A Historical Novel and the Re-casting of Indic Pride: Dignity, Military Prowess, Psychological Resistance and History in Jaya Somanath

This article discusses the historical veracity of a 1937 novel, Jaya Somanath (Victory to the Somanatha) by K.M. Munshi. In 1024, Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud (r. 998-1030) plundered the Hindu shrine Somnath, a significant location within the sacred geography of Hinduism, and Munshi utilised this event to further his ideology in the novel. In the Indic literary tradition (Khayat, Prabandha, etc.), fiction is typically used to advance certain normative ideas related to kingly etiquette. These narratives were often produced as part of a “psychological resistance” against the contemporary Indo-Persian historical narratives. This paper assesses the literary significance and historical accuracy of Jaya Somanath by placing it in conversation with certain pre-modern Indic and Persian narratives. Was Jaya Somanath the extension of the Indic literary narratives? Or did Munshi utilise the medium of fiction to advance certain traits of “Rajput-hood” to reinforce Indic pride in the twentieth century?