Introduction

This essay discusses the multiple uses of the term sovereignty in academic literature and lays out a framework for using the term to analyse the tensions between the practical application of political power and its legitimation. At the heart of the essay is the argument that political power cannot legitimise itself and must rely on appeals for legitimation that transcend the worlds of politics and societal interactions. This defines the conundrum of political power that is the focus for this volume—a conundrum defined by the tensions between socially and politically embedded order and appeals to principles of order that transcend worldly politics—whether cosmic power, divine authority, disinterested reason, or popular will. The argument is that the larger problem of sovereignty is interconnected and worldwide, but the focus is on the distinctive ways that this conundrum has been manifested in the Indian subcontinent. The essays in the volume are thus presented both as a contribution to the Indian subcontinent’s modern history and as an important perspective for thinking about the history of modern sovereignty more broadly.