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A work of history richly informed by the anthropology of religion and art, The Millennial Sovereign traces how royal dynastic cults and shrine-centered Sufism came together in the imperial cultures of Timurid Central Asia, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India. By juxtaposing imperial chronicles, paintings, and architecture with theories of sainthood, apocalyptic treatises, and manuals on astrology and magic, Moin uncovers a pattern of Islamic politics shaped by Sufi and millennial motifs from the end of the sixteenth century to the turn of the first Islamic millennium. He also shows how alchemical symbols and astrological rituals enveloped the body of the monarch, casting him as both spiritual guide and material lord. These findings offer a striking new perspective on the history of Islam and the religious and political developments linking South Asia and Iran in early-modern times.
List of contents
List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration1. Introduction: Islam and the Millennium2. The Lord of Conjunction: Sacrality and Sovereignty in the Age of Timur3. The Crown of Dreams: Sufis and Princes in Sixteenth-Century Iran4. The Alchemical Court: The Beginnings of the Mughal Imperial Cult5. The Millennial Sovereign: The Troubled Unveiling of the Savior Monarch6. The Throne of Time: The Painted Miracles of the Saint Emperor7. Conclusion: The Graffiti Under the ThroneNotesBibliographyIndex
About the author
A. Azfar Moin is assistant professor in the Clements Department of History at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. His research and writing focuses on early-modern South Asia and the Islamic world.
Summary
A work of history richly informed by the anthropology of religion and art, The Millennial Sovereign traces how royal dynastic cults and shrine-centered Sufism came together in the imperial cultures of Timurid Central Asia, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India. By juxtaposing imperial chronicles, paintings, and architecture with theories of sainthood, apocalyptic treatises, and manuals on astrology and magic, Moin uncovers a pattern of Islamic politics shaped by Sufi and millennial motifs from the end of the sixteenth century to the turn of the first Islamic millennium. He also shows how alchemical symbols and astrological rituals enveloped the body of the monarch, casting him as both spiritual guide and material lord. These findings offer a striking new perspective on the history of Islam and the religious and political developments linking South Asia and Iran in early-modern times.
