A Hindu King in an Islamicate World: Recovering Krishnadevaraya and the Diverse Roots of Religious Accommodation in South Asia
Hello, everyone! Today, we’ll talk about history—not just the history of kings and conquests, but the history of ideas, identities, and accommodation in South Asia. In our contemporary landscape, history has sadly become a battlefield. Across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the medieval past is frequently reimagined through the prism of modern communal polarization. There is a dominant narrative that seeks to portray the pre-colonial era as a monolithic "clash of civilizations," pitting an indigenous Hindu resistance against an encroaching Islamic imperialism. When we encounter this narrative, we often find ourselves reaching for examples of tolerance. We invoke the great Emperor Ashoka (r. 268-232 BCE), whose dhamma promoted religious harmony after the Kalinga War. Or we turn to Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605), who abolished discriminatory taxes, established sulh-i-kul (universal peace), and integrated Hindus into Mughal governance. These examples are absolutely valid and vi...