Leitbilder und Legitimierung herrscherlicher Macht im mittelalterlichen Zentralindien (8. bis 13. Jahrhundert) - HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Chapitre d'ouvrage Année : 2019

Leitbilder und Legitimierung herrscherlicher Macht im mittelalterlichen Zentralindien (8. bis 13. Jahrhundert)

Role models and legitimation of royal power in medieval central India (8th to 13th centuries)

Résumé

Royal epigraphs recording religious endowments of villages and/or land constitute the main sources for questions related to rule and power in premodern (or rather, pre-Islamic) South Asia. Most of the medieval title deeds were written in Sanskrit and engraved on copper plates. Beside the details of a specific endowment, these copper-plate charters contain the titles of the royal donors and their immediate predecessor(s), as well as the panegyric genealogies of their dynasties. The latter reveal a great deal of information about various aspects of the legitimation of Indian kings and about concepts of a ‘good’ ruler. One of the criteria for ‘good’ rule is also manifested in the main objective of copper-plate charters: (the recording of) royal grants in favour of religious donees. On the basis of epigraphic material from central India issued by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dynasty (eighth to tenth centuries), as well as by the Śilāhāra and Yādava dynasties (tenth to thirteenth centuries), this article explores the mechanisms of the self-representation of the rulers in their charters. It attempts to show that the genealogical and panegyric descriptions played a very important role in legitimation policies. Each of the dynasties mentioned above used several different versions of the metrical descriptions of their pedigrees in order to explain their claim to the throne in disputes, thus strengthening their own legitimation and weakening that of their rivals. Furthermore, the copper-plate charters also provide an insight into several aspects of the stabilization policies pursued by the rulers: refined structures of vassalage, systematic matrimonial alliances, and the almost comprehensive settlement of Brahmins in all regions of the kingdoms, which led to their large-scale migration within the subcontinent. Brahmins were preferred recipients of endowments of land as they acted as a supraregional foundation for the legitimation of the rulers; and it was also Brahmins who drafted the dynastic genealogies at the royal courts.
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Dates et versions

hal-03012270, version 1 (03-12-2020)

Identifiants

Citer

Annette Schmiedchen. Leitbilder und Legitimierung herrscherlicher Macht im mittelalterlichen Zentralindien (8. bis 13. Jahrhundert). Die Macht des Herrschers, 4, V&R unipress, pp.277-298, 2019, Macht und Herrschaft, 978-3-8471-1074-3. ⟨10.14220/9783737010740.277⟩. ⟨hal-03012270⟩
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Dernière date de mise à jour le 21/04/2024
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