Abstract:

The prasasti is a panegyric poem usually found in the inscriptions of South Asia. This talk will trace the early medieval history of the Sanskrit prasasti, and explore its role in legitimizing polity. We will trace the braiding of the poetic and political in this genre, which perhaps accounts for its longevity. We will then discuss the Palam Baoli inscription, which records the philanthropy of a Punjabi merchant, while also incorporating a praise-poem addressed to Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban. The talk will highlight the hybridity and polyvalence of the prasasti, an insight that is worth exploring with other premodern literary genres. The talk will adumbrate a problematic consequence of outdated models of periodization of Indian history, i.e. the association of Sanskrit sources with ‘Ancient History’ and Persian and Arabic sources with ‘Medieval History’.  

Author Bio:

Kesavan Veluthat has taught history at the Universities of Calicut, Mangalore, and Delhi. He is one of the most important voices in re-examining the notion of the ‘medieval’ in South Asian history. Alongside his many contributions to the political and cultural history of South India, Kesavan has been producing valuable studies and translations of Sanskrit belletristic texts into English – The Buffalo Century: Vanchesvara Diksita’s Mahisatakam (2020), and into Malayalam – Magha’s Sisupalavadham (2022) and Bharavi’s Kiratarjuniyam (2023). His latest book is Clio Revisits Calliope: A Historian’s Excursion to the Kavya Literature (2025).