Medieval Culture of Datia State (1626-1804 A.D.)

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Present book delves deep in to the medieval culture of DATIA state. A remarkable fact of that era was a society founded on time honoured values of peace, love, brotherhood and communal harmony. These were the hallmarks of that society. Although that culture was bereft of all the glamour and gifts of present day civilization. This study is a humble effort to discover the nature of that culture in the context of the national culture and in the process assess the extent of its contribution in the formation of the latter. This book draws upon a variety of Muslim and Bundeli sources catalogued in a separate section. Many of such sources are unpublished manuscripts. As far as historical research is concerned entire Datia state has been neglected and ignored whatever little research has been done is confined to highlighting political aspects of the region. Cultural aspect has been completely ignored; 'Datia State Library' is a virtual treasure trove of manuscripts throwing sufficient light on political and cultural life of MEDIEVAL DATIA STATE". This book is the result of painstaking study of such obscure but very precious resources by the author.

Dr. T.R. Peshvani was born on 3^rd day of Ashwin Month in Samvat 1996 at Hingora City (Kherpore State) of Sindh province of Pakistan. His father was Thanamal and mother was Beeribai. The family migrated to India after partition and settled at DATIA in the province of M.P. He acquired his P.G. degree in English literature in the year 1969 and subsequently acquired another post graduate degree in history in 1974 securing fourth position in the merit list from Jiwaji University, Gwalior. He added another feather in his acade mic cap by acquiring Doctor of Philosophy in history while serving as O.S. at Govt. P.G. College, Datia (M.P.).
He is a devoted scholar and writer. Another book that he has authored is "Sri Vasu Ram about a reverred saint of Sindh. He has been interested in the study of philoso phical writings, social reformers and saints. He has been deeply inspired by lives and works of Vivekanand, Ramkrishna Param hansa, Roman Rolland, Swami Ram, Shakespeare, R.K. Narayan, Premchand and K.M. Munshi.

Word 'Sanskriti is derived from the root 'kree' and adding the prefix 'sann' to it. It means refinement or state of mental development of a particular society. Culture comes to mean manners, morals, conduct, ethos and religion of at people or a society or a nation. Emotional life of a society gets reflected in its culture whereas its artistic life finds expression in its civilization. Thus culture is the emotional or sentimental channel while civilization is the artistic flow. Culture is the soul; civilization is the physical body. Higher the ethical conduct of a society more humane that society is. Thus culture is the life blood of a society.
Since time immemorial inner generosity has been the salient feature of Indian society, our society stands on the rock solid foundation of high human attributes. This is the true secret of its abiding nature and stability. Key note of our culture "Sarve Bhavantu Sukhina" (May everybody be happy) declares the pious wish for public welfare or common good at global level. Such is the bewitching charm of our culture that it has become a vogue to study its varied dimensions.
Our civilization has made rapid strides in every sphere of life science, technology, industry, education life has become easy and luxurious. But all this progress and development have also brought in their wake a marked moral decline - an erosion of human values and instability in the society. This has compelled our intellectual classes to reflect back on the varied aspects of the golden culture of by gone era of their forefathers. Their quest is to rediscover those forgotten but not lost, eternal sources of inspiration that have the capacity to revitalize their inner lives and once again build a healthy, stable and morally strong composite society.
Once again we shall have to incorporate old cultural values of high moral conduct, good will, gratitude, generosity, cordiality, brotherhood and nationalism to successfully check political, social, economic and religious in stability.
The subject of the present thesis is "The medieval culture of Datia state" one of the primary reasons to select such a topic, was my concern about cultural decline of the country, and my strong belief that remedy lay in past cultural roots.
Although society of that time comes nowhere near to brilliance of modern civilization. However it had many incomparable components lacking in present day society - security, peace, stability, traditional love and goodwill among different sections of the society. A humble attempt has been made to reveal the nature of that society against the backdrop of national culture. This has helped in assessing the contribution of this regional culture towards medieval culture of the nation.
First chapter deals with political background of the state of 'Datia'. It throws light on the medieval history of the state, its boundaries and kings concerned. Medieval history of the state refers to time period 1626 to 1804. Foundation of the 'Datia State' was laid in 1626 and in 1804 it became a state subordinate to British rule. Thus medieval period of the state comes to an end in 1804. Present study confines itself to consider the culture and civilization of this time.
Second chapter is concerned with study of different aspects and dimensions of society of the times.

Word 'Sanskriti' means refinement, perfection or state of mental evolution of a particular human society. It is also symptomatic of desires, aspirations, tastes, manners, morals, arts and skills. Thus it is in a nutshell indicative of total sum of intellectual development of a particular civilization.
Ever since 'Vedic' times Indian culture has been nurtured by aforesaid values. Lord Rama's empire extended magni ficently from 'Kaikaya Desh' (modern Afganistan) to 'Kaniya Kumari' (Cape Kamorin) and from Attuck to Cuttack and further east to Bramha Desh (Modern Burma).
It was a very well organised and efficiently administered empire. It balkanished in to smaller states of later ages. Once again the great 'Kautiliya' succeeded in bringing about a fusion of these states and thus restoring farmer glory of 'Rama Rajiya'. However once again selfish human interests divided the nation in to smaller states. However it is to be noted that despite rise and fall of empires due to great political upheavals cultural unity remained unaffected.
Medieval India had a preponderance of smaller states. One such state was 'Datia State' ruled by King Dantavakra of Mahabharta Times. This state kept alive ancient precious cultural heritage of India and was ever highly spoken of because of its religious and cultural excellence, social harmony, lofty moral and human values.
Dr. T.R. Peshwani has accomplished the wonderful task of bringing to light the glorious medieval culture of 'Datia State' in all its variegated aspects and dimensions through this scholarly work. To piece together the scattered gems of knowledge, he has toured extensively throughout the state, contacted a wide cross section of the society - people high and low, lay and scholarly-in his effort to reconstruct a vivid picture of a bygone era otherwise unknown to the outside world. He made numerous visits to the temples and historical sites to get a feel of architecture of that time. He spared no efforts to lay his hands on whatever piece of writing - old books, handwritten manuscripts, gazetteers and research material. He burnt the midnight oil to meditate deeply over all these resources and finally arranged them neatly in an immensely interesting, thought provoking book. This herculean task on the part of Dr. Peshwani is highly praiseworthy and will prove invaluable to the society. It will undoubtedly be included among the most useful and valuable resources on the culture of Datia.