The ‘World of the Text’ and Political Thought in Bengali Maṅgal-kāvya,c. 1500–1750

Abstract

Maṅgal-kāvya are long, didactic and literary narrative poems that teach benefits of worshipping particular deities. They were composed in Bengal during rapid expansion on two agrarian frontiers, and in the context of apical rule by Muslims. Maṅgal-kāvya developed innovative political thought through the invention of problematic scenes, ameliorative purposes and agencies ‘from below’. Using literal and symbolic contrasts between forests and settled and ruled domains, they portrayed imperfectly governed scenes of desire and anxiety. Ameliorative purposes of the deities to be worshipped were related to imperfectly governed scenes. Ameliorative purposes included counteracting literal and figurative ‘poisons’, resolving conflict cause by literal and figurative ‘hunting’, and inculcating a nor-mative warrior culture for men and women on the agrarian frontier. Per-haps partly in response to Muslim rule, Maṅgal-kāvya developed innovative political thought through the invention of agencies ‘from below’ which relied on both human and divine power. Although defined in terms of gender and caste, human agencies ‘from below’ included the capacity to change position on both gender and caste scales, but proper limits to agencies of women and low-caste men were debated both in Maṅgal-kāvya texts and in related oral stories.