Devotional sovereignty kingship and religion in India Devotional sovereignty : kingship and religion in colonial India Simmons, Caleb creator author. text bibliography History. nyu 2020 2020 monographic eng print xii, 277 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. Devotional Sovereignty: Kingship and Religion in India investigates the shifting conceptualization of sovereignty in the South Indian kingdom of Mysore during the reigns of Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-1799) and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (r. 1799-1868). Tipu Sultan was a Muslim king famous for resisting British dominance until his death; Krishnaraja III was a Hindu king who succumbed to British political and administrative control. Despite their differences, the courts of both kings dealt with the changing political landscape by turning to the religious and mythical past to construct a royal identity for their kings. Caleb Simmons explores the ways in which these two kings and their courts modified and adapted pre-modern Indian notions of sovereignty and kingship in reaction to British intervention. The religious past provided an idiom through which the Mysore courts could articulate their rulers' claims to kingship in the region, attributing their rule to divine election and employing religious vocabulary in a variety of courtly genres and media. Through critical inquiry into the transitional early colonial period, this study sheds new light on pre-modern and modern India, with implications for our understanding of contemporary politics. It offers a revisionist history of the accepted narrative in which Tipu Sultan is viewed as a radical Muslim reformer and Krishnaraja III as a powerless British puppet. Simmons paints a picture of both rulers in which they work within and from the same understanding of kingship, utilizing devotion to Hindu gods, goddesses, and gurus to perform the duties of the king. Caleb Simmons. Other title from dustcover. Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-264) and index. a-ii--- Hinduism India India Religion Mysore (India) Kings and rulers India History British occupation, 1765-1947 India Politics and government 1765-1947 Nawab of Mysore Tipu Sultan, Fath ʻAli 1753-1799 III, Maharaja of Mysore Kr̥ṣṇarāja Vaḍeyara active 1799-1868 III, Maharaja of Mysore Kr̥ṣṇarāja Vaḍeyara active 1799-1868 Nawab of Mysore Tipu Sultan, Fath ʻAli 1753-1799 British Occupation of India (1765-1947) Hinduism Kings and rulers Politics and government Religion India India Mysore 1765-1947 fast DS463 .S56 2020 Religion, culture, and history series 9780190088897 0190088893 YDX 190728 20200212081921.0 in00004156302 eng