Lineage in Its Spatial Context: Epigraphy, Geography, and the Formation of Political Unity in Medieval Mewar

This article examines the relationship between a late tenth-century Sanskrit inscription, a late fifteenth-century sthalapurāṇa known as Ekaliṅgamāhātmya, and several other intervening inscriptions coming from the Mewar region of Rajasthan. Through an examination of these records, I argue that the royal inscriptions coming from early medieval Mewar must be understood not only in terms of the light they place on the royal lineage, but also, and more importantly, they must be understood in terms of their geographical contexts. I further argue that the Ekaliṅgamāhātmya, a courtly narrative extolling the region of Mewar and its rulers, should be seen as the ideological culmination of these past inscriptional records. By privileging geographical descriptions of sacred spaces above royal lineage claims, the authors of these records demonstrate the mutual imbrication of geography and power in medieval Rajasthan.