In this Book
- The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early-Modern South India
- Book
- 2022
- Published by: Leiden University Press
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
summary
A comparative study of courtly politics in four early modern kingdoms in South India.
When Dutch traders arrived on the Indian subcontinent in the early seventeenth century, they encountered a courtly culture they perceived to be traditional, peaceful, and static. In reality, the kings and Brahmins they met were engaged in a fresh power struggle following the recent collapse of the Vijayanagara empire. In The Heirs of Vijayanagarai, Lennart Bes marshals a wealth of untapped sources from both Indian and Dutch archives to recover the dynamic complexity of political life in early modern India. By comparing four kingdoms—Ikkeri, Tanjavur, Madurai, and Ramnand—across the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, this book offers a captivating analysis of political culture, power relations, and dynastic developments in south India.
When Dutch traders arrived on the Indian subcontinent in the early seventeenth century, they encountered a courtly culture they perceived to be traditional, peaceful, and static. In reality, the kings and Brahmins they met were engaged in a fresh power struggle following the recent collapse of the Vijayanagara empire. In The Heirs of Vijayanagarai, Lennart Bes marshals a wealth of untapped sources from both Indian and Dutch archives to recover the dynamic complexity of political life in early modern India. By comparing four kingdoms—Ikkeri, Tanjavur, Madurai, and Ramnand—across the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, this book offers a captivating analysis of political culture, power relations, and dynastic developments in south India.
Table of Contents

- Acknowledgements
- pp. xi-xvi
- List of Maps, Tables, and Illustrations
- pp. xvii-xix
- List of Abbreviations
- pp. xxi-xxii
- Notes on Spelling and Citation
- p. xxiii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-46
- 1 Foundations and Foundation Myths
- pp. 47-95
- 2 Dynastic Successions
- pp. 97-197
- 3 The Power of Courtiers
- pp. 199-289
- 4 Court Protocol and Insults
- pp. 291-383
- 5 Influences from Sultanate Courts
- pp. 385-438
- 6 Mutual Relations
- pp. 439-464
- Conclusion
- pp. 465-474
- Sources and Literature
- pp. 501-546
Additional Information
ISBN
9789400604162
Related ISBN(s)
9789087283711
MARC Record
OCLC
1350705814
Launched on MUSE
2022-11-14
Language
English
Open Access
Yes
Creative Commons
CC-BY-NC-ND
Copyright
2021