Aditya Behl's Books

Love's Subtle Magic

An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition, 1379-1545

By: Aditya Behl

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Love's Subtle Magic

An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition, 1379-1545

By: Aditya Behl

The encounter between Muslim and Hindu remains one of the defining issues of South Asian society today. It began as early as the 8th century, and the first Muslim kingdom in India, the Sultanate of Delhi, was established at the end of the 12th century. This power eventually reduced to vassalage almost every independent kingdom on the subcontinent. In Love's Subtle Magic, a remarkable and highly original book, Aditya Behl uses a little-understood genre of Sufi literature to paint an entirely new picture of the evolution of Indian culture during the earliest period of Muslim domination. These curious romantic tales transmit a profound religious message through the medium of adventurous stories of love. Although composed in the Muslim courts, they are written in a vernacular Indian language and involve Hindu yogis, Hindu princes and princesses, and Hindu gods. Until now, they have defied analysis. Behl shows that the Sufi authors of these charming tales sought to convey an Islamic vision via an Indian idiom. They thus constitute the earliest attempt at the indigenization of Islamic literature in an Indian setting. More important, however, Behl's analysis brilliantly illuminates the cosmopolitan and composite culture of the Sultanate India in which they were composed. This in turn compels us completely to rethink the standard of the opposition between Indian Hindu and foreign Muslim and recognize that the Indo-Islamic culture of this era was already significantly Indian in many important ways.

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Page Count

416

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190628820

ISBN 13

9780190628826

The Magic Doe

Qutban Suhravardi's Mirigavati

By: Kutban,Aditya Behl

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The Magic Doe

Qutban Suhravardi's Mirigavati

By: Kutban,Aditya Behl

This is a complete translation of the Mirigavati, which is both an introduction to Sufism and one of the true literary classics of pre-modern India, a story that draws freely on the large pool of Indian, Islamic, and European narrative motifs in its distinctive telling of a mystical quest and its resolution.

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Page Count

230

Publisher

OUP USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199842922

ISBN 13

9780199842926

Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath

An Analysis and Translation of the Rajasthani Oral Narrative of Devn-ar-aya.n

By: Aditya Malik

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Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath

An Analysis and Translation of the Rajasthani Oral Narrative of Devn-ar-aya.n

By: Aditya Malik

This book offers a detailed study of the oral narrative of Shri Devnarayan along with the first English translation of this popular Rajasthani folk narrative. The narrative extolling the deeds of Lord Devnarayan is performed by itinerant singers during all night vigils in front of a 9-meter long, elaborately painted cloth scroll that depicts scenes and characters from the story. Aditya Malik uses the narrative to explore and ask a range of innovative questions relevant to the study of Indian folk culture and Hinduism as a whole: How is orality conceptualized and practiced? What is the relationship between spoken and visual signs? How do Devnarayan's devotees create multiple discourses concerning religion, community, and history within and though the medium of the narrative? Malik's analysis suggests that the narrative provides a framework for establishing linkages between different communities, past and present, spoken word and visual image, as well as contending religious ideologies. His interpretation is interspersed with excerpts from interviews with devotees and singers, other tales and texts, and observations from his field research that together invoke the worlds created by the narrative.

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Page Count

578

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198034202

ISBN 13

9780198034209

Love's Subtle Magic

An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition, 1379-1545

By: Aditya Behl

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Love's Subtle Magic

An Indian Islamic Literary Tradition, 1379-1545

By: Aditya Behl

The encounter between Muslim and Hindu remains one of the defining issues of South Asian society today. This encounter began as early as the 8th century, and the first Muslim kingdom in India would be established at the end of the 12th century. This powerful kingdom, the Sultanate of Delhi, eventually reduced to vassalage almost every independent kingdom on the subcontinent. In Love's Subtle Magic, a remarkable and deeply original book, Aditya Behl uses a little-understood genre of Sufi literature to paint an entirely new picture of the evolution of Indian culture during the earliest period of Muslim domination. These curious romantic tales transmit a deeply serious religious message through the medium of lighthearted stories of love. Although composed in the Muslim courts, they are written in a vernacular Indian language. Until now, they have defied analysis, and been mostly ignored by scholars east and west. Behl shows that the Sufi authors of these charming tales purposely sought to convey an Islamic vision via an Indian idiom. They thus constitute the earliest attempt at the indigenization of Islamic literature in an Indian setting. More important, however, Behl's analysis brilliantly illuminates the cosmopolitan and composite culture of the Sultanate India in which they were composed. This in turn compels us completely to rethink the standard of the opposition between Indian Hindu and foreign Muslim and recognize that the Indo-Islamic culture of this era was already significantly Indian in many important ways.

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Page Count

417

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195146700

ISBN 13

9780195146707

The Magic Doe

Qutban Suhravardi's Mirigavati

By: Kutban,Aditya Behl

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The Magic Doe

Qutban Suhravardi's Mirigavati

By: Kutban,Aditya Behl

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

230

Publisher

OUP USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199842922

ISBN 13

9780199842926

Book's by Aditya Behl

Love's Subtle Magic

Love's Subtle Magic

The Magic Doe

The Magic Doe

Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath

Nectar Gaze and Poison Breath

Love's Subtle Magic

Love's Subtle Magic

The Magic Doe

The Magic Doe

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