Showing papers in "Studies in History in 2009"
TL;DR: The authors examines the question of freedom and unfreedom in the indentured labour regime at two levels of ascendency, exemplified through the regulation of vagrancy among the Indian indentured labourers, the language of command and the colonial lexicon.
Abstract: Immigration of Indian indentured labourers to work on various overseas destinations began over the debris of slavery and this led to a never ending debate over the nature of indenture labour regime in terms of the freedom and unfreedom of the labour. This article attempts to argue that the problematic of this incessant debate lies in referring to ‘classic’ slavery as the closed model of reference for all forms of labour servitude. By studying the historical experiences of Indian in-dentured labourers in Mauritius, this article attempts to shift the core of this debate from institu-tional definitions to the decisive role of circumstantial necessities and perspectives culminating in multiple forms of labour servitude. This article examines the question of freedom and unfreedom in the indentured labour regime at two levels of ascendency—the physical and the moral—being exemplified through the regulation of vagrancy among the Indian indentured labourers, the language of command and the colonial lexicon while ...
15 citations
TL;DR: The physical formatting of a city is done not by accident but by definite purposes and logic that its dominant groups intend to transcribe in space as mentioned in this paper, and the Portuguese, who developed Goa as their seat...
Abstract: The physical formatting of a city is done not by accident but by definite purposes and logic that its dominant groups intend to transcribe in space. The Portuguese, who developed Goa as their seat ...
7 citations
TL;DR: A number of enumerative practices and discourses were instrumental in defining the politics of linguistic codification, quantification and gradually the shaping of the linguistic identity formation as mentioned in this paper, and a number of these practices were influential in defining language codification and quantification.
Abstract: A number of enumerative practices and discourses were instrumental in defining the politics of linguistic codification, quantification and gradually the shaping of the linguistic identity formation...
6 citations
TL;DR: The opium trade yielded enormous profits to the British imperialists during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century as discussed by the authors, and the opium trade was profitable for the British.
Abstract: The opium trade yielded enormous profits to the British imperialists during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. While China was forcibly converted into the largest market for opium by the British from the early nineteenth century, India emerged as a fertile ground for the cultivation of poppy and manufacturing of opium under British monopoly during the colonial period. British rule in India and British control of the Indian princely states ensured a steady supply of opium from India to China, thereby facilitating the transfer of economic surplus from China to Britain. So profitable was the opium trade that the cultivation and production of opium in India was carefully monitored by the colonial state. The aim of the colonial state in India was profit maximization from the production and sale of opium but gradually, under growing international pressure after the First World War, feeble measures were contemplated to scale down the opium trade. The Indian nationalists, however,...
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on a ritually low-caste but materially affluent potter's family of eighteenth century Rajasthan that got embroiled in a petty family dispute and traces how a domestic squabble spilt out and played itself out in the public sphere.
Abstract: Focussing on a ritually low caste but materially affluent potter’s family of eighteenth century Rajasthan that got embroiled in a petty family dispute, this article traces how a domestic squabble spilt out and played itself out in the public sphere. Dispelling the notion of harmonious joint families characterizing pre-colonial India, this article demonstrates the tensions and often antagonistic interests and agendas of different members in Kumhar Paima’s household and examines the negotiations attempted by competing interests with the dispute-processing fora. These help highlight the overlapping yet intersecting networks of discipline and control. The locally influential position of this kumhar family points towards considerable differentiation within castes and communities, and complicates ideas about the homogeneity of caste groups. More importantly, its dispute with the community of potters points towards instances of dilution in caste bonds, while its protection by the Jodhpur rulers suggests vertical...
4 citations
TL;DR: The problem of water availability was a pivotal facet of daily life, particularly in urban areas, where it had to be made perennially obtainable in large quantities as mentioned in this paper, thus, apart from river water, a...
Abstract: The problem of water availability was a pivotal facet of daily life, particularly in urban areas, where it had to be made perennially obtainable in large quantities. Thus, apart from river water, a...
3 citations
TL;DR: Abu'l Faẓl, courtier, historian and friend of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605), deploys an alternative conception of historical time which flows uninterrupted from Adam down to Akbar, disengaging history writing from its Islamic axis.
Abstract: History writing in medieval India was predominantly set within the framework of Islam without becoming a branch of theology. The temporal parameters were almost invariably drawn from the hijrī era, which sharply divided time into the age of jahaliyat, ignorance, and one lit up by Islam. It was also primarily centred on the history of the ruling Muslim dynasties whose political lineage was delineated through, and was confined to, the world of Islam. Abu’l Faẓl, courtier, historian and friend of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), deploys an alternative conception of historical time which flows uninterrupted from Adam down to Akbar, disengaging history writing from its Islamic axis. Indeed, he is rather contemptuous of the hijrī era. His Akbar Nama projects a worldview premised upon a universal religiosity in lieu of a sectarian religion. This constitutes his ‘rationality’ which connects it to the ethos evolving at the base of Indian society
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at the way in which the Christians of Kerala adopted idioms typical of "Hindrian" Brāhmanical religion for worship and later for purposes of propaganda.
Abstract: This article looks at the way in which the Christians of Kerala adopted idioms typical of ‘Hindu’ Brāhmanical religion for worship and later for purposes of propaganda. Taken up for detailed study are the works by Rev. John Ernest Hanxledon (1681–1732), a German Jesuit who worked in Kerala in the first three decades of the eighteenth century. Items such as the use of popular Malayalam metres, figures of speech, other literary tropes, the employment of the linguistic technique of social distancing, etc. make for a good study. These have been studied in contrast with the experience of Rev. Roberto de Nobili a century ago.
1 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the material of the early Tamil texts will still be able to be used using the tools provided by human geography, and a methodology for making use of the literary material for further explorations in the early history of Tamilakam is suggested.
Abstract: There has been considerable research work on early South India, particularly early Tamilakam, using archaeological, epigraphical and literary sources. Earlier, studies on early Tamilakam was almost...