Sneh Jha delivered a lecture on ‘Locating Ramcharitmanas in Historical time’. It was chaired by Ananya Vajpeyi.
The Ramcharitmanas exhibits a political sensibility deeply enmeshed in the medieval cultural universe. By dipping into the political languages current among the medieval ruling groups, the text would have made itself intelligible and relatable to its contemporary audience. Hailed by generations of scholars for his literary genius, its poet, Tulsidas spiced up the poem with the right mix of metaphors and aesthetics that work at several registers simultaneously. The speaker seeks to argue that Tulsi’s Ramkatha resonates with the 16th century politico-cultural world. The use of certain kind of vocabulary and the aestheticization around specific moments in the story convey the poet’s participation in the shared political cultures of his times.
Sneh Jha teaches in the Department of History at Miranda House. Her research focuses on historical analysis of medieval texts in Persian and vernacular languages and has studied the texts, Baburnama and Ramcharitamanas, closely. She has published papers in Hindi and English.
Ananya Vajpeyi is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.
Friday, 19 January 2024, 2.30 pm, Seminar Room and Zoom https://bit.ly/47qtmgL
