TAPSA: Mudit Trivedi, doctoral candidate in Anthropology
A short distance south of Delhi, nestled in the Mewat hills are the remains of the fort-city of Indor. This city was founded in the fourteenth century CE by a lineage who came to call themselves the Khanzada of Mewat after their conversion to Islam . This talk presents some selected results of an extended multi-year project of architectural documentation, archaeological survey and excavations at this site. Through engagement with these material and spatial data, as well as recent debates over the history of the region of Mewat this talk outlines what an archaeology of conversion may have to contribute to the study of medieval India and Islam. Such an approach, arguably, affords the possibility of not explaining conversion nor inquiring into its motives; but rather of providing an account of the world a convert community enters into and the way of life it fosters and aims to secure. In doing so, the talk shall ground a series of archaeological analyses within an appraisal of the salience of the virtues in Islam to the Khanzada. Towards this end, the talk presents two sets of analysis, of glass ornaments and that of mortuary assemblages. Through these examples, the talk provides two accounts of the world the Khanzada crafted at Indor and how these were both articulated and evaluated in light of continuing arguments about virtue, rank and descent in south Asian Islam.
Dates:
Thursday, November 8, 2018 – 5:00pm
Foster 103