James W. Laine is an American academic and writer notable for his controversial book on the 17th-century Indian king Shivaji, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India. [1]
James Laine is the Arnold H. Lowe Professor of Religious Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. [2] He holds a BA (1974) from Texas Tech University, an MTS (1977), and a doctorate in Theology (1984) from Harvard University. [1]
Laine's book, Shivaji Maharaj: Hindu King in Islamic India, contained an offhand comment quoting an anecdote concerning Shivaji's parentage, as part of Laine's discussion of the mysteries of Shivaji's unclear relationship with his father. [3] After publication, four Maratha scholars publicly denounced the book. A hardline Maratha group attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, India, accusing its high-caste Brahmin scholars as assisting in Laine's so-called slander of Shivaji. [4] In view of the attacks and the public unrest, the book was banned in the state of Maharashtra in January 2004. Filing a petition in the Bombay High Court, James Laine apologized for an offending paragraph on page 93 of the book. Regardless, a warrant was filed for his arrest, and India attempted to have him extradited from the United States. [3] [5]
The publisher Oxford Printing Press [lower-alpha 1] promised to delete the paragraph from all future editions of the book, [6] following which the court lifted the ban in 2007. In July 2010, the Supreme Court of India upheld the lifting of the ban, [7] [8] which was followed by public demonstrations against the author and the decision. [9] [10]
Laine offered a longer analysis of the dispute in 2011. He deplored the attacks on Indian scholars and scholarly institutions which he said had no influence over his choice of tone, but acknowledged that his invocation of a joke was insensitive to Indian caste politics and ought not to be defended as freedom of speech. [11]
Muhi al-Din Muhammad, commonly known as Aurangzeb, was the sixth Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707. His regnal name is Alamgir I, which derived from his title, Abu al-Muzaffar Muhi-ad-Din Muhammad Bahadur Alamgir Aurangzeb Badshah al-Ghazi. Under his emperorship, Mughal India reached its greatest extent and zenith of glory with territory spanning nearly the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.
Shivaji I was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilshahi Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned the Chhatrapati of his realm at Raigad Fort.
The Maratha caste is composed of 96 clans, originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the peasant (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), blacksmith (Lohar), carpenter (Sutar), Bhandari, Thakar and Koli castes in Maharashtra. Many of them took to military service in the 16th century for the Deccan sultanates or the Mughals. Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, they served in the armies of the Maratha Empire, founded by Shivaji, a Maratha Kunbi by caste. Many Marathas were granted hereditary fiefs by the Sultanates, and Mughals for their service.
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It was founded on 6 July 1917 and named after Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), long regarded as the founder of Indology (Orientalism) in India. The institute is well known for its collection of old Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts.
The Bhonsle are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system.
Kayastha or Kayasth denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.
Shahaji Bhosale was a 17th century Indian military leader who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career. As a member of the Bhonsle dynasty, Shahaji inherited the Pune and Supe jagirs (fiefs) from his father Maloji, who previously served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. During the Mughal invasion of the Deccan, Shahaji joined the Mughal forces and served under Emperor Shah Jahan for a short period. After being deprived of his jagirs, he defected to the Bijapur Sultanate in 1632 and regained control over Pune and Supe. In 1638, he received the jagir of Bangalore after Bijapur's invasion of Kempe Gowda III's territories. Afterwards, he became the chief general of Bijapur and oversaw its expansion.
Afzal Khan was a general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur Sultanate in India. He played an important role in the southern expansion of the Bijapur Sultanate by subjugating the Nayaka chiefs who had taken control of the former Vijayanagara territory.
Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) or historically and commonly known as Chandraseniya Prabhu or just Prabhu is an ethnic group mainly found in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Historically, they made equally good warriors, statesmen as well as writers. They held the posts such as Deshpande and Gadkari according to the historian, B.R. Sunthankar, produced some of the best warriors in Maharashtrian history.
Sambhaji Brigade is a Maratha outfit, based in Maharashtra, India. It is a branch of the Maratha Seva Sangh. The Brigade is named after the Maratha king Sambhaji son of the first Maratha king Shivaji.
The Marathi people or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India on May 1, 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganisation of the Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their caste; However, it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha.
Censorship in India has taken various forms throughout its history. Although de jure the Constitution of India guarantees freedom of expression, de facto there are various restrictions on content, with an official view towards "maintaining communal and religious harmony", given the history of communal tension in the nation. According to the Information Technology Rules 2011, objectionable content includes anything that "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order".
The Thanjavur Maratha kingdom ruled by the Bhonsle dynasty was a principality of Tamil Nadu between the 17th and 19th centuries. Their native language was Thanjavur Marathi. Venkoji was the founder of the dynasty.
Jaoli principality was a Jagir of Maratha Morè (clan) which is located in the western part of the present day Maharashtra state. Jaoli was seen as a strategically important by Shivaji Maharaj as it is surrounded by dense forest with 13 forts.
Shivaji was the founder of the Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent. This article describes Shivaji's life from his birth until the age of 19 years (1630–1649).
The Battle of Chakan in 1660 took place between Mughal forces led by Shaista Khan and Maratha forces commanded by Firangoji Narsala at Chakan in Maharashtra. Shaista Khan's Mughal forces emerged victorious by besieging the Chakan fort, leading to the surrender of the Maratha commander Firangoji.
Parasnis or Parasnavis is a title and surname native to the Indian state of Maharashtra and North Karnataka.
Shri-Shiva-Prabhuche-Charitra, better known as Sabhasad Bakhar, is a Marathi language biography of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. It was written by Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad at Jinji, at the court of Shivaji's son Rajaram in 1697.
The Bhonsle dynasty are a prominent Indian Marathi royal house. They claimed descent from the Rajput Sisodia dynasty, but were likely Kunbi Marathas.