History in the Vernacular

Contents Preface 1 Introduction History in the vernacularPartha Chatterjee 2 History and politics in the vernacular reflections on medieval and early modern South IndiaVelcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam 3 Eighteenth-century passages to a history MysoreJanaki Nair 4 The king of controversy history and nation-making in late colonial IndiaKumkum Chatterjee 5 Gaits way writing history in early twentieth century AssamArupjyoti Saikia 6 Restructuring the past in early-twentieth century Assam historiography and Surya Kumar BhuyanSudeshna Purkayastha 7 System and history in Rajwades Grammar for the DnyaneswariMilind Wakankar 8 Captives of enchantment Gender genre and transmemorationIndrani Chatterjee 9 Incredible stories in the time of credible histories colonial Assam and translations of vernacular geographiesBodhisattva Kar 10 The study of Islam and Indian history at the Darul Musannefin AzamgarhRaziuddin Aquil 11 Searching for old histories social movements and the project of writing history in twentieth-century KeralaSanal Mohan 12 History in poetry Nabinchandra Sens Palashir Yuddha Battle of Palashi 1875 and the question of truthRosinka Chaudhuri 13 Autobiography as a way of writing history personal narratives from Kerala and the inhabitation of modernityUdaya Kumar 14 A nineteenth-century romance of counterfactual timePradip Kumar Datta IndexWas there history writing in India before the British arrived The stock answer is no Other than the Rajatarangani of Kalhana no ancient text adequately resembles a historical narrative The itihasa purana tradition is largely indistinguishable from mythology The vamsavali and caritra traditions do not really distinguish between the legendary and the historical Yet these genres did percolate into India?s regional languages being later complemented by Persian court chroniclesLooking closely at vernacular contexts and traditions of historical production this book questions the assumption that there was no history writing in India before colonialism It suggests that appropriate techniques of reading reveal distinctly indigenous historical narratives History in Assam Bengal the North East Kerala the Andhra Tamil region Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are examined here with fresh archival material and new insights 498 pp.…