The Evolution of South Asian Muslim Tazkiras as Memorials of Places and Persons

The paper examines the process of “making Muslim space” in South Asia through the composition of biographical compendia celebrating the lives of local poets, saints, and other notables. It illustrates how shifts have occurred over time in the conception of these places, both in themselves and in relationship to others, particularly in the sense of permanence, security, and more recently, nationalist agenda of a space, as well as in its religious and cultural meanings.