“Royal Rage in Rajputana: The Politics of Anger in Mughal India" explores the issue of anger and kingship in early modern India, drawing on a warrior chronicle composed ca. 1600. Unlike earlier texts in Sanskrit which deplore the emotion of anger, this vernacular work from Rajasthan depicts kings as frequently expressing anger toward their subordinates – whether this is legitimate or not is a critical point for analysis. While the deployment of anger for political purposes in Rajasthan’s martial culture is a departure from traditional Brahmin norms.

Cynthia Talbot, who received her BA and MA degrees from the University of Michigan (and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin), is an Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. While her research focuses on late medieval and early modern South Asia, she teaches more broadly, including a survey of the premodern world. Talbot’s most recent book is The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Chauhan and the Indian Present, 1200-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2016).