This study of the classical Hindi tradition brings the world of Mughal-period poetry and court culture alive for an English readership. One highlight is the fascinating oeuvre of Keshavdas, whose seminal Rasikpriyā (Handbook for poetry connoisseurs, 1591) was much read and, in some cases, lavishly illustrated in the leading courts of early modern India. This book brings the perspectives of literary, social, and intellectual history to bear upon one of premodern North India’s most significant textual traditions, documenting the spectacular rise of a new class of Brajbhasha writers and scholars ... More

This study of the classical Hindi tradition brings the world of Mughal-period poetry and court culture alive for an English readership. One highlight is the fascinating oeuvre of Keshavdas, whose seminal Rasikpriyā (Handbook for poetry connoisseurs, 1591) was much read and, in some cases, lavishly illustrated in the leading courts of early modern India. This book brings the perspectives of literary, social, and intellectual history to bear upon one of premodern North India’s most significant textual traditions, documenting the spectacular rise of a new class of Brajbhasha writers and scholars while providing critical insight into the motives that animated them and their patrons. The book examines howrīti literature (as the material is known to specialists today) served as an important aesthetic and political resource for Mughal and Rajput kings. The circulation of Hindi texts and poets of this period evinces a remarkable pluralism, which cannot be understood in terms of the logic that has constrained modern Hindi and Urdu to be “Hindu” and “Muslim” languages since the nineteenth century. With the cultural reforms ushered in by colonialism and nationalism, north Indians repudiated the classical traditions of the courtly past, a complex process treated in Chapter 6. The project to restore access to more than two centuries of Hindi courtly culture is of interest to all those who care about Indian literature and early modern history. The book also showcases how the precolonial archives can contribute to debates in postcolonial theory.