The Indian subcontinent might seem a self-contained world. Safe by vast mountains and seas, it has created its own religions, philosophies and social systems. And yet this ancient land experienced prolonged and intense interaction with the peoples and cultures of East and Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and, especially, Central Asia and the Iranian plateau between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries.
Richard M. Eaton’s wonderful new book tells this abnormal story with relish and originality. His major theme is the upward thrust of ‘Persianate’ culture – a transregional world informed by a canon of texts that circulated across Asia. Introduced to India within the eleventh century by Afghan dynasties, this culture would turn out to be thoroughly indigenized by the point of the great Mughals within the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This long-term process of cultural interaction and assimilation is reflected in India’s language, cuisine, attire, religion, styles of rulership and warfare, science, art, music, architecture and more.
The book brilliantly elaborates the complex encounter between India’s Sanskrit culture – which continued to flourish and grow right through this period – and Persian culture, which assisted in shaping the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire and a host of regional states, and made India what it’s lately.
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