An Intellectual Geography of Hindustan

Professor Manan Ahmed
Associate Professor, History, Columbia University

Venue: Online (Advance registration required)

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Co-sponsored by the Yale South Asian Studies Council and the Program in Iranian Studies

Abstract:
In this talk, drawn from my book *The Loss of Hindustan*, I sketch an intellectual geography for understanding the history of Firishta, written in early seventeenth century Deccan. The world of the Deccan is both connected to the Indian Ocean circuits, sketched in Arabic merchant accounts and histories, as well to the network of city-states, represented by the Persian histories produced in Uch or Delhi. The immediate milieu of Firishta under the ʿAdil Shahi was a polyphonic Hindustan where the exchange of knowledge, letters, and histories was foundational.

Speaker bio:
Manan Ahmed, Associate Professor, is a historian of South Asia and the littoral western Indian Ocean world from 1000-1800 CE. His areas of specialization include intellectual history in South and Southeast Asia; critical philosophy of history, colonial and anti-colonial thought. He is interested in how modern and pre-modern historical narratives create understandings of places, communities, and intellectual genealogies for their readers.