Masala History

In this episode, we explore the history of Kanhoji Angre and his exploits in the Arabian Sea, particularly against the British East India Company. Angre and his sons are perhaps better known to history as the fierce and dangerous “Angria pirates” who plundered and murdered poor innocents on the Indian Seas. But was Kanhoji Angre a pirate as the British said he was or was he India’s first freedom fighter?

European pirates in the Indian Ocean were a menace for European East India trading companies as much as Indian rulers, the Mughals and the Marathas, of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this episode, we discuss the life of pirates in the Indian Ocean and the companies that chased them, thinking of piracy as more than just thievery in the seas.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'}

She was a concubine, courtesan, wife, lover, warrior, leader, a Mughal noble, a British ally. She was Christian and Muslim. She threw grand parties that South Asians and Europeans alike were enamored with. In the nineteenth-century male-dominated world of South Asia, Begum Samru stood out, and purposely so. The Mughal emperor Shah Alam II depended on her as much as the British sometimes did. In this episode, we discuss the remarkable life of a woman leader who fought on the field and off it. Born in poverty, she died as one of the richest people in the subcontinent, Begum Samru's life and legacy is the topic of this podcast episode.

The act of men impersonating women has had a long history in the performance cultures of South Asia. Our understanding of these enactments in theater, dance, or in religious rituals has, however, remained marginal, often considering these in western modes as 'drag' while discounting complex issues of gendered gaze, sexuality, and social mores in which these performances are embroiled. In this episode, Shilpa Menon breaks down the practice of female impersonation in South Asia providing us the history of the practice as well as its contemporary relevance, while presenting these practices as an important issue when considering rights of marginalized groups in India and other parts of the subcontinent.

Is she the great illusion or the gravest ignorance? Is she the destroyer of Mahisha or the avenger of the demonic twins Shumbha and Nishumbha? Is she Ambika, or Chandika, or Kali, or Parvati, or Mahamaya, or Durga? Who is Devi, the Great Goddess? Why did she drink alcohol and get inebriated? Did she eat people? In this episode, the different forms of the great goddess within Hinduism is explored through the telling of the stories contained in the sixth-century scripture, Devi Mahatmya.

How did one cook fish in medieval South India? Was there an ideal woman for a king to marry? Were pedicures a thing? In this podcast, we discuss the 12th century treatise on all things pleasurable that was made available for royalty. Written by the erudite scholar king Someshwara III, Manasollasa, the encyclopedic work on kingship and pleasure, provides us with a glimpse into the society of Chalukya--their games, food, dress, and architecture.

The history of Mehr-un-Nissa, the future Empress Nur Jahan, twentieth and last wife of Emperor Jahangir, is marked by intrigue, bravery, and everything in between. It is no wonder that the seventeenth-century life of Nur Jahan has been subject of both feminist interpretations and mythical readings. We have seen her in movies; she is a stock figure either as conniving wife or a power hungry wannabe. Often in these narratives, Nur Jahan’s ingenuity as an administrator, her leadership, and charisma get forgotten or are completely erased. In this podcast, we discuss the history and myth of one of India’s real empresses, Nur Jahan.

The history of the Government House, now the residence of the Governor of West Bengal, is a history of the British Empire in India condensed into 26 acres of land at the heart of the "white town" of Calcutta. Amongst its maidan, gardens, and cannons, the Government House stands tall in typical neoclassical fashion--conservative, traditional, and imperial. In this episode, we discuss how a building came to be conceived as the domestic face of an empire and a monument to imperial success, yet, in its use, reuse, and misuse (by birds, animals, and even gardeners of India) stands today as an apt metaphor for colonialism in the Indian subcontinent.

Emperor Jahangir loved alcohol, opium, hunting (shikar), and, like all good South Asians, mangoes. His numerous experiences with all the above, his beloved wife Nur Jahan, his son, the future emperor Shah Jahan, and more were written down by him in his autobiography Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri. In this podcast, we discuss the colorful pleasure-seeking life of this Mughal emperor - a man who was selfish, addicted, humorous, and generous, all at once.

Pem Nem, a love story of longing, despair, and ultimate unification is discussed in this pod as an example of the multiculturalism of the Deccan Sultanate courts of the seventeenth century. Seen as a period of cultural efflorescence, the reign of rulers like Ibrahim Adil Shah II (r.1579-1627) of Bijapur and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (r.1580-1611) of Golconda, themselves creative and erudite, are marked by the vivid richness of their court cultures and the vast literary and artistic production of the period. For references, images, and further readings, visit us at www.masalahistory.com (www.masalahistory.com).