Hindu Kingship and Polity in Precolonial IndiaThrough the analysis of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century texts on the Hindu Kingdom of Kota in Rajasthan, in this 2003 book Norbert Peabody explores the ways in which historical consciousness, or memory, is culturally constructed and how this consciousness informs social experience. By building on the premise that no society receives the past in a transparent, universal and objective way, he unravels how the past in Kota has been fashioned. His analysis demonstrates how different styles of historical interpretation sustain different regimes, and how specific varieties of social and political activity are founded upon these different perceptions of the past. In this way, he suggests that different societies not only establish different co-ordinates of value in their constructions of the past, but also that the very processes of social and political transformation differ from society to society. This is a fascinating and challenging book which promises to become a classic in the field. |
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Annals and Antiquities Arjun Singh army battle of Pandhar became bhakti Brahmans Braj British Bundi Cambridge University Press colonial cultural deity Delhi Deva devotion Dirks Dirks's economic eighteenth century estates gaddi Goswami grain hierarchy Hindu History idol inams jagir jagirdars Jaipur James Tod Jhala Jodhpur king kingdom kingship Kishor Singh Kota Kota rajya Kota's Kotah Krishna Lakshmandan land lineage Madho Singh Maharaja Maharao Bhim Singh Maharao Umed mahotsav Malwa Maratha Maratha Empire Marwar Masanori Sato Mathura merchant Mewar military Modave Mughal Emperor Muhammad Nathadvara navnidhi OIOC opium painting parganas Peshwa political precolonial prime minister Prithviraj Pushtimargis qasba Qilich Khan Raja Rajasthan Rajput rajrana Ratan revenue royal rulers rupees sect sectarian seva Sharma Shastri Shri Brijnathji Shri Mathureshji Shri Nathji Singh of Kota social sovereignty status supplementary article svarup Temple Tod's tradition treaty Umed Singh Vallabha Vallabha Sampraday Vallabhacharya varta Volume western India worship Zalim Singh