Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India investigates the shifting conceptualization of sovereignty in the South Indian kingdom of Mysore during the reigns of Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-1799) and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (r. 1799-1868). Tipu Sultan was a Muslim king famous for resisting British dominance until his death; Krishnaraja III was a Hindu king who succumbed to British political and administrative control. Despite their differences, the
courts of both kings dealt with the changing political landscape by turning to the religious and mythical past to construct a royal identity for their kings. Caleb Simmons explores the ways in which these two
kings and their courts modified and adapted pre-modern Indian notions of sovereignty and kingship in reaction to British intervention. The religious past provided an idiom through which the Mysore courts could articulate their rulers' claims to kingship in the region, attributing their rule to divine election and employing religious vocabulary in a variety of courtly genres and media. Through critical inquiry into the transitional early colonial period, this study sheds new light on
pre-modern and modern India, with implications for our understanding of contemporary politics. It offers a revisionist history of the accepted narrative in which Tipu Sultan is viewed as a radical
Muslim reformer and Krishnaraja III as a powerless British puppet. Simmons paints a picture of both rulers in which they work within and from the same understanding of kingship, utilizing devotion to Hindu gods, goddesses, and gurus to perform the duties of the king.
Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India investigates the shifting conceptualization of sovereignty in the South Indian kingdom of Mysore during the reigns of Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-1799) and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (r. 1799-1868). Tipu Sultan was a Muslim king famous for resisting British dominance until his death; Krishnaraja III was a Hindu king who succumbed to British political and administrative control. Despite their differences, the
courts of both kings dealt with the changing political landscape by turning to the religious and mythical past to construct a royal identity for their kings. Caleb Simmons explores the ways in which these two
kings and their courts modified and adapted pre-modern Indian notions of sovereignty and kingship in reaction to British intervention. The religious past provided an idiom through which the Mysore courts could articulate their rulers' claims to kingship in the region, attributing their rule to divine election and employing religious vocabulary in a variety of courtly genres and media. Through critical inquiry into the transitional early colonial period, this study sheds new light on
pre-modern and modern India, with implications for our understanding of contemporary politics. It offers a revisionist history of the accepted narrative in which Tipu Sultan is viewed as a radical
Muslim reformer and Krishnaraja III as a powerless British puppet. Simmons paints a picture of both rulers in which they work within and from the same understanding of kingship, utilizing devotion to Hindu gods, goddesses, and gurus to perform the duties of the king.
Introduction: Kingship and Sovereignty in Mysore
Section ONE: Tipu Sultan
Chapter 1: The King of Seringapatam
Chapter 2: The Sultan, the Sufi, and the Guru
Chapter 3: Divine Warfare and Diplomacy
Section Two: Krishnaraja Wodeyar III
Chapter 4: Restoring An "Ancient Hindu" Family
Chapter 5: Portraying Devotion
Chapter 6: Displaying Power
Chapter 7: Mapping New Sovereignty
Epilogue
Dr. Caleb Simmons (Ph.D. in Religion, University of Florida)
specializes in religion in South Asia, especially Hinduism. His
research specialties span religion and state-formation in medieval
and colonial India to contemporary transnational aspects of
Hinduism. He has publications and continuing research interests
related to a broad range of contemporary topics, including
ecological issues and sacred geography in India; South Asian
diaspora
communities; and material and popular cultures that arise as a
result of globalization-especially South Asian religions as
portrayed in comic books and graphic novels. He teaches courses on
Hinduism, Indian religions, and
method and theory of Religious Studies.
"Drawing upon a rich range of sources--royal histories,
genealogical inscriptions, portraiture and visual
narratives--Simmons eloquently argues for the centrality of
devotion to the construction and sustenance of sovereignty in
Mysore when British colonial authority was established, extended,
and consolidated. A compelling and original contribution to studies
of Hinduism, kingship, visual and literary culture at a time of
political change." -- Crispin Branfoot,
Reader in the History of South Asian Art & Archaeology, SOAS
University of London
"By mining literary and visual sources respecting two South Indian
kings--Mysore's Tipu Sultan and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III--Caleb
Simmons shows how the idea of sovereignty was transformed during
the dawn and high noon of British colonial rule. Challenging
essentialized notions of Hindu or Muslim kingship, the book will
prove indispensable for both historians of early modern India and
students of religious studies." -- Richard M. Eaton, author of
India in
the Persianate Age, 1000-1765
"Devotional Sovereignty bridges several gaps in the scholarship on
sacred kingship and religion in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
South India. It is especially commendable that Simmons combines an
analysis of narrative sources across a wide range of archives and
languages with a close reading of artistic productions and
performances in royal and temple spaces. Scholars within and
outside the field of South Asian studies will benefit from this
erudite work." -- A. Azfar Moin, Associate Professor, The
University of Texas at Austin
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