RT Article
T1 Encounters of the brahmanical Sanskrit tradition with Persian scholarship in the Mughal Empire: genealogical critique and the relevance of the pre-colonial past in a global religious history
JF Interdisciplinary journal for religion and transformation in contemporary society
VO 10
IS 1
SP 56
OP 85
A1 Bergunder, Michael 1966-
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1895486173
AB Within the scope of global religious history, a Foucauldian genealogical critique makes “history” itself the central focus of inquiry. Genealogy is usually perceived as a methodology for historicizing general concepts within religious studies, which seemingly favours post-nineteenth-century history – something that causes discomfort among pre-colonial researchers. However, this article presents genealogy as a general starting point for any critical historiography across all historical periods, emphasizing its key characteristic as a counter-history originating from the present.
AB Through a case study, it demonstrates this approach’s practicality by offering a fresh perspective on the notion of an unchanging Sanskrit tradition championed by Hindu nationalists. Genealogical analysis exposes how contemporary research unwittingly reinforces this notion, while the article proposes a counter-narrative using sixteenth to eighteenth-century sources, revealing a dynamic interplay between Sanskrit and Persian scholars under Mughal rule in India. This case underscores the efficacy and adaptability of genealogical critique across all historical periods.
NO Online veröffentlicht: 30. Januar 2024
K1 Hindu Nationalism
K1 Upanishads
K1 Sanskrit Philosophy of Language
K1 Mughal India
K1 Sufism
K1 theories of history
DO 10.30965/23642807-bja10087