Sindias and the Raj

Sindias and the Raj PDF Author: Amar Farooqui
Publisher: Primus Books
ISBN: 9380607083
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Sindias and the Raj is a study of the Sindia state of Gwalior during the colonial period. It traces the history of one of the leading princely states of the British Indian empire, from its first major military encounter with the British at the beginning of the century, to the eve of the Revolt of 1857. In doing so the book explores the fascinating factional conflicts at the Gwalior durbar and the connections these had with the politics of the powerful Sindia army. It argues that the colonial subjugation of Gwalior was a long-drawn process spread over nearly five decades and was not sufficiently achieved until the late 1850s-certainly not in 1818, as is often assumed by standard histories of the state. This resistance was largely due to the very strong tradition, in the Gwalior territories, of opposition to colonial intervention, as seen in a series of popular uprisings during the first half of the century culminating in the events of 1857-58. The tradition was reinforced by the assertiveness, vis-a-vis the East India Company, of the dominant section of its ruling class which drew strength from a formidable fighting force comprising soldiers who upheld the legacy of the fierce turn-of-the-century Anglo-Maratha military conflict and which was sustained by a resilient economy that profited immensely from opium'smuggling. These are all linkages that have hitherto remained unexplored. Sindias and the Raj also examines the political economy of princely Gwalior, while paying close attention to the responses of various classes in the state to colonial intervention-responses ranging from outright collaboration to armed conflict. It also attempts a reappraisal of several facets of the history of Malwa in the colonial period including the history of the Pindaris, and the trade in Malwa opium.

Sindias and the Raj

Sindias and the Raj PDF Author: Amar Farooqui
Publisher: Primus Books
ISBN: 9380607083
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sindias and the Raj is a study of the Sindia state of Gwalior during the colonial period. It traces the history of one of the leading princely states of the British Indian empire, from its first major military encounter with the British at the beginning of the century, to the eve of the Revolt of 1857. In doing so the book explores the fascinating factional conflicts at the Gwalior durbar and the connections these had with the politics of the powerful Sindia army. It argues that the colonial subjugation of Gwalior was a long-drawn process spread over nearly five decades and was not sufficiently achieved until the late 1850s-certainly not in 1818, as is often assumed by standard histories of the state. This resistance was largely due to the very strong tradition, in the Gwalior territories, of opposition to colonial intervention, as seen in a series of popular uprisings during the first half of the century culminating in the events of 1857-58. The tradition was reinforced by the assertiveness, vis-a-vis the East India Company, of the dominant section of its ruling class which drew strength from a formidable fighting force comprising soldiers who upheld the legacy of the fierce turn-of-the-century Anglo-Maratha military conflict and which was sustained by a resilient economy that profited immensely from opium'smuggling. These are all linkages that have hitherto remained unexplored. Sindias and the Raj also examines the political economy of princely Gwalior, while paying close attention to the responses of various classes in the state to colonial intervention-responses ranging from outright collaboration to armed conflict. It also attempts a reappraisal of several facets of the history of Malwa in the colonial period including the history of the Pindaris, and the trade in Malwa opium.

The Chaos of Empire

The Chaos of Empire PDF Author: Jon Wilson
Publisher: Public Affairs
ISBN: 1610392930
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 586

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Book Description
From the moment in the 1680s that the East India Company began to trade with the Mughal rulers of the port cities of Surat, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, and Chittagong, the story of the Indian subcontinent was changed forever. Before its dissolution in 1857, the officers of the East India Company had under their command more than a quarter of a million troops, and functioned not as a trading partner but a quasi-imperial government whose monopolistic habits and trade preferments included the tax on tea that led directly to the American Revolution. On its dissolution the Times reported: "It accomplished a work such as in the whole history of the human race no other company ever attempted and as such is ever likely to attempt in the years to come." This was meant as a compliment, but it concealed a much more brutal truth. From the famine of 1770 in which one third of the people living in the state of Bengal perished to the Anglo-Mughal wars and the later brutal repression of the Anglo-Afghan Wars, the story of the British in India was one of conflict and divide-and-rule, relentlessly applied from the relative security of the world’s most powerful naval vessels and the forts they supplied. Interspersed between the major wars were numerous minor conflicts, most lost to popular histories, which underscore the continual violence of the imperial project. In The Chaos of Empire, Jon Wilson uses the everyday lives of administrators, soldiers and subjects, British and Indian, to lift the veil of empire to show how British rule really worked. Far from the orderly Raj that its officials sought to portray, British rule in conquered India was chaotic and paranoid, and led to a succession of unstable states in South Asia and across the world. Most importantly, empire in India created a huge gap between image and reality, enabling a small number of people--a social and political elite--to project power across the world. Among its legacies were continual cycles of hubristic state enterprise followed by massive failure--up to and including the neo-imperial adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq now. Long after the end of empire, The Chaos of Empire argues that we still try to live by the myths created by the Raj. At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is arguing that Britain should pay restitution for the damage done to the Indian subcontinent under British rule, this comprehensive, dynamic, and fierce history of Britain’s rule is timely, provocative, and immensely readable.

A History of Alcohol and Drugs in Modern South Asia

A History of Alcohol and Drugs in Modern South Asia PDF Author: Harald Fischer-Tiné
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317916816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
At the beginning of the 21st century, alcoholism, transnational drug trafficking and drug addiction constitute major problems in various South Asian countries. The production, circulation and consumption of intoxicating substances created (and responded to) social upheavals in the region and had widespread economic, political and cultural repercussions on an international level. This book looks at the cultural, social, and economic history of intoxicants in South Asia, and analyses the role that alcohol and drugs have played in the region. The book explores the linkages between changing meanings of intoxicating substances, the making of and contestations over colonial and national regimes of regulation, economics, and practices and experiences of consumption. It shows the development of current meanings of intoxicants in South Asia – in terms of politics, cultural norms and identity formation – and the way in which the history of drugs and alcohol is enmeshed in the history of modern empires and nation states — even in a country in which a staunch teetotaller and active anti-drug crusader like Mohandas Gandhi is presented as the ‘father of the nation’. Primarily a historical analysis, the book also includes perspectives from Modern Indology and Cultural Anthropology and situates developments in South Asia in wider imperial and global contexts. It is of interest to scholars working on the social and cultural history of alcohol and drugs, South Asian Studies and Global History.

The Tears of the Rajas

The Tears of the Rajas PDF Author: Ferdinand Mount
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471129470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description
The Tears of the Rajas is a sweeping history of the British in India, seen through the experiences of a single Scottish family. For a century the Lows of Clatto survived mutiny, siege, debt and disease, everywhere from the heat of Madras to the Afghan snows. They lived through the most appalling atrocities and retaliated with some of their own. Each of their lives, remarkable in itself, contributes to the story of the whole fragile and imperilled, often shockingly oppressive and devious but now and then heroic and poignant enterprise. On the surface, John and Augusta Low and their relations may seem imperturbable, but in their letters and diaries they often reveal their loneliness and desperation and their doubts about what they are doing in India. The Lows are the family of the author's grandmother, and a recurring theme of the book is his own discovery of them and of those parts of the history of the British in India which posterity has preferred to forget. The book brings to life not only the most dramatic incidents of their careers - the massacre at Vellore, the conquest of Java, the deposition of the boy-king of Oudh, the disasters in Afghanistan, the Reliefs of Lucknow and Chitral - but also their personal ordeals: the bankruptcies in Scotland and Calcutta, the plagues and fevers, the deaths of children and deaths in childbirth. And it brings to life too the unrepeatable strangeness of their lives: the camps and the palaces they lived in, the balls and the flirtations in the hill stations, and the hot slow rides through the dust. An epic saga of love, war, intrigue and treachery, The Tears of the Rajas is surely destined to become a classic of its kind.

Provincial Hinduism

Provincial Hinduism PDF Author: Daniel Gold
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190212500
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Provincial Hinduism explores intersecting religious worlds in an ordinary Indian city that remains close to its traditional roots, while bearing witness to the impact of globalization. Daniel Gold looks at modern religious life in the central Indian city of Gwalior, drawing attention to the often complex religious sensibilities behind ordinary Hindu practice. Gold describes temples of different types, their legendary histories, and the people who patronize them. He also explores the attraction of Sufi shrines for many Gwalior Hindus. Delicate issues of socioreligious identity are highlighted through an examination of neighbors living together in a locality mixed in religion, caste, and class. Pursuing issues of community and identity, Gold turns to Gwalior's Maharashtrians and Sindhis, groups with roots in other parts of the subcontinent that have settled in the city for generations. These groups function as internal diasporas, organizing in different ways and making distinctive contributions to local religious life. The book concludes with a focus on new religious institutions invoking nineteenth-century innovators: three religious service organizations inspired by the great Swami Vivekenanda, and two contemporary guru-centered groups tracing lineages to Radhasoami Maharaj of Agra. Gold offers the first book-length study to analyze religious life in an ordinary, midsized Indian city, and in so doing has created an invaluable resource for scholars of contemporary Indian religion, culture, and society.

Archives and Archiving in the 21st Century

Archives and Archiving in the 21st Century PDF Author: Radhika Seshan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040103294
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Archives intersect with our lives in many ways. We have archives of our own, documenting family memories and histories. Then, there are larger archives that document different aspects of the past — memories, identities, location, time, and space. This volume explores changing notions of the archive in different areas, to trace the ways in which the archives continue to be used in history. It examines how history, the historian, and the archive interact in many ways to look at the past and record it. The chapters in this volume discuss an array of diverse and important themes regarding the making and usage of archives which include reconstructing pre-modern economic history from the Dutch archives; the role of India Office Records in the British Library; reading the Rungia Gosavi Affair in 1857 from colonial archives; and Uday Shankar’s Kalpana as archive besides the usage of archives to study nationalism, historiography and literature, water and Chola history, Mysorean invasions in Kerala, and cyberspace. The chapters also explore how archives impact and shape our investigations. First of its kind, this important work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of archival studies, research methodology, archaeology, Indian history, ancient history, medieval history, modern India, anthropology, and history in general.

Minority Pasts

Minority Pasts PDF Author: Razak Khan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9354974899
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Minority Pasts explores the diversity of the histories and identities of Muslims in Rampur-the last Muslim-ruled princely state in colonial United Provinces and a city that is pejoratively labelled as the centre of "Muslim votebank" politics in contemporary Uttar Pradesh. The book highlights the importance of locality and emotions in shaping Muslim identities, politics, and belonging in Rampur. The book shows that we need to move beyond such homogeneous categories of nation and region, in order to comprehend local dynamics that allow a better and closer understanding of the historical re-negotiations of politics and identities by Muslims in South Asia.

Warfare and Society in British India, 1757–1947

Warfare and Society in British India, 1757–1947 PDF Author: Ashutosh Kumar
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000800555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This book explores the intricate and intimate relationship between military organization, imperial policy, and society in colonial South Asia. The chapters in the volume focus on technology, logistics, and state building. The present volume highlights the salient features of expansion and consolidation of imperial control over the subcontinent, and ultimate demise of the Raj. Further, it turns the spotlight on to subaltern challenges to imperialism as well as the role of non-combatants in warfare. The volume: • Deals with both conventional and guerrilla conflicts and focuses on the frontiers (both North-West and North-East, including Burma); • Looks at the army as an institution rather than present a chronological account of military operations, which highlights the complex and tortuous relationship between combat institution, colonial state, and Indian society; • Integrates top-down approaches in military and strategic studies with the bottom-up perspectives and discusses on how the conduct of war (organisation and technology) is related to the economic, societal, and cultural impact of war. A rich account of the British ‘Army in India’, this book will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of South Asian history, military history, political history, colonialism, and the British Empire.

Empress

Empress PDF Author: Miles Taylor
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300243421
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
“A widely and deeply researched, elegantly written, and vital portrayal of [Queen Victoria’s] place in colonial Indian affairs.”(Journal of Modern History) In this engaging and controversial book, Miles Taylor shows how both Victoria and Albert were spellbound by India, and argues that the Queen was humanely, intelligently, and passionately involved with the country throughout her reign and not just in the last decades. Taylor also reveals the way in which Victoria’s influence as empress contributed significantly to India’s modernization, both political and economic. This is, in a number of respects, a fresh account of imperial rule in India, suggesting that it was one of Victoria’s successes. “Readers encounter a detail-attentive and independently minded monarch . . . .Information, offered with verve and occasional humor, fills chapters of Empress with little-known details of Victoria’s active rule as Empress.” —Adrienne Munich, Victorian Studies “This is a nuanced portrait of an empire rich in contradiction.” —Catherine Hall, author of Civilising Subjects “Beautifully written and subtly crafted, this book provides a critical history of the cultural, political, and diplomatic significance of Queen Victoria's role as Empress of India.” —Tristram Hunt, Director of Victoria and Albert Museum “This is a highly intelligent, wonderfully lucid and well researched book that rests on an impressive array of Indian as well as European sources. It makes a powerful case for re-assessing Queen Victoria's own role and political and religious ideas in regard to the subcontinent.” —Linda Colley, author of Britons

The Indian National Bibliography

The Indian National Bibliography PDF Author: B. S. Kesavan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description