Devotional Sovereignty

Kingship and Religion in India

Caleb Simmons (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

296 Seiten

2020
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-008889-7 (ISBN)

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Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India investigates the shifting conceptualization of sovereignty in the South Indian kingdom of Mysore during the reigns of Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-1799) and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (r. 1799-1868). Tipu Sultan was a Muslim king famous for resisting British dominance until his death; Krishnaraja III was a Hindu king who succumbed to British political and administrative control. Despite their differences, the courts of both kings dealt with the changing political landscape by turning to the religious and mythical past to construct a royal identity for their kings. Caleb Simmons explores the ways in which these two kings and their courts modified and adapted pre-modern Indian notions of sovereignty and kingship in reaction to British intervention.
The religious past provided an idiom through which the Mysore courts could articulate their rulers' claims to kingship in the region, attributing their rule to divine election and employing religious vocabulary in a variety of courtly genres and media. Through critical inquiry into the transitional early colonial period, this study sheds new light on pre-modern and modern India, with implications for our understanding of contemporary politics. It offers a revisionist history of the accepted narrative in which Tipu Sultan is viewed as a radical Muslim reformer and Krishnaraja III as a powerless British puppet. Simmons paints a picture of both rulers in which they work within and from the same understanding of kingship, utilizing devotion to Hindu gods, goddesses, and gurus to perform the duties of the king.

Dr. Caleb Simmons (Ph.D. in Religion, University of Florida) specializes in religion in South Asia, especially Hinduism. His research specialties span religion and state-formation in medieval and colonial India to contemporary transnational aspects of Hinduism. He has publications and continuing research interests related to a broad range of contemporary topics, including ecological issues and sacred geography in India; South Asian diaspora communities; and material and popular cultures that arise as a result of globalization-especially South Asian religions as portrayed in comic books and graphic novels. He teaches courses on Hinduism, Indian religions, and method and theory of Religious Studies.

Introduction: Kingship and Sovereignty in Mysore

Section ONE: Tipu Sultan
Chapter 1: The King of Seringapatam
Chapter 2: The Sultan, the Sufi, and the Guru
Chapter 3: Divine Warfare and Diplomacy

Section Two: Krishnaraja Wodeyar III
Chapter 4: Restoring An "Ancient Hindu" Family
Chapter 5: Portraying Devotion
Chapter 6: Displaying Power
Chapter 7: Mapping New Sovereignty

Epilogue

Erscheinungsdatum	06.01.2020
Reihe/Serie	AAR Religion Culture and History
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	236 x 163 mm
Gewicht	612 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Hinduismus
ISBN-10	0-19-008889-3 / 0190088893
ISBN-13	978-0-19-008889-7 / 9780190088897
Zustand	Neuware