Madhava, Vidyaranya, Sringeri, and Kulke

[Sreenivas Paruchuri]

> 1. The stories of the Sangama brothers' Telugu origin and conversion to Islam
> etc. are not supported by epigraphic evidence.

Nor there is any inscriptional evidence about their Kannada/Tamil/....
origin! For that matter, is there any textual edidence?

> I would very much like to know if there have been any scholarly arguments
> challenging Kulke's findings?

For a different view on Kulke's above conclusions, arguing that it is _not_
a narrative of _religious conversion_ (orig. in italics), see:
        "Sultan among Hindu kings" - Dress, Titles, and the Islamicization
        of Hindu culture at Vijayanagara", Phillip Wagoner,
        JAS, 55.4 (Nov 1996), pp. 851-880

esp. pp. 873-874

I understand that Wagoner has a more detailed paper on the "conversion"
controversy in press.

        "Harihara, Bukka, and the Sultan: The Delhi Sultanate in the
         political imagination of Vijayanagara" by Phil Wagoner,
         forthcoming in: _Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking religious
         identities in Islamicate South Asia_, ed. by David Gilmartin
         and Bruce B. Lawrence, U of Florida Press, Gainesville.

Regards,
Sreenivas