Raziuddin Aquil

Salvaging a Fractured Past: Reflections on Norms of Governance and Afghan-Rajput Relations in North India in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries

The study of medieval Indian history is noted for its limited scope. Excessive influence of contemporary ideological and political concerns, regional disparities and chronological imbalance-described recently as the ’play of light and shade’1--constitute some of the major shortcomings. Within north Indian historiography, the haphazard growth of research is not only reflected in Mughalcentrism, but also in the focus on the period covering the rule of the Mughal emperors from Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar (r. 1556-1605) to Aurangzeb Alamgir (r. 1658-1707), with a lot of emphasis given to the ’achievements’ of the former.2 Recent studies on the eighteenth century have sought to rectify the problem in some measure.3 This paper seeks to draw attention to the crucial but neglected

Hazrat-I-Dehli The Making of the Chishti Sufi Centre and the Stronghold of Islam

This article explores the significant linkages between the rise of Delhi as the foremost Sufi centre and the bastion of Islam as well as the seat of political power in the 13th and 14th centuries. Three out of the first five leading Chishti saints of the Sultanate period chose to live in Delhi, catapulting the city onto the map of the sacred geography of South Asian Islam. The Chishti Sufis also helped in shaping the cosmopolitan character of the city, even as they ensured that the interests of Islam and Muslims were safeguarded. Hence, though Delhi remained the centre of Muslim power for close to six centuries and its landscape is dotted with mosques, madrasas and dargahs of the Sufis, the exclusionist, juridical interpretation of Islam was sidelined in favour of a more inclusive approach to religion practised and propagated by the Chishtis. The essay charts this process and its significance for the early history of Islam in India.

Reconsidering Sovereignty and Governance Under the Afghans: North India in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries

There is something of a consensus among scholars that the period of Afghan rule in the Indian subcontinent in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries was of ‘chaos’ and ‘anarchy’—and that this condition can be linked to the weakness of Afghan governing institutions. It is said that Afghan kings merely headed a decentralised tribal confederacy; that they set aside the usual medieval royal insignia such as the umbrella and the throne in favour of a simple platform, which they shared with their nobles who were generally members of their clans; that they were content to be virtually one among the many clan chiefs. Grounded in these assumptions, the argument of the ‘anarchy’ school holds that the Afghan monarchs lacked both the ritual status and the requisite power to assert their authority and control over ambitious nobles ever in search of an opportunity to raise the banner of rebellion. Frequent revolts, together with familial conflicts between the sons of the outgoing sultans, eroded the king’s power and position, generating, as it has been put, a ‘crisis’ in society with ‘immorality’ and ‘perversion’ becoming rampant, such that even the Sufis (otherwise devoted to spiritual and otherworldly pursuits) began to aspire to political power. Indeed, it is reported, many of them behaved like kings.

Scholars, Saints and Sultans: Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in the Delhi Sultanate

When first appeared in 1961, Khaliq Ahmad Niwmi’s Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India During the Thirteenth Century was hailed as a valuable contribution to the debate on the emergence of the Delhi Sultanate.’ Four decades later, i t is still considered to be a major text for the history of the period. This also means that not much research has been done in the field since then. However, one major theme the study of Sutism has attracted a lot of attention. Nizami himself worked with his mentor Mohammad Habib to bring Chishti Sufism of the Sultanate period to the centre-stage of medieval Indian scholarship, even though the scope of their research was limited by their rather narrow assumptions.*

A European Experience of the Mughal Orient, the I'jaz-i Arsalani (Persian Letters, 1773–1779) of Antoine-Louis Henri Polier, Translated and with an Introduction

the abolition of the post of poet-laureate at court to Aurangzebs puritanism. No doubt, the Emperor was opposed to flattery and discouraged the poets to compose verses in his praise in the hope of getting reward, but he did honour the poets who were highly talented whenever he met them and listened to their verses. In short, Azizuddin Husains work opens new vistas and extends our understanding of Aurangzebs reign.

Devotional Islam and Politics in British India - Ahmad Raza Khan and his Movement, 1870–1920

Our sincere thanks are due to Bayly for this outstanding contribution to the study of the history of India in the nineteenth century. We must acknowledge his industriousness in reading enormous amount of source material and integrating information regarding different regions so as to draw inferences about the Indian polity and society as a whole. In the process, he occasionally stumbles about minute details. To cite a few examples, Gaya, though highly revered by the Hindus, could never become a seat of learning like Benaras (p. 145); Arya Samaj was established in Bombay (now Mumbai) though it attracted more followers in the Punjab (p. 157); the author of the book Adhunik Hindi ke Vikas mein Khadragavilas is Dhirendra Kumar Singh and not Dhirendranath Sinha (p. 97, fn, 65). But despite these minor blemishes, the book remains immensely readable.

Book Reviews : EUGENIA VANINA, Ideas and Society in India from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. VI + 223, Rs 375.00:

dependence on translated editions ’of medieval sources, and secondary works. The author, aware of this shortcoming, explains her inability to procure data from primary sources as ’natural for a scholar separated from the object of study not only by a long period of time, but by great distance also’. Thus she has to make do without the vast corpus of primary source material in Persian, including a variety of invaluable Sufi literature known to be deeply rooted in the socio-political context of medieval India. What is