The Last Hindu Emperor

Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Past, 1200–2000

Cynthia Talbot

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781316435397
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Indian & South Asian History
• Index: History

This fascinating new study traces traditions and memories relating to the twelfth-century Indian ruler Prithviraj Chauhan; a Hindu king who was defeated and overthrown during the conquest of Northern India by Muslim armies from Afghanistan. Surveying a wealth of narratives that span more than 800 years, Cynthia Talbot explores the reasons why he is remembered, and by whom. In modern times, the Chauhan king has been referred to as 'the last Hindu emperor', because Muslim rule prevailed for centuries following his defeat. Despite being overthrown, however, his name and story have evolved over time into a historical symbol of India's martial valor. The Last Hindu Emperor sheds new light on the enduring importance of heroic histories in Indian culture and the extraordinary ability of historical memory to transform the hero of a clan into the hero of a community, and finally a nation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Note on transliteration and citation
• List of abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: layers of memory
• 2 Literary trajectories of the historic king
• 3 Delhi in the making of the last Hindu emperor
• 4 The heroic vision of an elite regional epic
• 5 Imagining the Rajput past in Mughal-era Mewar
• 6 Validating Prdotthvīrāj Rāso in colonial India, 1820s-1870s
• 7 Contested meanings in a nationalist age, 1880s-1940s
• 8 Epilogue: the postcolonial Prithviraj
• Appendix: Prdotthvīrāj Rāso’s textual history
• Bibliography
• Index