Memory, Identity and Poetry

Abstract This essay explores how two medieval war poems engaged in the formation of two opposing ideas and ideologies in the sultanate of India. Kanhadade Prabandha (1455 CE ) portrays the Hindu/Rajput idea of Muslim penetration into Rajasthan and, on the other hand, Khazāʾin al-futūḥ (1311 CE ) illustrates the benevolent aspect of the Islamic/Turkish conquest of Hindustan. The Kanhadade Prabandha is a narrative of the heroic resistance put forward by Jalore ruler Kanhadade (r. 1291–1311) and his son Viramde (d. 1311) against Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji (r.1296–1316) in 1311 CE . Smaller states vied to carve a distinct identity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. These rulers patronised poets in their courts who would write sagas about their patrons. Hence, the role of patronage and the complex political situation of that period require adequate scholarly attention to understand the evaluation of historical narratives of that time, including war narratives Kanhadade Prabandha and Khazāʾin al-futūḥ . In Kanhadade Prabandha , Alauddin Khalji (r.1296–1316) is presented as an asura (demon), a daitya (monster) and a mleccha (the low-born untouchable). In contrast, the book’s patron, Kanhadade, is presented as a person from pure vamsa (lineage). Hence, this paper tries to understand how the “we and other” concept was perceived in medieval historical narratives to create certain ideas in the medieval society and political spectrum. What was the purpose of writing these books? How did the Indic authors utilise the Turks of Delhi to propagate ideas and ideologies of Rajputs of north-western India? By focusing on the event of Jalore (1311 CE ), the paper explores diverse trajectories of that historical occurrence as well as the propulsion of Rajput ideologies of that time by it. The paper follows a comparative study of Indic and Indo-Persian sources to achieve these objectives. The article corroborates Indic sources with the contemporary Indo-Persian historical accounts to shed light on the shifting perceptions about the Rajput rulers and their relations with the Sultans of Delhi. Finally, the article argues that the idea of the Rajput being a closed warrior group gradually came into being in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.