF CHAMPANER AND JUNAGADH............................................................ 134 RHETORIC AND KINGSHIP............................................................................................... 139 AN IMAGINED POLITCAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PLACE.............................150 CONCLUSION............... 158 4 CHAPTER 4 THE SULTAN AS A KSHATRIYA KING: POET UDAYARAJA’S RAjAVINODA OR §RIMAhAMUDASURTRAnACARITRA........................................................160 MUSLIM KINGS AND HINDU SUBJECTS................................................................................................. 164 SULTAN MAHMUD BEGADA (1458-1511) ............................................................................................... 174 THE SULTAN AS A ‘KSHATRIYA’ KING....................................................................................................183 1. THE COURT AND ITS KING.......................................................................................................... 186 2. IMAGINING THE KING’S DOMAIN............................................................ 191 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................... 198 CHAPTER 5 MEDIEVAL KINGSHIP IN ALEXANDER FORBES’S R l S MALA 200 GUJARAT IN THE NINETEENTH