What was the population of medieval South Asia? New study gives estimates
The population of South Asia was larger than previously thought during the Middle Ages. A new study estimates that around the year 640, this region’s population was about 58 million, and that by the year 1600 it had risen to 145 million people.
Wayfinding Through the Stars: The Science and Craft of Medieval Navigation in the Indian Ocean
A case study of the practices of medieval Indian Ocean pilots, and quite particularly at their sophisticated usage of the lunar mansions (manazil al-qamar), and stars in general, for making their way through the ocean.
Temples of Medieval Deccan India
The Deccan plateau of peninsular India witnessed an unparalleled efflorescence in sacred Hindu and Jain architecture and art in the medieval age.
The Units of Time in Ancient and Medieval India
This is a preliminary survey of time units used or mentioned in ancient and medieval works written in Sanskrit and other Indian languages.
How the borders of India changed in the Middle Ages
The Indian subcontinent would see the rise and fall of many states during the Middle Ages. Here are five videos to explain the changing borders.
Sultana Raziya of Delhi: Pillar of Women and Queen of the Eras
In the medieval world it was rare for a woman to hold power. It seems incredible to read the story of Raziya of Delhi, not only because she was chosen to lead a realm, but the way she fought to keep it.
Medieval coin hoard discovered in India
A hoard of 254 copper coins dating back to the 16th century were discovered northern India, officials announced this week.
Mutilation and the Law in Early Medieval Europe and India: A Comparative Study
Such penalties, the rhetoric surrounding their use, and the circumstances in which they were prescribed sound very familiar to a historian of early medieval Europe, where the language and targets of such precepts were similar to those set out in the Indian material.
The First Zero
When did the mathematical zero begin being used? New research revealed this week by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries shows that a manuscript from India bearing the symbol was written in the 3rd or 4th century, making it the world’s oldest recorded origin of the zero that we use today.
The Global Side of Medieval at the Getty Centre: Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts
Los Angeles correspondent, Danielle Trynoski takes through the, ‘Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts’ exhibut at the Getty Museum.
Comparing China and India in the 9th century
A ninth-century Arabic text offers insights into daily life in medieval China and India.
Valentine’s Day Medieval Love: Books for that special someone
Love is in the air! Here are a few medieval books on the topic of love for your Valentine.
Marvels and Allies in the East. India as Heterotopia of Latin Europe in the 12th Century
It has long been said that Latin Europe lost its connection to the East, specifically to Asia, in the early Middle Ages. But this is only part of the truth. From late Antiquity on, there were Christians in many places between the Mediterranean Sea and China.
Vespucci’s Triangle and the Shape of the World
Interdisciplinary interactions between sixteenth-century travellers and cosmographers produced visual models that challenged normative modes of visual thinking, even as they tried to clarify ideas about the earth’s surface.
The Black Death in Medieval India: a Historical Mystery
Why did a pestilence that had such an impact on one part of the world go unmentioned in another part of the world?
Singers, advisers, and servants: role of eunuchs from a historical context
According to the Book of Matthew, Jesus said that there were eunuchs made of men, who had made them- selves by their fathers to be that way for heaven’s sake, and if they have received such a procedure, then let them keep it. Jesus referred to castration as an infallible way to achieve celibacy. And records of Christian history indicate that many Christian religious figures were castrated.
‘Old Men of the Mountains’: a comparative study of the Ghūrids and the Ismā‘īlīs of Alamūt
Striking parallels exist between these two dynasties – marginalised and despised by their neighbours, they established secure mountain strongholds, which acted as refuges and bases from which to expand.
Medieval Arabic manuscripts, East India Company papers, to go online
The British Library and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development have unveiled an ambitious partnership to transform people’s understanding of the history of the Middle East, and the region’s relationship with Britain and the rest of the world.
Imagining Samarkand: Fruitful Themes in 13th-16th Century Literature on a Silk Road City
… Samarkand was seen as the last great urban Islamic stop.4 Perhaps because of this, the period between the Arab invasion of Samarkand and the Mongol invasion in 1220 fomented many of the mythologies about the city which will feature prominently in this paper.
Imagining the Metropolis on the Islamic Periphery: Commerce, Scholarship, and Architecture in 15th c. Bidar and Timbuktu
In this paper I wish to explore the similarities and differences that these two cities exhibit in terms of their evolution, their relationship to political power, and most importantly, the ways they imagined themselves in relation to metropolitan centers in the Islamic heartland.
Prester John: Fiction and History
Prester John: Fiction and History Bar-Ilan, Meir History of European Ideas, 20/1-3 (1995) Abstract A Hebrew book of Ben-Sira was published in 1519 in…
Paper Technology in Medieval India
Paper Technology in Medieval India By S.A.K. Ghori and A.Rahman Indian Journal of the History of Science, Vol. 2 (1966) Abstract: The paper…
The Gypsies and Their Impact on Fifteenth-Century Western European Iconography
Since Gypsies had no chroniclers of their own, their history is difficult to reconstruct. The origin of the Gypsies was a complete mystery until late in the eighteenth century, when their derivation from India was proved by means of early linguistic com- parison.
Anxieties of Attachment: The Dynamics of Courtship in Medieval India
Anxieties of Attachment: The Dynamics of Courtship in Medieval India By Daud Ali Modern Asian Studies, Vol.36:1 (2002) Introduction: The copious literature on…
Yemeni ‘Oceanic Policy’ at the end of the 13th century
Yemeni ‘Oceanic Policy’ at the end of the 13th century By Eric Vallett Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies (2005) Abstract: This paper…