From the year 1000 to the year 1800, approximately, a particular cultural life enlivened the life of Indians. The words they spoke were intoned in certain ways, the music they played and the songs they sung were defined by certain hues, the clothes they wore expressed a particular response to everyday living. It was a time when the values of Persian culture seeped into Indian life, giving birth to the languages that we today call Hindi and Urdu, to Khayal music, to ways of dressing and living that are as common today as they were uncommon before this culture began to permeate life in the subcontinent.
Richard Eaton's book puts forward the perspective that what we call Indian today is a blend of several cultures and sub-cultures. Of these, the two major ones are the Sanskritic and the Persianate cultures, both embodiments of distinct values. Between 1000 and 1800, the soft, reflective, romanticist hues of Persianate culture seep into the staccato, perfectionist and distinct hues of Sanskritic culture. Eaton's book is the story of the political and social circumstances in the backdrop of which this blending of human minds took place.
With a fine historical pen, the author respects the reader's intellect and presents a subtle, complex, and very readable narrative of these times, showing clearly that the cliches of Islamic invaders oppressing the local populace, of strife between Hindus and Muslims, of 'good' kings and princes like Akbar and Dara Shikoh and 'bad' kings like Aurangzeb are over-simplifications of what was a vibrant and versatile time. Rather, the author suggests, the very category of religion that we take for granted had very different meanings at the time, and did not define a person's identity in the primary and power-driven ways that it does today. The most powerful illustration of this is the interaction between the Mughal power in Delhi and Agra and the Rajput kingdoms, an interaction that included both inter-marriage and working together, and also, less frequently, strife and power struggles. The only criticism one could have of the book is that it would have been even more enriching to read had it focused more on culture and less on politics.
The Persianate age has left an indelible mark on the consciousness of India, up to the present day. Its vocabulary, poetry, notions of love and of the divine have seeped into the literature, dance and cinema of the subcontinent. To understand this age and its origins is thus, to understand deeply who we are today, as Indians. It is a glimpse into the deep roots of our own collective consciousness, which the powers that be would like to shun away.
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