Showing papers in "Studies in History in 1993"
TL;DR: In one nineteenth century definition, history is defined as "the record of what one age finds worthy in another" as discussed by the authors, which is the case with many environmental historians who focus on processes of ecological degradation, and on identifying the human agents behind these processes.
Abstract: In one nineteenth century definition, history is ’the record of what one age finds worthy in another’. With regard to environmental history, however, its primary research agenda might well be defined as ’the record of what one age finds unworthy in another’. Hence the overwhelming emphasis of many environmental historians on processes of ecological degradation, and on the identification of the human agents behind these processes. While the characterization of past ecological crimes remains the primary task, a secondary activity more closely approximates the conventional nineteenth definition of history. This is the study of currents of resistance to environmental abuse-on the part of marginalized social groups or individuals with an ecological conscience well ahead of their time+-which some environmental historians do indeed find worthy of celebrating in another
19 citations
TL;DR: Arunima et al. as mentioned in this paper observed that the internalization of hierarchy and obedience to superiors was somehow more complete in north Malabar than elsewhere in India, and they may perhaps infer from this that the range of restrictions on the lower castes had reached a degree of refinement.
Abstract: Acknowledgements: For comments on this paper, both in its period of gestation as well as its long hibernation, I am grateful to G. Arunima, Neeladri Bhattacharya, Peter Burke, Nivedita Menon, Polly O’Hanlon, Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar. Francis Buchanan M.D., travelling through Malabar in 1800, observed that caste restrictions and the violence arising from them were so rampant that an upper taste Nayar could cut down a lower caste man if the latter dared to appear on the road at the same time as he.’ As late as 1901 a lower caste Tiyya tenant was murdered when he refused to present some sweets to his Nayar landlord as a token of his allegiance.’ In north Malabar there was none of the turbulence and agitation that characterized the Mappila peasantry to the south, which culminated in the Mappila Rebellion of 1921.’ We may perhaps infer from this that the internalization of hierarchy and obedience to superiors was somehow more complete in north Malabar. For after all, the range of restrictions on the lower castes had reached a degree of refinement not found elsewhere in India. Lower castes could not approach the upper castes without fear of condign punishment, and a specific gradation of the distances to be maintained between castes existed at least in theory 4
15 citations
TL;DR: The history of science in the colonies of India in terms of the encounter of knowledge systems and social groups is at variance with the historiographies of science that see the transfer of scientific knowledge as a passive process of diffusion as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: century India in terms of the encounter of knowledge systems and social groups is at variance with the historiographies of science that see the transfer of scientific knowledge as a passive process of diffusion. As pointed out elsewhere,’ the realization that scientific knowledge and the ideology of science are actively redefined in the milieu of a recipient culture, opens up the history of science in the colonies to readings that run counter to the
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a Portuguese in Mozambique, offered a choice in 1974-75 between settling in South Africa and returning to his homeland, replied, ‘What sort of a choice is this? Between being the pariahs of the world and the negroes of Europe?’ C.R. Boxer for his part refers in his The Portuguese Seaborne Empire (London, 1969), to an earlier self-deprecatory Portuguese in the seventeenth century, who spoke of his compatriots as 'the Kaffirs of Europe'.
Abstract: * A joke current in Portugal in the early 1980s claimed that a Portuguese in Mozambique, offered a choice in 1974-75 between settling in South Africa and returning to his homeland replied, ’What sort of a choice is this? Between being the pariahs of the world and the negroes of Europe?’ C.R. Boxer for his part refers in his The Portuguese Seaborne Empire (London, 1969), to an earlier self-deprecatory Portuguese in the seventeenth century, who spoke of his compatriots as ’the Kaffirs of Europe.’ The present paper was first presented at a symposium
6 citations
TL;DR: The Jatakas, comprising a collection of 550 stories, constitute a significant part of the Buddhist tradition and have been widely used in the literature as discussed by the authors. But despite their popularity historians have been wary of using them in recounting the past.
Abstract: The Jatakas, comprising a collection of 550 stories, constitute a significant part of the Buddhist tradition. It is probably one of the most widely known compendia of the Buddhist World in which many of the stories form part of the oral tradition.’ Despite their popularity historians have been wary of using them in recounting the past. The scepticism in using these texts is not without reason; as narratives these texts present their own problems as
5 citations
TL;DR: For our knowledge of conditions of travel in sixteenth century and seventeenth century India we remain largely dependant on the narratives of Europeans, who in this period began to arrive in South Asia in considerable numbers.
Abstract: For our knowledge of conditions of travel in sixteenth century and seventeenth century India we remain largely dependant on the narratives of Europeans, who in this period began to arrive in South Asia in considerable numbers. Many of these Europeans came accompanying missions or embassies, or were travellers in a great entourage-like the physician Bernier accompanying Danishmand Khan upon the peregrination of the Mughal court, or the jeweller Tavernier who was possibly the greatest international trader in precious stones of his period, numbering the Mughal emperor and the Roi Soleil Louis XIV among his clients. At a more modest level we cart take the example of Peter Mundy, travelling in upper India on the business of the English East India Company in 1633. At one stage of the journey he mentions that his party had hired eight horsemen and 1l5 footmen to accompany them.’ 1
3 citations
TL;DR: Pastoralism is an important adaptive strategy in the upland zones of the southern Deccan as discussed by the authors, where the dominant floristic series are expanses of savannah grasslands and thorny thickets of Albizzia-AmaraAcacia species.
Abstract: Pastoralism is an important adaptive strategy in the upland zones of the southern Deccan. The pastoral landscape encompasses the low annual rainfall (in the range of 600 mm to 800 mm) semi-arid zone of the Telangana, Rayalaseema and Karnataka plateaux.’ The dominant floristic series are expanses of savannah grasslands and thorny thickets of Albizzia-AmaraAcacia species.’ Apart from the favourable agro-econiches for irrigation agriculture in the riverine zones, the region is hospitable first for pastoral economy and second for dry farming based on gravity flow irrigation (the chief soil types are red and black sandy loams). The pastoralists of this region are the Kuruvas (called as Kuruma in Telangana and Kuraba in Karnataka) and the Gollas. The chief economy of the Kuruvas and Gollas is sheep/goat and cattle pastoralism, in that they either herd exclusively sheep, or a mixed herd of sheep and goats, or cattle. The pastoralism of the Kuruvas and Gollas falls in the category of herdsman husbandry.’ Like the other pastoral castes of India (such as the Ahirs, Gowla, G6nda, Yadava (JAdev), Gavli (Gowli), Kolari, Dhangar,’ etc.) the Kuruvas and Gollas live in permanent dwelling places in villages and are involved in agriculture in a supplementary capacity. All these groups, we shall, following Khazanov,’ characterize as sedentary and semi-sedentary pastoralists. The Kuruvas and Gollas have a symbiotic relationship with the peasant communities:
2 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that communities are bound together in a symbiotic relationship, defining and interpreting each other by making the readers (or audience, if it is orally communicated) perceive that their present flows from a common past, narratives, whether they are epics, heroic legends or novels, can draw a community together, consolidate their identity.
Abstract: communities are bound together in a symbiotic relationship, defining and interpreting each other. By making the readers (or audience, if it is orally communicated) perceive that their present flows from a common past, narratives, whether they are epics, heroic legends or novels, can draw a community together, consolidating their identity. Benedict Anderson had argued almost a decade ago that any community, be it a tribe or a village,
2 citations
TL;DR: Datta as discussed by the authors describes a stormy night a fakir (Muslim) took shelter in a temple; though in ruins, its Shiva-linga remained undamaged.
Abstract: On a stormy night a fakir (Muslim) took shelter in a temple; though in ruins, its Shiva-linga remained undamaged. The fakir sat astride the lioga and proceeded to eat some kebabs. At that moment a Hindu peasant ran in, seeking refuge from the inclement weather. The sight of the fakir stunned him. Though the fakir did not utter a word, the god was not so kind. In a terrible voice the lioga said, ‘Dear fakir, would you be so good enough as to move your feet so that I may smash this Hindu’s nose! How could such a lowly creature dare to bring his muddy feet and filthy clothes into my temple?’ (D. Datta, Purano Katha, Calcutta, reprint Vishva-Bharati, 1962, p. 24).
2 citations
TL;DR: The study of some of these aspects has resorted to those texts which represent what may be broadly defined as the brahmanical tradition as mentioned in this paper, which has led, inevitably, to a number of attempts to fix the geographical loci in which the traditions represented by the texts emerged, evolved, and were preserved.
Abstract: as state formation, social stratification and urbanization, and with the growth of complex religious, ritual, and philosophical ideas and institutions. The study of some of these aspects has resorted to those texts which represent what may be broadly defined as the brahmanical tradition. This has led, inevitably, to a number of attempts to fix the geographical loci in which the traditions represented by the texts emerged, evolved, and were preserved.’ I
1 citations
TL;DR: Chattopadhyaya as discussed by the authors discusses the historical mechanisms of the religious process, which is concerned with such crucial issues as legitimation, the nexus between royal power and sacred authority and the development of a major cult centre.
Abstract: which is concerned with such crucial issues as legitimation, the nexus between royal power and sacred authority and the development of a major cult centre. And it is the process of legitimation which marks, among other processes, the gradual transformation of a local ruling lineage into a regional power. There are certain historical mechanisms of the religious process. To quote Prof. B.D. Chattopadhyaya:
TL;DR: In this paper, an Italian source on the Mutiny of 1857 entitled Relazione sull'Insurrezione dell'India Britanna (Report on the Uprising in Britannic India) by Monsignor Ignazio Persico of Naples, a Capuchin Father, who was Vicar Apostolic in Agra when the revolt broke out.
Abstract: There exists an Italian source on the Mutiny of 1857 entitled Relazione sull’Insurrezione dell’India Britanna (Report on the Uprising in Britannic India) by Monsignor Ignazio Persico of Naples, a Capuchin Father, who was Vicar Apostolic in Agra when the revolt broke out. The original text, written during the siege of the Agra fort, was lost in a shipwreck. The account was then rewritten in a revised version, and published in Naples in 1858.~ Persico’s narrative, at least what he did publish, cannot be held as a particularly useful source of information on the events, nonetheless it is a fine specimen of a missionary’s understanding of the revolt. Persico was born Camillo Guglielmo, in Naples on 30 January 1823.1 He studied in Naples with the Jesuits, and in 1839 he entered the Capuchin monastery in Sorrento (near Naples) as a novice, taking Ignazio as his religious name.4 On 24 January 1846 he was ordained priest. Persico asked to be sent abroad as a missionary, and in May 1846 he joined the Collegio di San Fedele in Rome. This college was an institution founded by the Capuchin order to train missionaries. Planned in the beginning of the eighteenth century to comply with a decree of Pope Clement XI of 3