This volume explores the cultural and spiritual dimensions of memory in medieval South Asia by examining how communities constructed, preserved and reimagined their pasts through ritual, narrative and everyday practice. It brings together a diverse set of essays that illuminate the intersections of religion, culture and historical consciousness in shaping regional identities between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. The contributions address a wide thematic range, including sacred geographies, commemorative traditions, courtly cultures, vernacular festivals and lived religious practices.

The essays examine how memory circulates through spaces such as shrines and pilgrimage sites, and how it is performed through rituals like Durga Puja and Mamankam, as well as articulated through literary and devotional traditions such as Bhakti and Gaudiya Vaishnavism. At the same time, the volume highlights the role of everyday practices such as food, leisure, marriage and social customs in sustaining and transmitting cultural memory beyond elite or institutional frameworks. By foregrounding regional perspectives from Bengal, Rajasthan, Mithila, the Deccan, and beyond the collection offers a nuanced understanding of medieval South Asia as a culturally vibrant and spiritually dynamic world.

Integrating historiographical reflection with grounded case studies, the volume demonstrates how memory operates as a bridge between the sacred and the social, the past and the present. It shows how memory emerges through continuous processes of interaction, adaptation and meaning-making across different communities and regions.

This volume addresses scholars and students of South Asian history, cultural studies, religious studies, and anthropology interested in memory, ritual and regional identities. It is particularly valuable for researchers exploring medieval societies, historiography, and the intersections of culture, religion and everyday life.

Centers vernacular, performative, and non-elite traditions beyond text-based and institutional histories Brings diverse regional case studies into a comparative framework with strong theoretical relevance Explores the intersection of spirituality, ritual, and everyday life to present a holistic view of cultural memory

Autorentext

Prof. Umesh Ashok Kadam, Currently Professor at CHS, SSS, JNU, New Delhi, is as Professor of Medieval Indian History and Early Modern History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi & Former, Member Secretary, Council of Historical Research, New Delhi & Member, of many apex governing bodies with a 24 years long teaching and research experience at various universities at the Post Graduate level.

He specializes in History of Deccan and Western India, History of the Marathas and European powers, Socio-economic and Cultural History of the Deccan, Trade and Commerce in the 17th and 18th century Konkan coast, Bhakti movement 10th to 17th century, Maritime History of India with special reference to Silk Routes, Urbanization in the Medieval Maratha country. Since last two decades he has been visiting universities in Netherlands, France, Portugal and United Kingdoms to promote advanced research on History of Deccan.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Hybrid Maritime Worlds: Mobility, Cultural Mediation, and Ethnogenesis in the Medieval Western Indian Ocean.- Chapter 3. Leisure and Lived Culture: Recreational Practices of the Common People in Northern India (14th18th centuries).- Chapter 4. Feasts, Power and Cultural Synthesis: Rethinking Courtly Gastronomy in the Delhi Sultanate.- Chapter 5. Where Martyrdom Lives: Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib and the Making of Sikh Memory.- Chapter 6. Mamankam: Deliberating Memory and Culture in Medieval Kerala.- Chapter 7. The 'Vernacular' in Text and Politics: Durga Puja and the Making of a Regional Tradition in Bengal, 14th to 18th centuries.- Chapter 8. Commemorating Vishalaksha Pandita : Deccan's Monastic Order of Shravanabelagola, 14th to 18th centuries.- Chapter 9. A Historiographical Enquiry into the History of Medieval Mithila: Evolution of Society, Polity, Culture and Language in Mithila between 14th and 18th Centuries.- Chapter 10. Beyond Alliance: Marriage as Social and Cultural Practice in Early Modern Rajasthan, 16th to 18th centuries.- Chapter 11. Religion as Identity Hindu Identity in Medieval Bhakti Literature (A case study of North and Central India).- Chapter 12. Sacred Patronage and Extended Jurisdiction in Medieval Rajasthan: Karni Mata Tradition in the Ecologies of Memories.- Chapter 13. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the Socio-Political Landscape of 16th-century Bengal : Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Contemporary State-Society Interface.- Chapter 14. Atmospheres of Faith: Art, Devotion, and Climate in Early Modern Braj (15501850).- Chapter 15. Studying Vaishnavism in the Land of Shakti: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his influence on the Collective Memory of North Bihar.- Chapter 16. Epilogue.