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
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...
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
30 January 2024
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| In: |
Interdisciplinary journal for religion and transformation in contemporary society
Year: 2024, Volume: 10, Issue: 1, Pages: 56-85 |
| ISSN: | 2364-2807 |
| DOI: | 10.30965/23642807-bja10087 |
| Online Access: | Resolving-System, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.30965/23642807-bja10087 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://brill.com/view/journals/jrat/10/1/article-p56_3.xml 
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| Author Notes: | Michael Bergunder, Professor of Religious Studies and Intercultural Theology, Abteilung Religionswissenschaft und Interkulturelle Theologie, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany |
| Summary: | 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. 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. |
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| Item Description: | Online veröffentlicht: 30. Januar 2024 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2364-2807 |
| DOI: | 10.30965/23642807-bja10087 |