Wrestling with Community and Social Change in Early Modern Western India: the Jyesthimallas and the MallapurÄá¹a, c. 1674
In: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the OrientSearch for other papers by Karil Soral in
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Abstract
This article studies a community text of a group of professional wrestlers hailing from the town of Modhera in western India. Titled the MallapurÄá¹a (literally, The PurÄá¹a of the Wrestlers), the text was compiled in c.1674 at the behest of a group of individuals known as the Jyesthimallas. The MallapurÄá¹a narrativises the origin of these wrestlers and records the processes of their identity formation. Remarkably, it is through an idea of wrestling as a sacred science (mallavidyÄ) bestowed upon these wrestlers by lord Krishna that the MallapurÄá¹a articulates the identity of the Jyesthimallas as brahmanas. The text brings together various schemes of classification and sub-categorization juxtaposing these with a complex set of inter-related themes of devotion, physiology, medicine, and non-human animals, to further connect these with the processes of the Jyesthimalla âethnogenesisâ. The article considers these discussions on wrestling within the text and historicises them vis-Ã -vis the processes of identity formation and claims to brahmana status in early modern western India.
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Wrestling with Community and Social Change in Early Modern Western India: the Jyesthimallas and the MallapurÄá¹a, c. 1674
In: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the OrientSearch for other papers by Karil Soral in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article studies a community text of a group of professional wrestlers hailing from the town of Modhera in western India. Titled the MallapurÄá¹a (literally, The PurÄá¹a of the Wrestlers), the text was compiled in c.1674 at the behest of a group of individuals known as the Jyesthimallas. The MallapurÄá¹a narrativises the origin of these wrestlers and records the processes of their identity formation. Remarkably, it is through an idea of wrestling as a sacred science (mallavidyÄ) bestowed upon these wrestlers by lord Krishna that the MallapurÄá¹a articulates the identity of the Jyesthimallas as brahmanas. The text brings together various schemes of classification and sub-categorization juxtaposing these with a complex set of inter-related themes of devotion, physiology, medicine, and non-human animals, to further connect these with the processes of the Jyesthimalla âethnogenesisâ. The article considers these discussions on wrestling within the text and historicises them vis-Ã -vis the processes of identity formation and claims to brahmana status in early modern western India.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1647 | 621 | 55 |
| Full Text Views | 91 | 24 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 138 | 54 | 3 |
