Rice Historical Review Spring 2020

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/111320

The Rice Historical Review is a research journal designed to showcase outstanding scholarly works produced by Rice University's undergraduate students.

Table of Contents

In order of appearance.

—Front Matter (PDF | 710.5 kB)

—Fainting Francis or Weeping Willie: The Construction of American Perceptions of Mohammed Mossadegh
by Allen Sellers (PDF | 1.664 Mb )

—Translating Theology: A Textual Examination of Akbar’s Religiosity
by Akhil Jonnalagadda (PDF | 1.347 Mb )

— King of the Birds: Making Symbol, Subject, and Science in the Skies of Hindustan
by Kristen Hickey (PDF | 2.395 Mb)

— Seeing Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) Through a Romantic Lens
by Carolyn Daly (PDF | 1.193 Mb )

—Back Matter (PDF | 1.384 Mb)

For complete issues of Rice Historical Review, visit the journal website

Editorial Board

Alison Drileck, Editor-in-Chief
Laura Li, Editor-in-Chief
Miriam Wolter, Managing Editor
Mikayla Knutson, Associate Managing Editor
Katie Nguyen, Publishing Director
George Elsesser, Assistant Managing Editor
Sarah Gao, Director of Copy Editing
Olivia Daneker, Art Director
Spencer Moffat, Director of Short Form
Caroline Siegfried, Director of Copy Editing
Frederick Drummond, Short Form Copy Editor
Victoria Saeki-Serna, Director of Short Form
Jordan Killinger, Director of Podcasting
Alex Vela, Director of Media
Riley Meve, Director of Public Relations
Melissa Carmona, Assistant Director of Podcasting
Rachel Lisker, Distribution Manager
Josue Alvarenga, Assistant Director of Podcasting

Faculty Review Board

Dr. Lisa Spiro | Historical Review Faculty Advisor | Executive Director of Digital Scholarship Services
Dr. Lisa Balabanlilar| Director of Undergraduate Studies| Associate Professor of History
Dr. Tani Barlow| George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities | Professor of History
Dr. Daniel Domingues| Assistant Professor of History
Dr. Daniel Dominguez da Silva| Assistant Professor of History
Dr. Maya Irish| Associate Professor of History

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Browsing Rice Historical Review Spring 2020 by Author "Jonnalagadda, Akhil"

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    Translating Theology: A Textual Examination of Akbar’s Religiosity
    (Rice University, 2020) Jonnalagadda, Akhil; King, Abigail
    This paper examines the translation movement of Hindu epics from Sanskrit to Persian spearheaded by the sixteenth century Mughal emperor Akbar. Many historians understand this phenomenon as a cultural accommodation by the emperor to attain legitimacy amongst a heterogeneous populace. This paper, in contrast, seeks to locate this effort within a broader theological project by Akbar to unite Hindu and Sufi thought in order to imbue a corporeal divinity within himself. To do so, this paper explores the religious milieu in which the texts were translated through courtly histories and through recorded commentary by the emperor’s contemporaries. Despite the indisputable political expedience of the translations, one can argue that an experimental impulse to reconfigure Mughal theology was the foundational term of the initiative. This argument would thus dismantle a popular perception of a rigid, strictly defined empire and instead offer one of a notably porous and assimilatory Mughal identity.