1,888 research outputs found
A Poetic Record of the Rajput Rebellion, c. 1680
No full textAbstractThrough comparison of three poetic texts describing the career of Rana Raj Singh of Mewar (r. 1652–1680), this paper demonstrates how representations of Aurangzeb could vary dramatically even when they were produced for the same Rajput court. Much of the paper focuses on Rāj-vilās, a vernacular-language work with a lengthy account of conflict between Aurangzeb and the Rajput lords of Marwar and Mewar. Rāj-vilās is also noteworthy for its negative portrayal of the Mughal emperor, whom it castigates as a wicked killer of kin who was duplicitous and vengeful. Sometimes thought to be modern constructions, the criticisms of Aurangzeb found in Rāj-vilās reveal that certain ideas about Indian historical figures have continued to be deployed and repurposed over the centuries. Yet Rajput views during Aurangzeb's lifetime were not uniformly unfavourable, as the Sanskrit texts Rāja-ratnākara and Rāja-praśasti attest. Although these two works resembled Rāj-vilās in covering the reign of Rana Raj Singh and were written at roughly the same time, they cast Aurangzeb in a considerably more positive light. This difference can be attributed to the fluctuating political relationship between the Mughal empire and the Mewar kingdom in the decade between 1677 and 1687, underscoring the need to carefully identify the historical contexts within which representations of Aurangzeb were produced and circulated.</jats:p
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Serving Empire, Building Kingdoms: Rajput State Formation and Political Culture in the Mughal Empire, c. 1583 – 1694
No full textThis dissertation demonstrates that there was an unprecedented expansion of Rajput-governed “little kingdoms” under the aegis of the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century. The Rajputs, originating primarily from northwestern India, were elite Hindu upper-caste itinerant warriors. Rajputs belonging to notable clans served as administrative rank holders (manṣabdār) in the Mughal army and played key roles in battles that extended the frontiers of the empire. In addition to their military duties, these Rajput rank holders were assigned lands where they were responsible for the civil and revenue administration on behalf of the Mughal state. This dissertation examines the proliferation of Rajput claimants to kingship in early modern India in these hinterland agrarian subdistricts, and argues that Mughal territorial expansion directly cemented Rajput political authority in northwestern and central India. Indeed, several “little kingdoms” that the Rajput rank-holder kings settled survived the Mughal, Maratha, and British empires, and the descendants of those ruling families, their clan members, and their supporters remain elites and retain caste and political leadership to this day, despite the formal abolition of kingship in India in 1971.
“Serving Empire, Building Kingdoms” shows that Rajput kingship flourished and transformed through a close engagement with the Mughal state and its apparatuses. The central question animating the project is how Hindu kingship evolved under the Islamicate Mughal Empire. Following the Mughal conquest of north India (1526), the Mughal emperor became the subcontinent’s sovereign authority, Padshah. This dissertation shows how Rajput warriors ascended the ranks of the Mughal nobility, and became hereditary rulers or “little kings” in the hinterlands. They took on the mantle of Raja (king), a durable template embedded in Sanskrit and Brahminical traditions. Rajput kingship was characterized by an emphasis on masculinity, combining Mughal courtly etiquette, ideals of chivalry, and a normative performance of the caste-based code of kshatriya dharma (warrior duty). In this way, Islamic rule in South Asia paradoxically served as a cradle for Hindu kingship. By analyzing the infrastructural, ideological, religiopolitical, and economic factors that reinforced Rajput kingship in the Mughal Empire, this dissertation offers a ground-up study of the Mughal Empire’s facilitative role in the crystallization of local power. Specifically, this dissertation examines one such instantiation of Rajput ascendancy—the founding of little kingdoms in northwestern and central India by Mahesdas (d. 1647), a scion of a minor branch of the prestigious Rathor family, and the subsequent administrative infrastructure and governance provided by his successors.
To provide a comprehensive study of Rajput state formation in Mughal hinterlands, this dissertation turns to a combination of imperial sources in Persian, as well as materials in English and Sanskrit and an array of vernacular languages including Marwari, Braj, Hindi, Dingal, Malvi, and Pingal. Sources include Persian Mughal chronicles, courtly records, biographical compilations, land grants, poetry, newsletters, Marwari and Malvi chronicles on Rajput kingdoms, local administrative records, land grants, stone and copper-plate inscriptions, Rajput courtly literature in Braj, martyrological and heroic works in Dingal and Pingal, translated Sanskrit treatises, as well as British colonial-era ethnographic records, visual materials, built landscapes, field notes, and oral histories collected from central India and Rajasthan. Thus, besides standard sources in imperial and regional sources, “Serving Empire, Building Kingdoms,” foregrounds local texts and tales in marginal languages hitherto neglected in academic histories, bringing the little-known grassroots politics of the hinterlands to life.
Undergirded by this multilingual archive, this work makes three key contributions to the study of South Asian history. First, it challenges the conventional position that local autonomy fragments empires. Rather, this dissertation shows that the proliferation of Rajput kingdoms expedited the consolidation of Mughal authority over the empire’s hinterlands and establishes how Mughal and Rajput political authority and ideologies of rule mutually reinforced each other in the localities. Indeed, Rajput rulers in the hinterlands consciously nested their claims to kingship within Mughal sovereignty. Next, this dissertation shows how Rajput kingship thrived under Islamic sovereignty. Successful Rajput Mughal rank-holder kings developed a version of kingship in the Mughal hinterlands that was simultaneously predicated on warrior-caste leadership and Mughal sovereignty. Whilst Hindu sacral authority provided a claim over kingship for Rajput military officers, Mughal legitimacy simultaneously afforded the necessary administrative power to enact, perform, and uphold kingship. The Mughal rank-holding system, this dissertation shows, was the bedrock for this political arrangement, even though the little kings’ kingship was largely unacknowledged in imperial sources. Third, “Serving Empire, Building Kingdoms” reorients Mughal historiography’s gaze from the imperial center to the political transformations brewing in the hinterlands. Contrary to the mainstream view that Mughal decline in the eighteenth century spurred the creation of regional successor states, this project shows that subordinate kingdoms with delineated systems of governance already operated in the Mughal hinterlands
Orthographic influences, vocabulary development and phonological awareness in deaf children who use cochlear implants
No full textIn the current study, we explore the influence of orthographic knowledge on phonological awareness in children with cochlear implants and compare developmental associations to those found for hearing children matched for word reading level or chronological age. We show an influence of orthographic knowledge on syllable and phoneme awareness in deaf and hearing children, but no orthographic effect on rhyme awareness. Nonorthographic rhyme awareness was a significant predictor of reading outcomes for all groups. However, whereas receptive vocabulary knowledge was the most important predictor of word reading variance in the cochlear implant group, rhyme awareness was the only important predictor of word reading variance in the reading level matched hearing group. Both vocabulary and rhyme awareness were equally important in predicting reading in the chronological age-matched hearing group. The data suggest that both deaf and hearing children are influenced by orthography when making phonological judgments, and that phonological awareness and vocabulary are both important for reading developmen
Genetic variation at the apolipoprotein B gene and associations with coronary heart disease and its factors.
No full textPhDCoronary heart disease (CED) is the major cause of mortality in Western societies.
The main risk factors are plasma lipoprotein concentrations, smoking, blood pressure and
family history. The effect of family history implies a genetic contribution to the aetiology,
support for which has also come from twin, and other heritability studies. The genetic
component of CHID may be studied by the candidate gene approach, whereby the genes of
products most likely to be involved in the processes leading to CHD, and in its risk factors,
are analysed. The plasma concentration of apolipoprotein (apo) B, the major protein
component of low density lipoprotein (LDL), is positively correlated with the risk of
developing CHD.
In this research, the gene for apo B was analysed for restriction enzyme fragment
length polymorphisms (RFLPs). A RFLP is caused by a sequence change in the DNA, and
results in length variation in the fragments. RFLPs for apo B have been shown to be
associated with CHD and the plasma concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides and apo B
in some population studies. However, other studies have failed to confirm these relations.
The work described in this thesis was designed to overcome some of the problems which
niay have produced these inconsistencies. A random sample of 300 men, aged 49-65 years,
residing in South Wales was studied. RFLPs determined in these individuals were used to
generate genotypes and haplotypes (arrangements of specific alleles on a single
chromosome). Significant associations were found between some genotypes and some
haplotypes with altered concentrations of plasma total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and
with risk of CHD and/or with obesity. Presence of Xbal site (X2X2 genotype) was
significantly associated with higher concentrations of plasma LDL cholesterol (p=0.0 19).
Absence of Mspl site (M 1) was associated with significantly elevated concentrations of
plasma total and LDL cholesterol (p < 0.05) by both the techniques of genotype and
haplotype analysis. EcoRl RFLP (absence of the site - El) was the minimum haplotype
necessary to detect a significant association with decreased plasma cholesterol
J Rajput- Williams Ph. D. Thesis Page 3
concentrations (p < 0.05). Genotypes generated from alleles defined by the Mspl-EcoRl
RFLPs were associated with significant variation in serum cholesterol concentration (p <
0.03), showing a stratification of concentration with the highest being associated with loss
of the Mspl site and the lowest with the presence of the EcoRl site. Both these RFLPs result
in charged aminoacid alterations, and lie close to the LDL receptor binding domain of apo
B. The minimum haplotype necessary for detection of apo B with CHD was Xbal-Mspl (p
< 0.05). The minimum haplotype associated with obesity was the RFLP pair Pvull-Xbal (p
< 0.05).
Further examination for mutations of the CpG dinucleotide which may influence
cholesterol metabolism was undertaken by screening around the putative LDL receptorbinding
domain (RBD) of the apo B gene. One variant was detected for aminoacid residue
3500 (Arg,,,,, 4 Gln) mutation, and two variants for aminoacid residue 3611 which also
corresponds to the MspI mutation (Arg,,, ,4
Gln)
Kingship and Polity on the Himalayan Borderland: Rajput Identity during the Early Colonial Encounter
No full textThis book explores the modern transformation of state and society in the Indian Himalaya. Centred on three Rajput-led kingdoms during the transition to British rule (c. 1790-1840) and their interconnected histories, it demonstrates how border making practices engendered a modern reading of 'tradition' that informs communal identities to date. By revising the history of these mountain kings on the basis of extensive archival, textual, and ethnographic research, it offers an alternative to popular and scholarly discourses that grew with the rise of colonial knowledge. This revision ultimately points to the important contribution of borderland spaces to the fabrication of group identities
Kingship and Polity on the Himalayan Borderland: Rajput Identity during the Early Colonial Encounter
No full textThis book explores the modern transformation of state and society in the Indian Himalaya. Centred on three Rajput-led kingdoms during the transition to British rule (c. 1790-1840) and their interconnected histories, it demonstrates how border making practices engendered a modern reading of 'tradition' that informs communal identities to date. By revising the history of these mountain kings on the basis of extensive archival, textual, and ethnographic research, it offers an alternative to popular and scholarly discourses that grew with the rise of colonial knowledge. This revision ultimately points to the important contribution of borderland spaces to the fabrication of group identities
Permutations of Rajput identity in the West Himalayas, c. 1790-1840
No full textThe sustained interaction of local elites and British administrators in the West Himalayas over the decades that surrounded the early colonial encounter (c. 1790-1840) saw the emergence of a distinctly new understanding of communal identity among the leaders of the region. This eventful period saw the mountain ('Pahari') kingdoms transform from fragmented, autonomous polities on the fringes of the Indian subcontinent to subjects of indigenous (Nepali, Sikh) and, ultimately, foreign (British) empires, and dramatically altered the ways Pahari leaders chose to remember and represent themselves. Using a wide array of sources from different locales in the hills (e.g., oral epics, archival records and local histories), this thesis traces the Pahari elite's transition from a nebulous group of lineage-based leaders to a cohesive unitary milieu modelled after contemporary interpretations of Hindu kingship. This nascent ideal of kingship is shown to have fed into concurrent understandings of Rajput society in the West Himalayas and ultimately to have sustained the alliance between indigenous rulers and British administrators.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Permutations of Rajput identity in the West Himalayas, c. 1790-1840
No full textThe sustained interaction of local elites and British administrators in the West Himalayas over the decades that surrounded the early colonial encounter (c. 1790-1840) saw the emergence of a distinctly new understanding of communal identity among the leaders of the region. This eventful period saw the mountain ('Pahari') kingdoms transform from fragmented, autonomous polities on the fringes of the Indian subcontinent to subjects of indigenous (Nepali, Sikh) and, ultimately, foreign (British) empires, and dramatically altered the ways Pahari leaders chose to remember and represent themselves. Using a wide array of sources from different locales in the hills (e.g., oral epics, archival records and local histories), this thesis traces the Pahari elite's transition from a nebulous group of lineage-based leaders to a cohesive unitary milieu modelled after contemporary interpretations of Hindu kingship. This nascent ideal of kingship is shown to have fed into concurrent understandings of Rajput society in the West Himalayas and ultimately to have sustained the alliance between indigenous rulers and British administrators
Ion-beam-assisted fabrication and manipulation of metallic nanowires
No full textMetallic nanowires (NWs) are the key performers for future micro/nanodevices. The controlled manoeuvring and integration of such nanoscale entities are essential requirements. Presented is a discussion of a fabrication approach that combines chemical etching and ion beam milling to fabricate metallic NWs. The shape modification of the metallic NWs using ion beam irradiation (bending towards the ion beam side) is investigated. The bending effect of the NWs is observed to be instantaneous and permanent. The ion beam-assisted shape manoeuvre of the metallic structures is studied in the light of ion-induced vacancy formation and reconfiguration of the damaged layers. The manipulation method can be used for fabricating structures of desired shapes and aligning structures at a large scale. The controlled bending method of the metallic NWs also provides an understanding of the strain formation process in nanoscale metals
Mechanism and performance evaluation of spent-coffee grounds-derived nanocomposite materials for highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant
No full textThe study demonstrates a facile and environmentally friendly method for synthesizing crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of hydrochar generated from readily available biomass waste, i.e., spent coffee grounds (SCGs), using a simple sol–gel process. The hydrochar served as a support for TiO2, reducing the rate at which electrons and holes recombine during photocatalysis, thereby facilitating the effective binding of TiO2, enhancing its adsorption capacity, and the convenient separation of the photocatalyst after usage. The materials were tested in the photocatalytic degradation of an organic pollutant, methylene blue (MB) dye. TiO2-hydrochar obtained at 210 ⁰C has the best performance, giving a degradation efficiency of 98.5 % and a mineralization efficiency of 87.1 % in 90 min at neutral pH. Radical trapping experiments showed
being the dominant species, followed by
. Besides, it showed superior stability with an activity loss of ∼ 9.2 % after five runs. The superior performance of the HCT210 was ascribed to the enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics between the TiO2 and hydrochar through
bond formation, better light absorption, and the high surface area of the materials. Performance metrics show that synthesized nanocomposites are promising photocatalysts, providing a biomass-assisted method for robust photocatalytic wastewater treatment.Killam TrustsNatural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC
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