India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765

(Paperback)

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A magisterial history of the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent might seem a self-contained world. Protected 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 extraordinary story with relish and originality. His major theme is the rise of 'Persianate' culture - a transregional world informed by a canon of texts that circulated across Asia. Introduced to India in the eleventh century by Afghan dynasties, this culture would become thoroughly indigenized by the time of the great Mughals in 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 throughout this period - and Persian culture, which helped shape the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire and a host of regional states, and made India what it is today.

Reviews

Remarkable... Richard Eaton's brilliant book stands as an important monument to this almost forgotten world. -- William Dalrymple * The Spectator *
By rethinking this history as India's 'Persianate age', Eaton breaks free from religious sectarianism that projects today's tensions into the past ... His book is a fine tribute to India. -- Tanjil Rashid * The Times *
A brilliant, gripping, refreshing and scholarly history of India from 1000AD to the 1750s, analysing the power of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mogul Empire, its rise and decline and the rise of the East India Company - totally essential reading. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore
Genius ... India in the Persianate Age is Eaton's mature masterpiece. It will, undoubtedly, become the authoritative account of this most politically controversial period of South Asia's long history. -- Katherine Schofield * History Today *
A richly researched, badly needed and wholly convincing account ... World history proves its worth. -- John Keay * Literary Review *
Richard Eaton employs rich empirical detail to demonstrate that intellectual encounters between the Sanksrit and Persian worlds were not tied to any one religion and that the two were not hostile ... and does so with great panache. -- Rudrangshu Mukherjee * Business Standard *

Author Bio

Richard M. Eaton has over a long and varied career published a number of ground-breaking books on India before 1800, including major works on the social roles of Sufis, slavery, Indian biography, the growth of Muslim societies along Bengal's eastern frontiers, the social history of the Deccan, and the place of Islam in the sub-continent's history. India in the Persianate Age draws on a lifetime of teaching and research. He is Professor of History at the University of Arizona.