Showing papers in "Studies in History in 1985"
TL;DR: Agarwal et al. as discussed by the authors studied the actual processes operating in the agrarian context which gave rise to a regular flow of labour to the emerging industries in colonial India.
Abstract: While there has been a consensus among scholars about the importance of ’push factors’ in explaining labour migration in colonial India, since the publication of the Report of Royal Commission on Labour, yet very little is known about the actual processes operating in the agrarian context which gave rise to a regular flow of labour to the emerging industries. One of the reasons which accounts for this is that most of the early studies were based on the sources generated at the point of arrival, as in case of the overseas migration to plantation colonies or in studies on a particular industry or city.’ Recently there has been increasing emphasis on the study of labour migration at its point of origin. This approach has been best exemplified by Lalita Chakravarty’s study of the emergence of labour catchment areas in India during the period 1880-1920.2
24 citations
TL;DR: According to surveys in 192930, only 13 per cent of the proprietors in Punjab were free from debt: the corresponding proportion in U.P. was 46 per cent, in Bihar and Orissa 35 to 50 per cent and Central Provinces 41 per cent as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Acknowledgements: I wish to thank Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Sumit Guha and Chitra Joshi whose comments and editorial help assisted me in preparing this artitle for publication. Peasant indebtedness in Punjab was more pervasive than in most other parts of India. In 1930, the total debt of the province was estimated to be Rs. 135 crores, half of it in usufructuary mortgage. According to surveys in 192930, only 13 per cent of the proprietors in Punjab were free from debt: the corresponding proportion in U.P. was 46 per cent, in Bihar and Orissa 35 to 50 per cent, and Central Provinces 41 per cent.= Average debt per cultivating family was also high in Punjab: Rs. 628 compared to Rs. 189 in Bihar and Bengal, Rs. 199 in Central India and Rs. 104 in East U.P.’ What does this
19 citations
TL;DR: In the case of Puranic mythology, the key to a myth often lies with archaeology, history and comparative religion as has been ably demonstrated as discussed by the authors, and this is equally true of puranic legends, which are neither casual priestly elaborations of Vedic symbolism nor dreamlike ’reflections of the unconscious' psyche.
Abstract: the mythological sphere arise automatically and directly out of older elements through a process of homogenesis. This has been particularly the case with Puranic mythology which is often seen merely as an elaboration of what is available in the Vedic sources in a seed form. Learned disquisitions are written to prove that the worship of Puranic deities, such as Brahma, Siva Skanda, Ganesa, gakti, etc., is based on certain Vedic metaphysicalcosmological concepts which were recast in the form of Puranic legends. 1 However, the key to a myth often lies with archaeology, history and comparative religion as has been ably demonstrated in the case of the Greek myths ’ and this is equally true of Puranic legends, which are neither casual priestly elaborations of Vedic symbolism nor dreamlike ’reflections of the unconscious’ psyche. The fact that a myth has several versions or has gone through several alterations shows that its creative process was of some social importance; the shift is indicative of some change in the life of a tribe,
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors accept the more convincing latter view which places the ascendancy of the Sdtavahanas in the first century B.c. Though there were several fluctuations in the fortunes of these rulers, the western Deccan remained a core area under them.
Abstract: Satavahana chronology has been much discussed and debated, and the corpus of writings on this subject has continued to increase. It is needless discussing the arguments between the proponents of the longer and the shorter chronology here; we accept the more convincing latter view which places the ascendancy of the Sdtavahanas in the first century B.c. Though there were several fluctuations in the fortunes of these rulers, the western Deccan remained a core area under them. The term western Deccan here
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the Narmada valley was studied and the economic aspects of the relations between landlords and tenants in the districts of Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Hoshangabad of the erstwhile Central Provinces of India.
Abstract: paper.. . The Central Provinces of British India, a vast conglomerate of agrarian regions and cultural systems, have been rather inexplicably neglected by historians. The focus of this study is the Narmada Valley or, more specifically, that part of the valley included in the districts of Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Hoshangabad of the erstwhile Central Provinces.’ This paper, essentially empirical in nature, documents certain economic aspects of the relations between landlords and tenants. The first two sections are intended as
6 citations
TL;DR: The Surat customs houses of the city and the fees exacted there continued to form a prominent share of the profits accruing to the political lords of Surat as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: customs houses of the city and the fees exacted there continued to form a prominent share of the profits accruing to the political lords of Surat.’ 1 Being centres of redistribution of wealth of no small importance, the Surat customs houses were places where different social groups were engaged in a continuous battle of wits over the division of the spoils. The consequent amount of cheating, given the so hopelessly complicated official and unofficial regulations, was such that, although a rather complete set of data showing the receipts of the Surat customs houses can be put together for the ’
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the short-term fluctuations in the cycle of production and consumption, individually or in the aggregate, could have also greatly influenced the performance of the economy in secular terms.
Abstract: was not a price revolution over the entire period.4 There seems to have been in these discussions a neglect of the short-term fluctuations in the cycle of production and consumption which individually, or in the aggregate, could have also greatly influenced the performance of the economy in secular terms. There is an obvious analogy here with the effects of business cyclesin themselves short-term phenomena-upon the course of capitalistic development. It has of course been recognised that famines and natural calamities had
2 citations
TL;DR: The factory of Tellicherry, it is said, was built following orders to do so from the Raja of Kolattunad, the Kolattiri, and his Prince Regent, the Vadakkalankur as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: end of the seventeenth century. It is also during this time that they began to acquire a political shape. The record of agents of the East India Company as interlopers in Malabar ended in 1694 when the factory of Tellicherry was established. Thus began the era of the so-called informal influence which dominated most of the eighteenth century. The factory of Tellicherry, it is said, was built following orders to do so from the Raja of Kolattunad, the Kolattiri, and his Prince Regent, the Vadakkalankur. In 1689 the Kolattiri who was also called the Senior Raja of Kolattunad had sent an ultimatum to the then British interlopers in Malabar to let them know that they could continue to trade in North Malabar only if they agreed to build a factory in the area. Subsequently, the Vadakkalankur asked the British to fortify Tellicherry against one of his troublesome vassals, the Kurangoth Nair. The fort was completed in 1708. The rulers of Kolattunad had urged the British to acquire a permanent footing in Malabar so that they could force the Company to pay customs duty to the Raj; as interlopers, the agents of the Company had avoided this obligation. The fort was to be more useful later in the endeavour to protect British interests in Malabar.’ 1 The territory in which the factory of Tellicherry was built belonged to Cunje Nair, a vassal of the Kolattiri. The British would have liked to build