Author: G.S. Cheema
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351372661
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
The Ascent of John Company is the story of the founding of the British empire in India. The process of founding empires is rarely, if ever, edifying. It is invariably a sordid story of brutality and violence, tempered to some extent by blatant lies, corruption, skullduggery and intrigue. Robert Clive and Warren Hastings, the two names that come most readily to mind when one thinks of the founders, were no heroes in their times. Still less were Vansittart, Verelst, or Coote ‘Bahadur’. We have a governor who was overthrown and imprisoned by his own Councillors, and a general who had to be bribed to take the field! Many of them were accused of atrocious crimes, of murder and extortion. Bribe taking, peculation and corruption were the least of their ‘high misdemeanours’ and the most egregious were ruined by the judicial processes to which they were subjected on their return. The word nabob, which was applied to them by their own countrymen was anything but complimentary. The romanticization of the empire came much later; it was a phenomenon of the later Victorian period, but in spite of the fact that the empire has long since faded away, nostalgia for the Raj still lingers among some circles. For such people this volume will be a useful corrective; the past always seems better than the contentious present. Even for others, who may not see the past through rose tinted glasses, this book will help to place things in perspective. To paraphrase Dickens, ‘this is the best of times, and the worst of times’ – and it has always been so.
Author:
Publisher: Asian Educational Services
ISBN: 9788120605534
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 760
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Book Description
Bring A History Of The Presidency Form The First Foundation Of Fort St. George To The Occupation Of Madras By The French (1639-1748).
Author: Rachel Fell McDermott
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023112919X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
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Book Description
Annually during the months of autumn, Bengal hosts three interlinked festivals to honor its most important goddesses: Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri. While each of these deities possesses a distinct iconography, myth, and character, they are all martial. Durga, Kali, and Jagaddhatri often demand blood sacrifice as part of their worship and offer material and spiritual benefits to their votaries. Richly represented in straw, clay, paint, and decoration, they are similarly displayed in elaborately festooned temples, thronged by thousands of admirers. The first book to recount the history of these festivals and their revelry, rivalry, and nostalgic power, this volume marks an unprecedented achievement in the mapping of a major public event. Rachel Fell McDermott describes the festivals' origins and growth under British rule. She identifies their iconographic conventions and carnivalesque qualities and their relationship to the fierce, Tantric sides of ritual practice. McDermott confronts controversies over the tradition of blood sacrifice and the status-seekers who compete for symbolic capital. Expanding her narrative, she takes readers beyond Bengal's borders to trace the transformation of the goddesses and their festivals across the world. McDermott's work underscores the role of holidays in cultural memory, specifically the Bengali evocation of an ideal, culturally rich past. Under the thrall of the goddess, the social, political, economic, and religious identity of Bengalis takes shape.
Author: Joyce P. Westrip
Publisher: Wakefield Press
ISBN: 1862548412
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466
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Book Description
An exploration of the historic relationship between Australia and India.
Author: Brijen Kishore Gupta
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN:
Category : Bengal (India)
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
Author: Brijen K Gupta
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900465285X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 186
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Book Description
Author: Steven G. Darian
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN: 9788120817579
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
No river has kindled Man`s imagination like the Ganges. From its icy origins high in the Himalayas, this sacred river flows through the holy cities and the great plains of northern India to the Bay of Bengal. In a country where the red heat of summer inspires prayer for the coming monsoon, the life-giving waters of the Ganges have assumed legendary powers in the form of the Hindu goddess Ganga, the source of creation and abundance. Pilgrims flock to her shores to cleanse and purify themselves, to cure ailments, and to die that much closer to paradise. Steven Darian writes of the human experience and the legendary myths that surround the Ganges. While collecting material for this book, Dr. Darian lived by the Ganges, explored her shores, and was a pilgrim to the Ganga Sagar festival at Sagar Island off Calcutta where the sacred river and the ocean merge.
Author: Tirthankar Roy
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 8184756135
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 187
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Book Description
This groundbreaking study examines how the East India Company founded an empire in India at the same time it started losing ground in business. For over 200 years, the Company’s vast business network had spanned Persia, India, China, Indonesia and North America. But in the late 1700s, its career took a dramatic turn, and it ended up being an empire builder. In this fascinating account, Tirthankar Roy reveals how the Company’s trade with India changed it—and how the Company changed Indian business. Fitting together many pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle, the book explores how politics meshed so closely with the conduct of business then, and what that tells us about doing business now. ‘One of the first major attempts to tell the company’s story from an Indian business perspective’—Financial Express
Author: Paul John Rich
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780739127056
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364
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Book Description
Whether called 'Arabian' or 'Persian, ' the Gulf is one of the most politically important regions of the world, and its history is necessary in understanding the contemporary Middle East. Paul Rich draws on previously closed archives to document the actual heritage of the area and dispel the myths, showing that the influences of Britain and India are far deeper than commonly acknowledged, and that the sheikhs are actually the creation of the British Raj
Author: Dorian Ball
Publisher: Dorian Ball
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
This is a story of hopes and dreams and chasing treasure. It is a story of a desire to find and salvage a shipwreck and recover a cargo of importance. Starting without any money, without any special qualifications and without any special equipment. Just the dream. From the time DIANA first became known until the time she and her cargo were recovered from the deep, ten years elapsed. But it was worth every agony, every night’s lost sleep and every frustration because of all the ways in which money can be earned, historic shipwreck salvage is probably the most exciting, pleasurable and satisfying. A glimpse into the a family, and a thoroughly researched history of the British HEIC and East India Trade.
