Surprising Bedfellows: Hindus and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern India

This text argues that religious and cultural identities in medieval and early modern India wree marked by fluid and constantly shifting relationships rather than by binary model of opposition that is assumed in so much scholarship. Building on the pioneering work of scholars such as Cynthia Talbot and Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, these chapters seek to understand identity perception through romances, historical documents, ballads and historical epies, inscriptions and even architecture. The chapters in this volume urge readers to reconsider the simple and rigid applicatin of categories such as Hindu and Muslim when studying South Asia’s medieval and early modern past. It only by doing this that we can understand the past and, perhapys, help prevent the dangerous rewriting of Indian history.