This article studies a corpus of genealogical materials from Bengal called kulajis or kulagranthas, which had served important political and cultural functions for several centuries. The main focus here is on trying to understand the historical context in which these materials were pro-duced, their substantive contents and the ideological function performed by them. The essay also seeks to explore the historicity of these genealogies and analyse the roles of the king and the jati-based community or samaj from the perspective of the kulagranthas.
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