Literary Cultures in Early Modern North India: Current Research grows out of over a 40-year tradition of the triennial International Conferences on Early Modern Literatures in North India (ICEMLNI), initiated to share 'Bhakti in current research.' This volume brings together a selection of contributions from some of the leading scholars as well as emerging researchers in the field originally presented at the 13th ICEMLNI (University of Warsaw, 18-22 July 2018). Considering innovative methodologies and tools, the volume presents the current state of research on early modern sources and offers new inputs into our understanding of this period in the cultural history of India. This collection of essays is in the tradition of 'Bhakti in current research' volumes produced from 1980 onward but reflecting our current understanding of early modern textualities. The book operates on the premises that the centuries preceding the colonial conquest of India, which in scholarship influenced by orientalist concepts, has often been referred to as medieval. However these languages already participated in modernity through increased circulation of ideas, new forms of knowledge, new concepts of the individual, of the community, and of religion. The essays cover multiple languages (Indian vernaculars, Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Persian), different media (texts, performances, paintings, music) and traditions (Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Sant, Sikh), analyzing them as individual phenomena that function in a wider network of connections at textual, intertextual, and knowledge-system levels.

Imre Bangha, Associate Professor of Hindi, University of Oxford,Danuta Stasik, Professor of South Asian Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw

Imre Bangha is Associate Professor of Hindi at Oxford University. He studied Indology in Budapest and holds a Ph.D. from Visva-Bharati. His publications include books in English, Hindi, and Hungarian, and articles on literature in Brajbhasha and other forms of classical Hindi. Currently, he is working on the emergence of the Hindi literary tradition and on the early literary use of Hindustani.


Danuta Stasik is Professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Warsaw where she studied Indology and earned her doctoral degree. Her research focuses mainly on the history of Hindi literature and literary criticism, the Ramayana tradition in North India, as well as on the Indian diaspora in the West with a particular emphasis on Hindi writing. Her publications include books and research papers in English, Hindi, and Polish, devoted to these subjects. She was awarded with Vishva Hindi Samman (1999 and 2003) and Dr George Grierson Puraskar 2007 by the President of India.

Introduction, Imre Bangha and Danuta Stasik1. When Is the 'Early Modern? North Indian Digambar Jain Literary Culture, John E. Cort2. History of a Text: The Major Manuscripts and Critical Editions of the Ramcarit-manas, Imre Bangha3. Yoga and Bhakti: Prithinath, a Sixteenth-century Nath Siddha, Monika Hortsmann4. Sants' Sweet Yoga in the Eighteenth Century, Daniel Gold5. Kahai Kamal Kabir ka: Changing Images of 'Kabir's Son' in the Sant Tradition, Minyu Zhang6. Avali Alaha nuru upaia: Kabir Bani in the Early Modern Devotional Practices of the Sikhs, Maria Puri7. Old Pattern with New Heroes: Dingal git in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, Aleksandra Turek8. The Rhythm of Early Hindi Poetry as Reflected in the Pingala Literature, Hiroko Nagasaki9. The Koksar by Anand Kavi: A Popular Erotic Book, Nadia Cattoni10. Contour and Classify: Sexual Categorizations in Early Modern South Asia, Sonia Wigh11. Music for Hunting: Animals, Aesthetics, and Adivasis in Rajput Culture, Richard David Williams12. Translating the Truth of Truths. Cross-analysis of Three Versions of the Prabodhacandrodaya Drama, Stefania Cavaliere13. Some Preliminary Remarks on the Prabodhcandroday Natak by Nanddas, Stefania Cavaliere14. The Gulzar-i-hal by Banvalidas: Two Possible Prefaces of an Indo-Persian Text, Giuseppe Cappello15. Exploring the Relationship between Bhakti, Bhakta and Yoga in the Prabodhcandroday Natak by Brajvasidas, Rosina Pastore16. Bilvamangala in Bengal: Biographical Thought, Inexpressibility, and Other Mysteries, Ishan Chakrabarti17. The Introduction of Symmetry in an Introduction: A Close Reading of the Prologue of Jaysi's Padmavat, Anwesha Sengupta