Online Library TheLib.net » Textures of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600-1800
cover of the book Textures of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600-1800

Ebook: Textures of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600-1800

00
07.02.2024
0
0
Along with the clock and the railroad, did the British colonists bring the questionable gift of history to India? Is it true that historical consciousness did not exist in India before its conquest by the British at the end of the nineteenth century, and that the more pristine South India in particular was blessed with an organic, holistic, untainted, child-like temporality?

Generations of Western writers have claimed this to be true: that Southern Indians in pre-colonial times were indifferent to historical fact, and approached their past unsystematically at best, through myth, legend, and story. Nearly a thousand years ago, the great scholar Al-Biruni complained that, "unfortunately, the Hindus do not pay much attention to the historical order of things. They are very careless in relating the chronological succession of kings, and when pressed for information invariably take to tale-telling." Until now this has been the received wisdom of the West, repeated with little variation by post-colonial historians.

Textures of Timesets out not merely to disprove that idea, but to demonstrate through a brilliant blend of storytelling and scholarship the complex forms of history that were produced in South India between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Through a nuanced reading of the rich language of folk epic, courtly poetry, and prose narratives, the authors reveal the divide between fact and fiction in South Indian writings and make a clear case for the existence of historical narrative in pre-colonial India.

Employing a careful reading of and extensive translations from the relevant texts, the book thus sets out to shake some of the deepest-rooted prejudices that exist in the received wisdom on late medieval and early modern India.
Download the book Textures of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600-1800 for free or read online
Read Download
Continue reading on any device:
QR code
Last viewed books
Related books
Comments (0)
reload, if the code cannot be seen