Review of "A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century" PDF

Pankaj Jha. A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Illustrations, tables, chart. 272 pp. $50.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-948955-8. Reviewed by Dalpat Rajpurohit (University of Texas at Austin) Published on H-Asia (May, 2020) Com...

Pankaj Jha. A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Illustrations, tables, chart. 272 pp. $50.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-948955-8. Reviewed by Dalpat Rajpurohit (University of Texas at Austin) Published on H-Asia (May, 2020) Commissioned by Sumit Guha (The University of Texas at Austin) A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and book has five chapters organized in two parts: the Fifteenth Century is a significant contribution “Contexts” and “Texts.” The first two chapters in to the growing body of scholarship on the “long” the “Contexts” part focus on Vidyapati and his ca‐ fifteenth century. This term designates the peri‐ reer, the cultural zone of Mithila in north Bihar, od that was already underway with the disintegra‐ and the literary and political contexts of the fif‐ tion of the Delhi Sultanate, and certainly by the teenth century. Each of the later three chapters in sack of Delhi in 1398 by the Turco-Mongol emperor the “Texts” part are rich studies of three of Vidyap‐ Timur. When Babur defeated the last Lodi sultan of ati’s texts, namely, Likhanāvalī, Puruṣaparīkṣā, Delhi in 1526, and more precisely with Humayun’s and Kīr ttilatā. Both parts are preceded by an intro‐ return to India in 1555, the long fifteenth century duction and followed by a conclusion. ended—and the Mughal Empire, which took great Vidyapati has been much appropriated in the pride in its Timurid heritage, began. Situated be‐ ever-growing folklore in the region of Mithila tween two empires, the long fifteenth century is where he is a cultural icon who forms the modern sometimes perceived as having little historical sig‐ Maithili identity. In Bihar there is a town named nificance. This book argues, in contrast, that often after him, Vidyapati Nagar (or Vidyapati Dhāma), some of the most innovative literary cultures where monuments and a memorial are dedicated flourished “in the cracks between the great dynas‐ to the poet-scholar and commercial outlets bear tic periods” and in small centers (p. 37). The book his name. Many of us get a blurry picture of Vidya‐ also suggests that the ideological engagements of pati’s career in the literary histories of north Indi‐ the Mughal Empire cannot be fully understood an vernaculars. Take for example the histories of without grappling with the fifteenth century and Hindi literature where Vidyapati is placed in the learning from the historical imperatives this multi‐ “miscellaneous” (phuṭkar) section of what is lingual literary culture had for the subsequent po‐ known as the “primal age” (Ādi kāl) of Hindi litera‐ litical formations. ture. Evidently, the various topics on which Vidyap‐ The book uncovers the outstanding versatility ati composed, in several languages and scripts, of the fifteenth-century poet-scholar and polyglot shows that no modern labels—devotee or court Vidyapati with three of his texts, composed in San‐ poet—can fully capture the vibrant career of the skrit and Apabhraṃśa, and explores “deep histo‐ author. Therefore, Pankaj Jha’s work is commend‐ ries” that lay behind literary compositions. The able as he brings into light the author, historical as  H-Net Reviews well as legendary, situating him in the growing dis‐ shaping the state and also wrote many books on cussions on the fifteenth century. In this engage‐ law. ment of a historian with literature, Jha draws on The most striking discussion in the second Sanskrit, Persian, Apabhraṃśa, and Hindavi textu‐ chapter is the several ways Jha theorizes multilin‐ al traditions in mapping out the multilingual liter‐ gualism and its specific characters in the fifteenth ary cultures of the fifteenth century—the essence century. The most common polymorphous form of of which Vidyapati embodied. Jha strives to go be‐ multilingualism can be seen in the registers chosen yond what he calls the “surgical strikes on texts to by Vidyapati, wherein verb endings are slightly extract ‘history’ that bypasses the literariness of a modified and meters and genres are “tweaked” composition,” since he considers that “a literary across languages. Mixing languages and stock vo‐ expression, among other things, is an intervention cabulary from several languages in a text is also in the dynamic flow of history: a wager in an on‐ seen in this period—similar to how the eighteenth- going conversation—real or imagined” (p. xxiv). century rhetorician Bhikhārīdās described Brajb‐ Vidyapati’s writing provides a different perspec‐ hasha. Another way to comprehend multilingual‐ tive on this period, where most historians have re‐ ism in the fifteenth century is to consider it poly‐ lied primarily on Persian chronicles. Thematically, centric, since it grew in bigger centers of power, Vidyapati’s oeuvre is wide-ranging, as Jha writes: such of Gujarat, Malwa, and Gwalior, as well as “there was law, love, writing, political ethics, biog‐ “outlying” areas (in Jha’s phrase), such as Mithila raphy, rituals, tantricism, ‘geography’, romantic and Kashmir (p. 232). A third feature of multilin‐ play, ritual donations (dāna), and a vast corpus of guality in this century, Jha notes, is that it affected songs for a variety of occasions” (p. xxi). major languages as well other speech forms that In the first chapter, “Vidyapati and Mithila,” developed in vernacular languages. Being multidi‐ Jha helpfully provides us a detailed profile of the rectional where Persian and Sanskrit would “influ‐ poet-scholar’s multilingual corpus. Eleven out of ence” and take inspirations from the vernaculars his sixteen texts are in Sanskrit, three in Ava‐ was the fourth feature of multilingualism in this haṭṭha/Apabhraṃśa, and one is in multiple lan‐ century. The latter is a more elusive form of multi‐ guages—Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Maithili. His songs lingualism where some authors mention their (pads), later compiled into a collection (padāvalī), sources, but many do not. Jha proposes that “a his‐ which form the base of Vidyapati’s fame, are in torian can trace such forms of embedded multilin‐ Maithili. Jha considers Mithila an “atypical” region gualism through a careful exploration of the inter‐ as it was away from major trade routes and politi‐ textuality of extant compositions. In other cases, it cal centers. This small chieftaincy has remained a is important to ‘extrapolate’, as realistically as pos‐ sort of semiautonomous principality under the sible, life outside of the text” (p. 65). Jha also shows three major sultanates of the “long” fifteenth cen‐ that multilingualism was not just a characteristic tury: Delhi, Jaunpur, and Bengal. The region had of the fifteenth century but was happening an astonishing tradition of scholars, and many lu‐ through a longer period and became more visible minaries flourished before Vidyapati. This is where from the thirteen century onward. Vidyapati was the Navya-nyāya (new logic) philosophical tradi‐ situated in this kind of context, and each of the tion was founded and important works on Dhar‐ next three chapters are devoted to three unique maśāstra and vernacular scholarship were writ‐ works of the poet. ten. Vidyapati’s own lineage had fine scholars, Vidyapati wrote his Likhanāvalī (handbook on such as the early fourteenth-century Sanskrit au‐ writing) at the request of his patron Purāditya Giri‐ thor Caṇḍeśvara who composed a treatise on nārāyaṇa early in the fifteenth century. This San‐ 2  H-Net Reviews skrit handbook was a guide to the scribes on how within the ideals of gender, caste, and politics of to frame state documents and letters. It consists of the time. Written for king Śivsiṃha of Tirhut, this model letters written for one’s equal, inferior and Sanskrit treatise is a compilation of forty-four di‐ superior, as well as letters for business purposes. dactic stories illustrating prime traits of recom‐ Jha describes that the Arthaśāstra of Kautilya has mendable manly conduct. Such stories in Vidyap‐ detailed reflections on the art of writing state writs ati’s words teach the young to appreciate naya— and documents and there was a strong tradition of righteous or virtuous conduct—that resembles the framing copper plate inscriptions in Sanskrit, Sanskrit tradition of nīti or ethics. Besides the San‐ which certainly resonate with Vidyapati’s work, skrit nīti texts—of which the chapter presents a but the very idea of putting together a compen‐ rich discussion—the concept of manliness (Jawā dium of such model letters by the poet barely has a nmardī) for political agents was also prevalent in precedent in Sanskrit. There is another fifteenth- Persian tradition, which Jha notes should not be century Sanskrit manual on framing such writing, contrasted only with the feminine. The protago‐ the Lekhapaddhati compiled in Gujarat. Jha sug‐ nists of all stories in the treatise are twice-born gests that Likhanāvalī should be placed in a differ‐ men. Vidyapati deployed the norms of the Varṇa ent political context than the Lekhapaddhati, as it system for social harmony and stability of politi‐ uses a greater amount of Perso-Arabic vocabulary. cal power. The striking feature of Vidyapati, Jha The Insha tradition in Persian of compiling model says, is that in his epistemological world the truth documents and letters for scribes was a distinct of the Vedas and Śāstra should be deployed empiri‐ genre by the thirteenth century and the Sufis culti‐ cally. In Vidyapati’s pragmatic and “this worldly” vated maktubat tradition to inscribe instructions. approach he wove “notions of social and perhaps The organization scheme and discourses in the ‘religious’ propriety with political power” (p. 167). model letters of Vidyapati resonate more with the Due to such vision of inculcating values of ideal Persian tradition. However, Jha makes an impor‐ male conduct the text was appealing in modern tant remark that it is hard to assume that Vidyap‐ India. It also appeared in print in London in 1826 ati knew Persian, and more correctly, “these eru‐ and George Grierson translated it in the early dite traditions [Sanskrit and Persian] had already twentieth century. been somewhat quotidianized and probably subli‐ The last chapter of the book maps out the mated by the fourteenth and fifteenth century into many worlds of Kīr ttilatā, Vidyapati’s only major a richer, more complex, and more accessible pool extant work in Avahaṭṭha. Vidyapati mentioned of literary resources, cutting across linguistic his language choice vividly in the text, however, boundaries” (p. 120). Another important observa‐ the Apabhraṃśa/Avahaṭṭha mystery seldom re‐ tion Jha makes, drawing from the discourse of the ceived scholarly attention. Jha lucidly discusses model letters, is that “the processes of the cultiva‐ the development of Avahaṭṭha and its difference tion of prized skills, the fructification of grand with Apabhraṃśa concluding that “what distin‐ ideas, in short the disciplinary formations— guished Avahaṭṭha from Apabhraṃśa, it would ap‐ ideational as much as coercive—continued to pear, among other things was an increased num‐ gather even as scholars and poets competed for ber of tatsam words—loanwords from Sanskrit. patronage from smaller, often subordinate, states Equally striking was the inclusion of a large num‐ with humbler ambitions. It is only fair to assume ber of Persian words” (p. 195). Kīr ttilatā is a tale of that political imagination did not necessarily the author’s patron Kirttisimha’s journey to Jaun‐ shrink with imperial fortunes” (p. 129). pur on foot, together with his brother, to seek help The next chapter is on Vidyapati’s Puruṣaparī from the reigning Sharqi sultan (Pātisāha). With kṣā (The Test of a Man), where Jha situates the text this aid, Kīrttisiṃha wins back the throne of Tirhut 3  H-Net Reviews from the usurper Malik Arsalan and the Sharqi range of scholars based in Europe, the United overlord “performs” the coronation ceremony for States, India, and the United Kingdom. Kīrttisiṃha. The text draws inspirations from epic- literary context of the Ramayana as well as from the Sanskrit caritas or historical narratives. Though the protagonist is a chieftain ruling a small territory and his political aspirations are humble, the text nonetheless sets high moral and ethical ideals for the ruler. The text brings Indic ideals of puruṣār tha close to those from the pre-Islamic Per‐ sian practice, such as kissing the feet of the emper‐ or (Pātisāha pabush). Eulogizing the Sharqi sul‐ tanate as abode of authority to which many kings are paying their allegiances, local rājās hopefully and fearfully look for royal grace, the pātisāha protects dharma and his reign extends to limitless frontiers, he has performed digvijayas, all were the conditions of imperium that Vidyapati idealized and aspired for. Jha moves beyond the usual practice of inves‐ tigating “influences” on literature in suggesting that genres and their histories, the forms and orga‐ nization of texts, language choice and words, all factor to a great degree in poets’ engagement with different literary traditions. This is true with the multilingual and cross-pollinating, yet parallel, lit‐ erary worlds of the fifteenth century. Vidyapati’s political imagination of the imperium and the var‐ ious forms of multilingualism in which his texts were situated bring together the literary sensibili‐ ties and ideologies of Sanskrit, Hindavi, and Per‐ sian, which were quite similar to what the Mughal Empire cultivated and thrived on a century later. This book is an example of rigorous scholarship and should be read widely. Note. Francesca Orsini and Samira Sheikh, eds., After Timur Left: Culture and Circulation in Fif‐ teenth-Century North India (Delhi: Oxford Univer‐ sity Press, 2014). This volume “investigates the links between politics and cultural production” as manifested in literary forms, genres, and language choices (p. 2). It contains thirteen essays by a 4  H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-asia Citation: Dalpat Rajpurohit. Review of Jha, Pankaj. A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. May, 2020. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54911 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 5