Culture and Circulation

Book excerpt: Culture and Circulation reflects an innovative approach to early modern Indian literature. The authors foreground the complex hybridity of literary genres and social milieus, capturing elements that have eluded traditional literary history. In this book, jointly edited by Thomas de Bruijn and Allison Busch, Hindi authors rub shoulders with their Persian counterparts in the courts of Mughal India; the fame of Mirabai, a poetess from Rajasthan, travels to Punjab; the sayings of Kabir are found to be as difficult to pin down as the holy men who transmitted them. Drawing on new archives in several Indian languages, Culture and Circulation presents fresh ideas that will be of interest to scholars of Indian literature, religious studies, and early modern history. Contributors include Stefano Pellò,Thibaut d'Hubert,Corinne Lefèvre, John Stratton Hawley, Gurinder Singh Mann, Thomas de Bruijn, Catharina Kiehnle, Allison Busch, Francesca Orsini, Heidi Pauwels, Robert van de Walle.