Review of Christian Lee Novetzke, The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion and the Premodern Public Sphere in India, Ranikhet: Permanent Black

Abstract

The Quotidian Revolution is an effort at delineating and illuminating the moment in Indian history when literary writings became manifest in vernacular languages. The book addresses the particular case of the literarization of Marathi in the thirteenth century. The ‘text’ and ‘context’ of this study are the wider social backgrounds in which the Jnanesvari (c. 1290), now renowned as the oldest literary text in Marathi, and the Lilacaritra (c. 1278) were composed. In this endeavour the reader is taken through a journey with stops at various points of related interest.

As a description of the process of the early written and literary forms of Marathi and the milieu in which this took place Novetzke’s book is a welcome addition to the bookshelf. It is cogent, well-written and nuanced.