Rajeev Kinra | Northwestern University (original) (raw)
Papers by Rajeev Kinra
Secretaries and Statecraft in the Early Modern World, 2016
Global Intellectual History
The Oxford World History of Empire, 2021
From its establishment in 1526 by Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the Mughal Empire would grow over ... more From its establishment in 1526 by Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the Mughal Empire would grow over roughly the next two centuries into one of the largest, most populous, and most influential states of the early modern era. This chapter provides a historical overview of the Mughal Empire from the early conquests of Babur to the early phase of British colonial expansion in India in the eighteenth century. The chapter outlines the ideological underpinnings of the empire, drawing upon Turko-Mongol, Persianate, Greco-Hellenic, Islamicate, and Indic ideas of rulership, as well as the practicalities of building an effective administrative system accommodating the diverse religious, tribal, and ethnic communities and social classes of the Indian subcontinent. Finally, the chapter analyzes the empire’s economic tools for managing a vast agrarian economy, and some of the artistic developments reconciling Indian and Persian traditions with the mosaic of religious and intellectual ideas flourishi...
ReOrient, 2020
The concept of ṣulḥ-i kull is well known as a core feature of the Mughal Empire's state ideol... more The concept of ṣulḥ-i kull is well known as a core feature of the Mughal Empire's state ideology, one that made it, comparatively speaking, arguably the most tolerant and inclusive state in the entire early modern world. Often translated as “peace with all,” the term has become almost synonymous in South Asian historiography with the policies of religious pluralism promoted by the dynasty's most celebrated emperor, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar “the Great” (r. 1556–1605) and his famed courtier and biographer, Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551–1602). Surprisingly enough, however, despite its ubiquity in discussions of Mughal attitudes toward religious and cultural pluralism, a comprehensive intellectual history of the term ṣulḥ-i kull does not, in fact, appear to have ever been attempted. It is often taken for granted that ṣulḥ-i kull was the obvious term to express the ethos of civility, universal reason, and inclusiveness that Akbar wanted to promote. But why did Akbar and Abu al...
Philological Encounters, 2016
This article surveys the deep history of the discipline of comparative philology in the Indo-Pers... more This article surveys the deep history of the discipline of comparative philology in the Indo-Persian world, and attempts to situate it within larger debates about global forms of intellectual modernity. From its early beginnings in the production of literary lexicons designed to help poets in different regional centers of the Persianate world understand each other’s works, comparative philology in South, Central, and West Asia developed into a key scholarly discipline in which a whole host of concerns relating to Indo-Persian intellectual life was negotiated: literary canon formation, the arbitration of good taste, the maintenance of cosmopolitan literary intelligibility in an increasingly vernacular world, and even the nature of language itself. These developments took place over many centuries, in a vast array of works, spread out over a vast region that stretched from Anatolia to India. But in their increasingly sophisticated scholarship, as well as their increasing cognizance of...
The Medieval History Journal, 2013
Despite many advances in recent scholarship, a good deal of Mughal cultural historiography—not to... more Despite many advances in recent scholarship, a good deal of Mughal cultural historiography—not to mention the popular memory of the Mughal era—is still dominated by attention to the patronage and liberal outlooks of two figures, the Emperor Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar (r. 1556–1605) and his great-grandson, Prince Dara Shukoh (1615–1659), both of whom are viewed as having been especially, even heroically, tolerant toward the non-Muslims in their midst. However, while both of these men are certainly worthy of the attention they have received, the emphasis on their individual contributions to the Mughal attitude of ‘universal civility’ (ṣulḥ-i kull) has in some ways obscured the broader cultures of everyday tolerance that pervaded Mughal life in the seventeenth century. This article aims to present a preliminary—though far from exhaustive—survey of evidence for this broader and continuing Mughal approach to handling India’s diversity in the post-Akbar period and to try and connect it, ...
Journal of Persianate Studies, 2009
The modernist image of the eclectic Mughal prince and patron, Dārā Shekuh (d. 1659 CE), has been ... more The modernist image of the eclectic Mughal prince and patron, Dārā Shekuh (d. 1659 CE), has been almost universally positive, routinely singling him out as an exceptionally tolerant, but ultimately “ill-fated” figure. His defeat and execution by his younger, more conventionally pious brother, Awrangzib 'Alamgīr (r. 1658-1707), is in turn lamented as a civilizational tipping point away from the Mughals' cosmopolitan ethos of “peace with all” toward a more narrowly sectarian vision of empire—one which undermined not only the Mughals themselves, but also the entire Indo-Persian ecumene and, ultimately, the Indian nation. The early modern response to Dārā's character and cultural legacy was, however, far more complex than this caricature of “good Muslim” tolerance versus “bad Muslim” fanaticism would suggest. This article grapples with that complexity by examining the oblique critical discourse surrounding three of Dārā's most well-known interlocutors: Bābā Lāl Dayāl, Ch...
Writing Self, Writing Empire, 2019
Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framewo... more Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org xvi Preface tunities to present aspects of my research and learn from colleagues at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association, the Association for Asian Studies, and the International Society for Iranian Studies. There are many friends, colleagues, and other interlocutors who over the years have given me helpful advice and feedback on specific aspects of this book or have simply enriched my intellectual life with their collegiality and support. Some have been friends for years, while others I have met on only one or two consequential occasions. Some might be surprised to find themselves on this list, while others surely deserve more elaborate and affectionate expressions of gratitude than I'm able to give here. But at the risk of offending with a mere alphabetical list (that is in any case almost assuredly incomplete), I thank Sunil Agnani, Jameel Ahmad, Daud Ali, Bernard Bate, the late C. A
The Empires of the Near East and India, 2018
muslimmodernities.org
Page 1. 1 [DRAFT: In press, forthcoming in Time, History, and the Religious Imaginary in South As... more Page 1. 1 [DRAFT: In press, forthcoming in Time, History, and the Religious Imaginary in South Asia, edited by Anne C. Murphy (Routledge, due out in May 2011); please do not circulate or cite without permission] 2 Make it fresh: time, tradition, and Indo-Persian ...
Indian Economic & Social History Review, 2010
This article aims to contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the cultural world of the ear... more This article aims to contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the cultural world of the early modern Indo-Persian state secretary, or munshī. Our guide will be the celebrated Mughal munshī, Chandar Bhān Brahman (d. 1662-63), whose life and career shed considerable light on the ideals of administrative conduct that informed political and intellectual culture during the reigns of the emperors Jahāngīr and Shāh Jahān. After examining Chandar Bhān's background and socio-intellectual milieu, we will focus in particular on a section of his prose magnum opus, Chahār Chaman (_The Four Gardens’), which served as both a memoir of his career in Mughal service and a didactic guide for exemplary ministerial theory and practice, or wizārat. Chandar Bhān's ideal wazīr, embodied by ministers like Afzal Khān Shirazi (d. 1639), Sa’d Allāh Khān (d. 1656), and Raghūnāth Rāy-i Rāyān (d. 1664), was not only tolerant and humane in the exercise of power, but also an expert in the secretarial ...
Secretaries and Statecraft in the Early Modern World, 2016
Global Intellectual History
The Oxford World History of Empire, 2021
From its establishment in 1526 by Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the Mughal Empire would grow over ... more From its establishment in 1526 by Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the Mughal Empire would grow over roughly the next two centuries into one of the largest, most populous, and most influential states of the early modern era. This chapter provides a historical overview of the Mughal Empire from the early conquests of Babur to the early phase of British colonial expansion in India in the eighteenth century. The chapter outlines the ideological underpinnings of the empire, drawing upon Turko-Mongol, Persianate, Greco-Hellenic, Islamicate, and Indic ideas of rulership, as well as the practicalities of building an effective administrative system accommodating the diverse religious, tribal, and ethnic communities and social classes of the Indian subcontinent. Finally, the chapter analyzes the empire’s economic tools for managing a vast agrarian economy, and some of the artistic developments reconciling Indian and Persian traditions with the mosaic of religious and intellectual ideas flourishi...
ReOrient, 2020
The concept of ṣulḥ-i kull is well known as a core feature of the Mughal Empire's state ideol... more The concept of ṣulḥ-i kull is well known as a core feature of the Mughal Empire's state ideology, one that made it, comparatively speaking, arguably the most tolerant and inclusive state in the entire early modern world. Often translated as “peace with all,” the term has become almost synonymous in South Asian historiography with the policies of religious pluralism promoted by the dynasty's most celebrated emperor, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar “the Great” (r. 1556–1605) and his famed courtier and biographer, Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551–1602). Surprisingly enough, however, despite its ubiquity in discussions of Mughal attitudes toward religious and cultural pluralism, a comprehensive intellectual history of the term ṣulḥ-i kull does not, in fact, appear to have ever been attempted. It is often taken for granted that ṣulḥ-i kull was the obvious term to express the ethos of civility, universal reason, and inclusiveness that Akbar wanted to promote. But why did Akbar and Abu al...
Philological Encounters, 2016
This article surveys the deep history of the discipline of comparative philology in the Indo-Pers... more This article surveys the deep history of the discipline of comparative philology in the Indo-Persian world, and attempts to situate it within larger debates about global forms of intellectual modernity. From its early beginnings in the production of literary lexicons designed to help poets in different regional centers of the Persianate world understand each other’s works, comparative philology in South, Central, and West Asia developed into a key scholarly discipline in which a whole host of concerns relating to Indo-Persian intellectual life was negotiated: literary canon formation, the arbitration of good taste, the maintenance of cosmopolitan literary intelligibility in an increasingly vernacular world, and even the nature of language itself. These developments took place over many centuries, in a vast array of works, spread out over a vast region that stretched from Anatolia to India. But in their increasingly sophisticated scholarship, as well as their increasing cognizance of...
The Medieval History Journal, 2013
Despite many advances in recent scholarship, a good deal of Mughal cultural historiography—not to... more Despite many advances in recent scholarship, a good deal of Mughal cultural historiography—not to mention the popular memory of the Mughal era—is still dominated by attention to the patronage and liberal outlooks of two figures, the Emperor Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar (r. 1556–1605) and his great-grandson, Prince Dara Shukoh (1615–1659), both of whom are viewed as having been especially, even heroically, tolerant toward the non-Muslims in their midst. However, while both of these men are certainly worthy of the attention they have received, the emphasis on their individual contributions to the Mughal attitude of ‘universal civility’ (ṣulḥ-i kull) has in some ways obscured the broader cultures of everyday tolerance that pervaded Mughal life in the seventeenth century. This article aims to present a preliminary—though far from exhaustive—survey of evidence for this broader and continuing Mughal approach to handling India’s diversity in the post-Akbar period and to try and connect it, ...
Journal of Persianate Studies, 2009
The modernist image of the eclectic Mughal prince and patron, Dārā Shekuh (d. 1659 CE), has been ... more The modernist image of the eclectic Mughal prince and patron, Dārā Shekuh (d. 1659 CE), has been almost universally positive, routinely singling him out as an exceptionally tolerant, but ultimately “ill-fated” figure. His defeat and execution by his younger, more conventionally pious brother, Awrangzib 'Alamgīr (r. 1658-1707), is in turn lamented as a civilizational tipping point away from the Mughals' cosmopolitan ethos of “peace with all” toward a more narrowly sectarian vision of empire—one which undermined not only the Mughals themselves, but also the entire Indo-Persian ecumene and, ultimately, the Indian nation. The early modern response to Dārā's character and cultural legacy was, however, far more complex than this caricature of “good Muslim” tolerance versus “bad Muslim” fanaticism would suggest. This article grapples with that complexity by examining the oblique critical discourse surrounding three of Dārā's most well-known interlocutors: Bābā Lāl Dayāl, Ch...
Writing Self, Writing Empire, 2019
Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framewo... more Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org xvi Preface tunities to present aspects of my research and learn from colleagues at the annual meetings of the American Historical Association, the Association for Asian Studies, and the International Society for Iranian Studies. There are many friends, colleagues, and other interlocutors who over the years have given me helpful advice and feedback on specific aspects of this book or have simply enriched my intellectual life with their collegiality and support. Some have been friends for years, while others I have met on only one or two consequential occasions. Some might be surprised to find themselves on this list, while others surely deserve more elaborate and affectionate expressions of gratitude than I'm able to give here. But at the risk of offending with a mere alphabetical list (that is in any case almost assuredly incomplete), I thank Sunil Agnani, Jameel Ahmad, Daud Ali, Bernard Bate, the late C. A
The Empires of the Near East and India, 2018
muslimmodernities.org
Page 1. 1 [DRAFT: In press, forthcoming in Time, History, and the Religious Imaginary in South As... more Page 1. 1 [DRAFT: In press, forthcoming in Time, History, and the Religious Imaginary in South Asia, edited by Anne C. Murphy (Routledge, due out in May 2011); please do not circulate or cite without permission] 2 Make it fresh: time, tradition, and Indo-Persian ...
Indian Economic & Social History Review, 2010
This article aims to contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the cultural world of the ear... more This article aims to contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the cultural world of the early modern Indo-Persian state secretary, or munshī. Our guide will be the celebrated Mughal munshī, Chandar Bhān Brahman (d. 1662-63), whose life and career shed considerable light on the ideals of administrative conduct that informed political and intellectual culture during the reigns of the emperors Jahāngīr and Shāh Jahān. After examining Chandar Bhān's background and socio-intellectual milieu, we will focus in particular on a section of his prose magnum opus, Chahār Chaman (_The Four Gardens’), which served as both a memoir of his career in Mughal service and a didactic guide for exemplary ministerial theory and practice, or wizārat. Chandar Bhān's ideal wazīr, embodied by ministers like Afzal Khān Shirazi (d. 1639), Sa’d Allāh Khān (d. 1656), and Raghūnāth Rāy-i Rāyān (d. 1664), was not only tolerant and humane in the exercise of power, but also an expert in the secretarial ...