![]() Asif closely examines the most complete idea of Hindustan, elaborated by the early seventeenth century Deccan historian Firishta. ![]() Turning to the subcontinent’s medieval past, Asif uncovers a rich network of historians of Hindustan who imagined, studied, and shaped their kings, cities, and societies. Asif argues that a European understanding of India as Hindu has replaced an earlier, native understanding of India as Hindustan, a home for all faiths. This makes for a radical interpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. Asif describes the idea of Hindustan, as reflected in the work of native historians from roughly 1000 CE to 1900 CE, and how that idea went missing. Manan Ahmed Asif argues that Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Republic of India share a common political ancestry: they are all part of a region whose people understand themselves as Hindustani. “A field-changing history explains how the subcontinent lost its political identity as the home of all religions and emerged as India, the land of the Hindus.ĭid South Asia have a shared regional identity prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century? This is a subject of heated debate in scholarly circles and contemporary political discourse. ![]()
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