The Coinage and History of Vijayanagara A Review

The Coinage and History of Vijayanagara Empire
M Girirajapathi
Bangalore, 2009

The monetary history of the Vijayanagara Empire is still rather obscure. Indian Archaeology A Review records the discovery of more than 307 coin hoards between 1954 and 2001. While certainly not an numerous both in provenance and distribution as Sultanate or Mughal coin hoards, Vijayanagara monetary history does present interesting questions of its own. One aspect that has come to the fore is the interlinking between Bahamani coinage and currency system with the Vijayanagara currency. Partly this is reflected in  majority of the coin deposits which are found mixed with sultante minted coins. Phillip Wagoner has studied this feature in a recent article published in the

Coinage and History of Vijayanagara

Indian Economic and Social History Review vol 51, 4 (2014) pp 457-480.

The book under review is a catalog of a few private numismatic collections. It makes no attempt at analysis and even the basic numismatic data is given in a rather loose manner. The provenance of the coins is not documented and the relative chronology between various coin types is not addressed. On the whole this is a very disappointing work.

The Bahamani historian Firishta has given a great deal of information about the relative value of different currencies circulating in  the region. In spite of efforts undertaken by Sultan Muhammad Shah I (1358-75) to discourage the circulation and exchange of Vijayanagara gold coins in Bahamani territories, little change was felt on the ground. The value of the Pratap and Hon need to be worked out. The reasons for the complete absence of silver coins in Vijayanagara need to be investigated. The metrology of Vijayanagara coinage needs to be determined.

This work is printed on expensive art paper but it avoids discussing any issue of importance.

Hampi Excavations; New Information

Hampi: Report on the Excavations 1011-2010
Dr C S Vasudevan
Department of Archaeology, Museum and Heritage
Government of Karnataka
Mysore

Hampi Excavation Report

The capital of the last great Empire of medieval South India, Vijayanagara, the City of Victory, has been the target of numerous efforts at interpretation, reconstruction, conservation and of course, Heritage Management. The inscription of Hampi, the site on which Vijayanagara stands as a World Heritage Site is partly responsible for the flood of interest generated by Vijaynagara. From a Chalukyan temple town located on the banks of the Tungabhadra, VIjaynagara was home to the God Virupaksha and the Goddess Pampa and therefore Pampakshetra was one of several names given to the medieval city. A fortified city, about which we have several written descriptios from the mid fifteenth century, we can expaect Vijayanagara to make a text book case for Archeological study based on written sources, corroborated or refuted by the evidence on the ground. In other others, the best strategy to approach the City of Vijayanagara from a historical-Archeological standpoint would be to ask a series of questions which are generated from the written documentation of which we have, fortunately a fairly large corpus.

The shadow of Robert Sewell has fallen heavily on this City, His Forgotten Empire was based on records. perhaps collected by the LIsbon based Historian Barros that had fortunately survived the Great Fire of 1778. Paes and Nuniz were both traders from Portugal and as Renaissance figures were keen observers of the customs and mores of Asaian peoples. However, the framework within which they asssimilated their information was as Jean Pu Rubies points out was both Christian and more specifically Portuguese. They refer to "Great Captains" who assisted the Emperor (Raya) both in war and in revenue collection. Are they the Noblemen whose Quarters form the subject of this Excavation Report.

For nearly a decade the area near the Royal Centre close to the Throne Platforms were being excavated by the Government of Karnataka and the results of that decade long excavation are published in these volumes. One question I would like to raise is: To what extent does the material and archaeological remains dug up from the Nobleman's Quarters reinforce the interpretation long current that the site was occupied by the elite. From the material catalogued in the Reports, there is little evidence of elite occupation. We do not find luxury goods and except for inferior Celadon and Porcelain ware we have no evidence of long distance trade goods or ceramics. We do not find any evidence of large scale monumental architecture in this site leading one to suspect that Sewell was perhaps carried away by the standardized description found in the Portuguese texts. Glass bangles have been found in huge numbers. Do they signify the presence of women in the area. The disturbed nature of the stones makes any systematic study of the site difficult.

The two volumes have catalogued all the artifacts found dring the course of the excavations. But sadly they lack historical and stategraphic specificity.

Inscriptions of the Vijayanagara Rulers ed. Shrinivas Ritti

Vijayanagara Inscriptions

The rulers of the last great Empire of Peninsular India, the Vijayanagara Raya, issued a large number of inscriptions both on Copper Plates as well as on lithic surfaces. It has been estimated that between 1336 and 1565 when the Empire virtually collapsed following the cataclysmic defeat at Talikota, the Empire issued nearly 25,000 inscriptions. A large number of the Vijayanagara inscriptions are in the vernacular languages leading to the suspicion that Vijayanagara presented itself as a "local" ruler in distant localities by propagating Inscriptions in the local languages. The conflict between Tamil and Sanskrit, a product of the identity battles of the twentieth century was virtually unknown during the Vijayanagara period. The volume under review contains the texts of 241 inscriptions issued in the period under discussion by all four dynasties of Vijayanagara.

The Southern Regional Centre of the Indian Council of Historical Research, Bangalore, has embarked upon this ambitious project of compiling all the known Vijayanagara Inscriptions. So far VI volumes have been published making Vijayanagara more accessible to historians. An interesting feature of Vijayanagara Epigraphy which has not received the attention it deserves is the frequent use of local scripts for inscribing Sanskrit inscriptions and simultaneously using Nandinagari script for incising inscriptions in regional/local/vernacular languages.  This fact suggests that the Empires of medieval India had a more inclusive attitude towards languages compared to the identity infused bedlam that we notice today. Another interesting feature is that sanskrit was not projected during the late medieval period as the language of the "elite". All this suggests that modern Indian approaches to medieval history in particular and history in general are marinated in identity controversies that have their roots only in the twentieth century.  Vijayanagara provides us a fascinating glimpse into a complex realm in which languages coexisted in an atmosphere of mutual respect and interaction.

This book like the others in the series has collected all the published inscriptions and has provided a short summary of each inscription along with other details. It will be useful to historians working on Vijayanagara history. 

Tamils A Biography By David Shulman

Tamil A Biography
David Shulman
Harvard University Press, 2016

Tamil Biography

 The book under review is an account of the Tamil language situated in its historical and linguistic context. It is one of the unfortunate intellectual legacies of the colonial era that many of the discredited theories pertaining to racial origin, evolution of language, scriptal literacy, religion are all wrapped up in the dense fog of ideology that it is today impossible to deal with some of these issues dispassionately. It takes a peace activist from Israel, the well known Indologist and historian, David Shulman to write about these and other issues with integrity and deep commitment to scholarship. 

I have not come across a book that captures the complexity of Tamil literary and political history as eloquently and with scholastic depth as the present book. It is quite obvious that the present breed of Tamil "intellectuals" will rail against the account given by Shulman as he completely destroys the self serving myth, perpetuated over two centuries that Tamil has an origin independent of Sanskrit. Until Cauldwell made "Dravidian" into both a linguistic and racial characteristic, the term Dravida was used in Tamil literary works only as a geographical expression.

 The nineteenth century which saw the crystallization of racially charged theories, bequeathed to India a toxic legacy in the form of the Aryan/Dravidian Dichotomy, the Aryan Invasion Myth, the conflict between the oldest Tamil language and the upstart Sanskrit language. All these theories, though discredited have traction due to the purchase of identity politics in India. Hence, it is essential to read Shulman very carefully as he has argued effectively that throughout the medieval period, the Age of the Cholas, Sanskrit enjoyed a privileged status in the royal court and that status was neither resented nor did it lead to the sort of shadow boxing we find in the last century when the "Pure Tamil " movement sought to expurgate Sanskrit from the Tamil language altogether.

David Shulman, unlike Asko Parpola and others is a recognized authority on Sanskrit Language and Literature and knows nearly 24 languages including Telugu, Kanada and a host of European and Asian Languages. His own early foray into Tamil history when he wrote Tamil Temple Myths marked him as one who uses literary texts in new and novel ways. The tallapuramam of medieval Tamil region were studies against the general background of history and iconography in this work which was followed by King and Clown in South Indian Myth and Poetry a path breaking work on the textual construction of South Indian kingship. More recently, Whitney Cox has added to the thin corpus of historical investigation in his Politics, Kingship and Poetry in Medieval South India (Cambridge University Press, 2016). This line of investigation, a new historicist perspective that melds the fluid poetry of medieval Tamil compositions to the firm foundation of historiography.

Tamil A Biography demolishes three fundamental myths of the dominant political ideology prevalent in Tamil Nadu today and pervades the entire gamut of academic studies on early Tamil Language and Literature. As he says, "In modern South India Tamil has become a major criterion for collective identity, often seen now as forged in opposition to Sanskrit and an invasive north Indian culture and ideology". Shulman goes on to show that the Chola royal court was bilingual with Sanskrit enjoying the same status as Tamil and there is no sign of any conflict, real or imagined during the four centuries of Chola rule. The advent of the anti brahmin movent meant that the South Indian brahmins were represented as agents of the alien culture and that was used as a justification for excluding them form public and cultural life altogether. The scholarship of David Shulman goes a long way in correcting the distortions of the past. His discussion of the enduring presence of the Agasthya Myth, a north Indian therefore a putative Aryan as the founder of Tamil Grammar is both convincing and sound.

The date of the so called Cankam literary works and the presence of the enigmatic Kalabrahs are two vexed issues in early Tamil literary history. Following Tieken, Shulman also argues for a late date for the Cankam works, There is little evidence to show that the puram and akam varieties of poems were contemporaneous with the Roman presence in South India and the graffiti marks found on pot shrds from sites like Arikamedu, Porunthal, Kodumanal and other places do not help in tading the Cankam literary works. There seems to be a close association between Bhakti literature and the redacted bardic poetry of early Tamil region. His disdussion of the Sangam tradition based on the Velvikkudi Copper plate Inscription is interesting.

The work under review is a classic and will remain a reliable introduction to Tamil language and literary history. 
 

Shadow of Gods: Images, Deities and the Archive

Shadows of Gods: An Archive and its images
French Institute, Pondicherry, 2016
Gopinath Sricandane


South Indian images of Gods, goddesses, Deities and saints occupy an ambivalent space in the contemporary world. Historians trained in the western discipline of Art History whose hallowed names include Ermin Panofsky and the Warburgh Institute concern themselves with the historical changes in the whole domain of art and its change over time. India defies such an approach to art history, as there is little change over nearly a millennium in the techniques, modes of depiction or style. Indian art seems to be extra territorial to history and therefore Indian Art History remains essentially a study of  religion and its representation though sculpture, iconography and architecture. T A Gopinath Rao's monumental work, Elements of Hindu Iconography still remains the standard work, though it was published more than a century ago. The book under review is a welcome departure form the standard narratives of Indian art history.

The book was released during the state visit of the President of the Republic of France to India on the occasion of the Republic Day in January 2106.t consists of 15 short chapters which documents the alarming increase in cases of theft of Icons from temples, particularly Chola monuments in the Tamil region. There is an international market for stolen art and since the investigation and prosecution of criminals associated with art heist is  rather weak in India, Subash Kapoor and the like have been able to flourish. It goes without saying that given the nexus between Government agencies and the International art galleries it is extremely difficult to bring art thieves to justice. Ironically USA has shown greater sincerity in pursuing cases of theft of Indian art objects than India. In fact, the initial investigation into the illegal trade of Subash Kapoor in stolen Indian art was undertaken by the FBI. The noted British scholar of Indian art, Douglas Barrett had pointed
out  long ago that South Indian icons were disappearing from Temples at an alarming rate. UNESCO convention on the Restoration of stolen cultural property can be used successfully, but India has not developed the legal and the scientific means of authenticating the provenance of Indian artistic artifacts.

 Unlike Europe where a rich tradition of documentation of art existed, India does not have a home grown tradition of Historiography. Pausanias, while he lamented the loss of Greek Independence to Rome, was also interested in documenting and describing the   sanctuaries that he visited and described during the course of his travels on mainland Greece. His eye for detail and keen knowledge of local history allowed the historians of a later age to identify the sculptural pieces with great accuracy. India does not have a tradition of documenting its cultural treasures and in this the creation of the Archive of Sculpture and Iconography by the French Institute is an invaluable resource. The American Institute of Indian Studies at Varanasi has a similar archive but the access is so heavily restricted that India scholars find it difficult to get material from that Archive. The French archive was created by Francois Hernault, a researcher at the Institute of Indology which is part of the French Institute at Pondicherry. The repatriation of thr Puttur Bronze and the return of the Rockfeller Nataraja are two instances in which India successfully pressed its claims in a foreign court of law.

The French Institute has provided the legal basis for the identification of stolen art from South India as its photographic archive establishes provenance of the art and also establishes the probable date of its theft from India as the date when it entered the French register of icons is well known. This book is an interesting study of art at the border of law and history, legality and crime.

Noboru Karashima (1933-2015): A Tribute

Dr Noboru Karashima, the well known historian of medieval South India died yesterday at Tokyo and the field of medieval history stands impoverished today as he was responsible for some path breaking research. In 1996 Professor Burton Stein passed away and with the death of Karashima, a whole generation of stalwart historians has ended. A few years back Dr James Heitzman passed on and I can say that medieval history of Peninsular India will never be the same again.

Dr Noboru Karashima began his study of medieval South India by adopting a new method one that looks at history from the locality or nadu outwards. He studied the inscriptions found in a particular locality and dissected the internal variations in the structure of the inscriptions in terms of social groups mentioned, revenue terms, the titles of the parties involved in the transactions and the personal names of the functionaries mentioned in the record. One of his early publication was a comprehensive computerized data base of personal names found in Chola inscription. One can say that Karashima was a pioneer in the use of machine searchable databases. Another important contribution of Karashima lay in his comparative stusy of the social and economic resources of brhamadeya and ordinary peasant villages, the ur. His pioneering paper on Allur and Isanamangalam still hold the field. Under his leadership micro study of peasant localities became the norm. The work of Mitzhushima on the Nattar in the 18th century was inspired by the methodological implications of Karashima's work. The publications edited by Professor Noboru Karahima under the rubric of the Institute of Oriental Cultures are impressive micro studies based on a wealth of information culled from the archaeological sources. Unlike Burton Stein who raised medieval historiography to  a very high level of theoretical abstraction with the use of the concept of the segmentary state, Noboru Karashima based his analysis entirely on the empirical evidence at hand and eschewed theoretical consideration. I would say that like most Japanese historians, Karashima oriented his work broadly toward material factors. There is no place for oriental notionas of "caste" "identity" and "satic society" in the works of Karashima.

Towards the last phase of his life, Karashima trned his attention towards Vijayanagara History. His book Towards a New Formation and Concordance of Nayakas in Vijayanagara Inscriptions, both pub;lished by Oxford University Press mark important milestones in Vijayanagara historiography. The death of Noboru Karashima is a great loss and those of us in the filed of medieval history will remain indebted to him.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar and his Calling: Historiography on a grand scale

The Calling of History: Sir Jadunath Sarkar and his Empire of Truth
Dipesh Chakrabarthy
Orient Blackswan and Ashoka University, 2015

Dipesh Chakrabarthy, the celebrated author of Provincializing Europe has published an outstanding volume on the life and intellectual climate in late nineteenth and early twentieth century India, even as the stirring of "Indian Nationalism" was gathering strength. Historiography in India has completely neglected the pioneers in the reconstruction of India's past. Labels come easy and handy as a shorthand for dismissing such illustrious pioneers" Imperialist Historian", "Cambridge-Namierist Historian", "Communal Historian","Reactionary Nationalist Historian" etc. In no other society can the serious study of Historiography be reduced to pamphleteering as  unfortunately is the case with India. Historians have become "public intellectuals" and therefore calibrating historical interpretations to the prevailing politcal climate became the order of the day. Consequently serious research into India's tangled and complex past has barely begun.

The book under review is an excellent study of the ideas, methods and contributions of Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the historian who spent the best part of his life collecting documents relating to the Mughal Empire and the Maharattas. Dr Chakrabarthy has documented in great detail the trials and tribulations of this pioneer and the difficulties he encountered. Unlike historians who work in Universities today, Sir Jadunath Sarkar was well equipped to handle the task at hand. He had studies Persian, Dutch, Sanskrit, and French and so was able to reach the materials in the original language rather than rely on the 8 volumes of Elliot and Dowson. The very idea of History was in its infancy during the time when Sir Jadunath Sarkar began his researches and the very idea of reseach as Professor Chakrabarthy points out meant the "quest for truth" and the "verification of facts" drawn from the primary sources. The protocol of Truth and Verification appears naive in the context of Indian historiography today when the inanities   of post colonialism has become enshrined in the University system. Dipesh Chakrabarthy has pointedly argued that the intellectual horizon of Sarkar's work included search for primary sources, drawing facts that can be independently verified, writing the narrative based on the facts and presenting the slice of time as a true and indeed, incontrovertible slice of time. These ideas may appear far fetched to practicing historians today who have inculcated a healthy skepticism drawn from a steady diet of Hayden White and Edward Said. However, Sir Jadunath Sarkar life was spent living up to these ideals and he found meaning for his rather tragic life in these ideals.

As India debates its past more vigorously and historical battles have spilled tonnes of ink and blood, hitorians may draw comfort and inspiration from a historian from a more genteel time, Sir Jadunath Sarkar. His work as I discovered after reading the book under review does not deserve the oblivion to which they have been relegated.