The Loss of Hindustan : The Invention of India

**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.** Did 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. 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. 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. This makes for a radical interpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. 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. 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 closely examines the most complete idea of Hindustan, elaborated by the early seventeenth century Deccan historian Firishta. His monumental work, __Tarikh-i Firishta,__ became a major source for European philosophers and historians, such as Voltaire, Kant, Hegel, and Gibbon during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet Firishta’s notions of Hindustan were lost and replaced by a different idea of India that we inhabit today. __The Loss of Hindustan__ reveals the intellectual pathways that dispensed with multicultural Hindustan and created a religiously partitioned world of today.

Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize "Remarkable and pathbreaking...A radical rethink of colonial historiography and a compelling argument for the reassessment of the historical traditions of Hindustan."
—Mahmood Mamdani"The brilliance of Asif's book rests in the way he makes readers think about the name 'Hindustan'...Asif's focus is Indian history but it is, at the same time, a lens to look at questions far bigger."
—Soni Wadhwa, Asian Review of Books "Remarkable...Asif's analysis and conclusions are powerful and poignant."
—Rudrangshu Mukherjee, The Wire "A tremendous contribution...This is not only a book that you must read, but also one that you must chew over and debate."
—Audrey Truschke, Current History "Asif has given us nothing short of a master class in the ethics of history writing, illuminating the path to a South Asian future free of intercommunal prejudice and the oppression of minorities."
—Cemil Aydin, author of The Idea of the Muslim World "How has the great Indo-Islamic tradition of history-writing been used and misused, bowdlerized or simply effaced? This is a significant contribution to intellectual history, as well as to the long-term political and cultural history of South Asia."
—Sanjay Subrahmanyam, author of Europe's India Did India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have a shared regional identity prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century? Manan Ahmed Asif tackles this contentious question by inviting us to reconsider the work and legacy of the influential historian Muhammad Qasim Firishta, a contemporary of the Mughal Emperors Akbar and Jahangir. Inspired by his reading of Firishta and other historians, Asif seeks to rescue our understanding of the region from colonial narratives that emphasize difference and division.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. Turning to the subcontinent's medieval past, he uncovers a rich network of historians of Hindustan who imagined, studied, and shaped their kings, cities, and societies. The Loss of Hindustan reveals how multicultural Hindustan was deliberately eclipsed in favor of the religiously partitioned world of today. A magisterial work with far reaching implications, it offers a radical reinterpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity.

Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize “Remarkable and pathbreaking...A radical rethink of colonial historiography and a compelling argument for the reassessment of the historical traditions of Hindustan.” —Mahmood Mamdani “The brilliance of Asif’s book rests in the way he makes readers think about the name ‘Hindustan’...Asif’s focus is Indian history but it is, at the same time, a lens to look at questions far bigger.” —Soni Wadhwa, Asian Review of Books “Remarkable...Asif’s analysis and conclusions are powerful and poignant.” —Rudrangshu Mukherjee, The Wire “A tremendous contribution...This is not only a book that you must read, but also one that you must chew over and debate.” —Audrey Truschke, Current History “Asif has given us nothing short of a master class in the ethics of history writing, illuminating the path to a South Asian future free of intercommunal prejudice and the oppression of minorities.” —Cemil Aydin, author of The Idea of the Muslim World “How has the great Indo-Islamic tradition of history-writing been used and misused, bowdlerized or simply effaced? This is a significant contribution to intellectual history, as well as to the long-term political and cultural history of South Asia.” —Sanjay Subrahmanyam, author of Europe’s India Did India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have a shared regional identity prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late fifteenth century? Manan Ahmed Asif tackles this contentious question by inviting us to reconsider the work and legacy of the influential historian Muhammad Qasim Firishta, a contemporary of the Mughal Emperors Akbar and Jahangir. Inspired by his reading of Firishta and other historians, Asif seeks to rescue our understanding of the region from colonial narratives that emphasize difference and division. 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. Turning to the subcontinent’s medieval past, he uncovers a rich network of historians of Hindustan who imagined, studied, and shaped their kings, cities, and societies. The Loss of Hindustan reveals how multicultural Hindustan was deliberately eclipsed in favor of the religiously partitioned world of today. A magisterial work with far reaching implications, it offers a radical reinterpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. Did 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. 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. 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.0This makes for a radical interpretation of how India came to its contemporary political identity. 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. 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 closely examines the most complete idea of Hindustan, elaborated by the early seventeenth century Deccan historian Firishta. His monumental work, Tarikh-i Firishta, became a major source for European philosophers and historians, such as Voltaire, Kant, Hegel, and Gibbon during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet Firishta's notions of Hindustan were lost and replaced by a different idea of India that we inhabit today "The Loss of Hindustan presents a radical re-interpretation of how Europe came to see "India," and how "India" re-imagined history and in the process lost its identity of Hindustan as a home for all faiths. Asif uses Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, English, French, Portuguese, and German histories about the subcontinent to demonstrate the work of history writing in the subcontinent before European rule, and how the practice of history writing changed as a result of colonialism. Turning back to the subcontinent's medieval past, the author focuses on the monumental history of Hindustan by Firishta, "Tarikh-i Firishta" which was written ca 1608 CE in the central, Deccan, region of the subcontinent. Firishta became the key source for European philosophers (Voltaire, Kant, Hegel) and historians (Edward Gibbon, James Mill) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century"-- Proporcionado por el editor "The Loss of Hindustan presents a radical re-interpretation of how Europe came to see "India," and how "India" re-imagined history and in the process lost its identity of Hindustan as a home for all faiths. Asif uses Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, English, French, Portuguese, and German histories about the subcontinent to demonstrate the work of history writing in the subcontinent before European rule, and how the practice of history writing changed as a result of colonialism. Turning back to the subcontinent's medieval past, the author focuses on the monumental history of Hindustan by Firishta, "Tarikh-i Firishta" which was written ca 1608 CE in the central, Deccan, region of the subcontinent. Firishta became the key source for European philosophers (Voltaire, Kant, Hegel) and historians (Edward Gibbon, James Mill) in the eighteenth and nineteenth century"-- Provided by publisher The Indian subcontinent was once known as Hindustan, a multicultural region with a cohesive political identity. Manan Ahmed Asif explores the abandonment of this pluralism under European influence, such that a place once understood as the home of all faiths is now considered-locally and abroad-the land of the Hindus.