Abstract
Abstract This article examines the Persian translation of the Śivapurāṇa composed in 1730 by Kishan Singh ‘Nashat’. By historically contextualising Nashat’s life and work and closely reading the preface attached to the translation, this study sheds light on hitherto unexplored aspects of eighteenth-century Persianised Hindu scribal communities and their textual production on Hinduism. Against the backdrop of the emerging Persian Vaiṣṇava literature in the eighteenth century, Nashat’s Shiv Puran stands out in its Śaiva devotional sentiment. Through a careful examination of the translation against a range of Sanskrit sources and catalogues of Sanskrit manuscripts, this article further illuminates the muddled history of the textual transmission of the Śivapurāṇa in Sanskrit. Ultimately, this study shows that Persian translations produced by Hindus, outside of the Mughal courtly context, are a rich source for the study of popular Hinduism in the early modern period.
Published Version
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