Singing the nation

Literature and music have long been a means of celebrating the cults of gods, kings and nations. In South Asia, the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharat and the Ramayan are early examples of this, from the Sanskrit tradition. There are of course, variations upon the general themes in different regional languages, and also local songs of praise and adulation for kings and deities. When the Turks, Persians and Afghans came to settle in India, they brought with them their own traditions of glorifying the king, such as, Firdausi's Shahnama (1010 CE). Additionally, they too, had carried with them traditions from Arabic of singing, hamd and na't and tarana in praise of their God, Prophet and saints, respectively.

Through the ages, there is ample textual, pictorial and iconographic evidence of thriving traditions of courtiers, painters, musicians and poets retained by rajas and badshahs. Their main purpose was to entertain their patrons, by eulogising them whilst heralding births, celebrating marriages and proclaiming victories. This often had little bearing on reality, as the artist would exaggerate the king's good looks, valour and generosity, no matter that the monarch was no looker, busy losing battles and taxing his subjects into penury; the painter would paint a picture of exaggerated grandeur and beauty and the poet would write in similar, inflated language.