The 3rd Mujeeb Rizvi Memorial Lecture on "Public Sphere of Bhakti in the 16th Century" given by Professor Harbans Mukhia and Professor Purushottam Agrawal.

Prof. Mukhia started his session quoting Herodotus that 'Change is the only thing that is permanent.' When we talk about the life of public sphere in 16th century, we should remember the fact that the time period between 16th and 18th century experienced many political disturbances all over the world. And at that time, the dynasties including Ming, Ottomons, Safavids, Mughals were at their peak.

Then in India, ideologically, what was happening?

Akbar propounded the idea of Sulh–i–Kul but what we forget is that the preparation of the same idea can be seen in earlier times also as it was already there among the masses in other forms and that ground was prepared by Bhakti and Sufi movement. The saints associated with these movements helped in developing the base. This story existed at the state level.

Let's try to understand this with another perspective. See, the 'Idea of Monotheism' is there in Islam and Christianity that says 'there is one God except God' or more clearly 'one God except Islamic and Christian God' respectively. Abul Fazal called a person Muwahid who is a follower of Tauhid (or Islam). Kabir redefined his understanding of Tauhid & Muwahid; and according to him Muwahid is a person who is a follower of "God" and he/she can be of any community. This understanding of common religiosity and universal God was there as an important factor out of many that prepared the path for the idea or the policy of Sulh–i–Kul propounded by Akbar.

-Prof. Harbans Mukhia

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Without destroying and destructing the composite cultural values and heritage of medieval era that existed in public sphere of our past, it is not possible for the state to complete its Fascist Project. And for the state, it has become more easy in such times where people are more inclined to social media platforms. We need a serious dialogue and a continuous discussion about what we had in those centuries of our history, in order to protect the Indian Human-ness.

-Prof. Purushottam Agrawal

This lecture was organized on 24-05-2023.

Harbans Mukhia is an Indian political historian whose principal area of study is medieval India. He got retired as a Professor of History from Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi.

Purushottam Agrawal is a visiting faculty at Ashoka University. He served as member of the Union Public Service Commission of India from 2007 to 2013. Prior to this, he was chairperson, Centre of Indian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has also served as visiting professor at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, EL Colegio de Mexico and the University of Cambridge.