- There was a clear notion of the cultural other (called mleccha-s) is apparent in medieval works.
- Muslim invasion is considred in - skandapurANa, rAjatarangiNI, somadeva-sUri, kathAsaritsAgara १८ (GB) with deva-s requesting the mahendrAditya incarnation, viShNu sending trivikramasena to fight mlecCha-s, bilhaNa’s karNasundarI, the kAlachakra-tantra, pRthvIrAja-vijaya .
- Early accounts of the invasions [N_PP]
Rājataraṅgiṇī
It is interesting to note that 𑆯𑇀𑆫𑆵𑆮𑆫 {śrīvara} in his 15th century 𑆫𑆳𑆘𑆠𑆫𑆕𑇀𑆓𑆴𑆟𑆵 {Rājataraṅgiṇī} calls the local vernacular language of Kaśmīra as the 𑆲𑆴𑆤𑇀𑆢𑆶𑆱𑇀𑆡𑆳𑆤𑆮𑆳𑆖𑇀 or the “Language of the Hindus”. So in the 15th century, the Kashmiri language was considered by him to be the language of the Hindus of Kashmir. He makes a distinction between
- 𑆥𑆳𑆫𑆱𑆴𑆨𑆳𑆰𑆳 (Persian)
- 𑆠𑆶𑆫𑆶𑆰𑇀𑆑𑆨𑆳𑆰𑆳 (Turkic)
- 𑆲𑆴𑆤𑇀𑆢𑆶𑆱𑇀𑆡𑆳𑆤𑆮𑆳𑆖𑇀 (Language of Hindus, Kashmiri)
Anyway, shrivara is well aware of who’s a hindu and who’s a muslim. There is no sectarianism even thought of. Keep in mind, shrivara is contemporary to vijayanagara. So in the 1500s you have the identity “hindu” being used from karnataka to kashmir already!
In the rajatarangini of shrivara, there are ample references to muslims. They’re called ‘mausala’ and their religion/prophet is discussed by shrivara. In fact, he’s the one who first uses the term paygambar in sanskrit to refer to mohammed. shrivara laments the growing islamization of kashmir as people abandon their ancestral religion for a foreign faith.
- AryAMsha
Royal identifications
Various hindu kings styled themselves and their kingdoms as Hindu. Eg. shivAjI’s hindavI svarAjya.
Emperors of vijayanagara called themselves ‘hindu-rāya-suratrāṇa’.
Language based
भविष्य पुराणम् - प्रतिसर्गपर्व - चतुर्थखण्डम् - २८ अध्याय
न वदेद्यावनीं भाषां
प्राणै: कण्ठगतैरपि ।
गजैरापीडयमानोऽपि
न गच्छेज्जैनमन्दिरम् ||५३||