Sushma Jansari

Chandragupta Maurya (eBook, ePUB)

The creation of a national hero in India

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

We take it for granted that some historical figures become heroes, and others do not. Chandragupta Maurya evolved from obscure ruler to contemporary national icon. The key moment in the making of this Indian hero was a meeting by the banks of the River Indus between Chandragupta and Seleucus, founder of the Seleucid empire and one of Alexander the Great's generals, in c.305-3 BC. This significant event was a moment of peace-making at the end of conflict. But no reliable account exists in early sources, and it is not even clear which ruler was victorious in battle. This uncertainty enabled British and Indian historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to interpret the sources in radically different ways. With Chandragupta representing India and Seleucus standing in for Britain, British scholars argued that Seleucus defeated Chandragupta, while Indian academics contended the opposite.

The writing and reception of history fundamentally influences how we engage with the past, and the evolving colonial and post-colonial relationship between Britain and India is crucial here. In India, the image of Chandragupta as an idealised hero who vanquished the foreign invader has prevailed and found expression in contemporary popular culture. In plays, films, television series, comic books and historical novels, Chandragupta is the powerful and virtuous Hindu ruler par excellence. The path to this elevated standing is charted in this book.

Praise for Chandragupta Maurya
'This is an absorbing tale and Jansari does well to carry the reader from ancient Greek texts to present-day Indian films and comics and to engage critically with visual as well as textual material.'
Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: UCL Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juni 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781800083912
• Artikelnr.: 68149077

Autorenporträt

Sushma Jansari is the Tabor Foundation Curator of South Asia at the British Museum. Her research examines how ancient South Asia was received and (re)constructed over the last two centuries. She was Lead Curator of the South Asia Gallery, a Manchester Museum partnership with the British Museum (opened 2023). Currently, she is Co-Investigator of the AHRC-funded project Sloane Lab: Looking back to build future shared collections, and working on a major exhibition about art, religion and power in ancient India.