Abstract:MUSLIM IMPACT AND RULE in India generated two literary growths: a Muslim of conquest, and a Hindu of resistance and of psychological rejection. The two literary growths were planted in two different c...MUSLIM IMPACT AND RULE in India generated two literary growths: a Muslim of conquest, and a Hindu of resistance and of psychological rejection. The two literary growths were planted in two different cultures; in two different languages, Persian and Hindi; in two mutually exclusive religious, cultural and historical attitudes each confronting the other in aggressive hostility. Each of these two literary growths developed in mutual ignorance of the other; and with the rare exception of eclectic intellectuals like Abu'l Fazl in the 16th century, or the 17th century Urdu poets of the Southern courts of Bijdp-dr and Golconda, their readership hardly ever converged. The Muslim and the Hindu epics of Medieval India can therefore hardly be described as epic and counter-epic in the context of a direct relationship of challenge and response. Yet one of them was rooted in the challenge asserting the glory of Muslim presence, and the other in the response repudiating it. In this sense one may perhaps use the term counter-epic for the Hindi heroic poetry of Medieval India as I have done. Also, the contrast between these two literary growths is not confined to what is classified in Western literatures as full-blown epic, but to the material in general. Muslim Epic of ConquestRead More
Publication Year: 1963
Publication Date: 1963-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 59
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