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Courtly culture and political life in early medieval India / Daud Ali.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Cambridge studies in Indian history and society ; 10.Publication details: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.Description: xx, 296 pISBN:
  • 9788175963795
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • DS425 .A645 2004
Review: "Scholars have long studied classical Sanskrit culture in almost total isolation from its courtly context. As the first study to focus exclusively on the royal court as a social and cultural institution, this book fills a gap in the literature. Using both literary and inscriptional sources, it begins with the rise and spread of royal households and political hierarchies from the Gupta period (c. 350-750), and traces the emergence of a coherent courtly worldview, which would remain stable for almost a millennium to 1200. Later chapters examine key features of courtly life which have been all but ignored by the previous literature on ancient Indian society: manners, ethics, concepts of personal beauty and theories of disposition. The book ends with a sustained examination of the theory and practice of erotic love, in the context of the wider social dynamics and anxieties which faced the people of the court."--BOOK JACKET.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
General Books General Books CUTN Central Library History & Geography 954.021 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 1994

Revision of author's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Chicago.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Scholars have long studied classical Sanskrit culture in almost total isolation from its courtly context. As the first study to focus exclusively on the royal court as a social and cultural institution, this book fills a gap in the literature. Using both literary and inscriptional sources, it begins with the rise and spread of royal households and political hierarchies from the Gupta period (c. 350-750), and traces the emergence of a coherent courtly worldview, which would remain stable for almost a millennium to 1200. Later chapters examine key features of courtly life which have been all but ignored by the previous literature on ancient Indian society: manners, ethics, concepts of personal beauty and theories of disposition. The book ends with a sustained examination of the theory and practice of erotic love, in the context of the wider social dynamics and anxieties which faced the people of the court."--BOOK JACKET.

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