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Early Hindi epic poetry in Gwalior: beginnings and continuities in the Rāmāyan of Vishnudas

Abstract:
The Hindi poet Vishnudas produced a Hindi version of the Ramayana in 1442 at the court of the Gwalior ruler Dungarendra Singh. This, the earliest known Hindi Ramayana encoded aspects of the political and cultural of mid-fifteenth century Gwalior while offering us a case study of vernacularization in the same period. The chapter shows that Vishnudas’ epic was intended for a Rajput court (with an emphasis on courts and battles), and through a comparison with Valmiki’s Rāmāyaṇa, demonstrates that while Vishnudas was familiar with the Sanskrit text, it was probably through oral retellings rather than the written text. It further suggests that Vishnudas’ rendering was the textualization of an oft-performed vernacular oral version of the Ramayana.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Files:
Publisher copy:
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450664.003.0013

Authors

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Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Oxford college:
Wolfson College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-0566-3009

Contributors

Role:
Editor
Division:
HUMS
Role:
Editor


Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Host title:
After Timur Left: Culture and Circulation in Fifteenth-Century North India
Pages:
365-402
Chapter number:
13
Place of publication:
Oxford / New Delhi
Publication date:
2014-10-13
Edition:
1
DOI:
EISBN:
9780199085019
ISBN:
9780199450664


Language:
English
Keywords:
Subtype:
Chapter
Pubs id:
1059103
UUID:
uuid_bcbb51bd-4032-4277-a382-07f61983e22b
Local pid:
pubs:1059103
Deposit date:
2025-12-01
ARK identifier:

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