Hinduism flourished in the districts around Poona in Bombay to a far greater extent than in the rest of India, hence the problems facing the British administrators of Maharashtra were quite different from those confronting them in other parts of India. The solutions they proposed and the policies which emerged determined the social changes which took place in the Maharashtra in the nineteenth century. This book analyses these changes by focussing on the rise of new social groups and the dissemination of new values and shows how these social groups and values interacted with the traditional order in Maharashtra to create a stable regional society. Originally published in 1968.

A history of artisan production in colonial and post-independence India, and its role in the country's society and economics.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.

Recent literature has suggested that famines are complex, long-drawn-out and political processes, rather than sudden, natural phenomena. This book is among the first to examine such a process in detail, by studying poor peasants in Ahmednagar district, Western India, between 1870 and 1884. It does so by investigating their factors of production - land, capital and labour - as well as markets in credit and the cheap foodgrains they produced and, above all, their relationship with the colonial state.

The processes of political mobilization and identity formation in the rural regions of Bombay Presidency between 1934 and 1947 are the major focus of this work. Studying the politics of the masses, their aspirations and demands—both within the formal institutional frameworks of the colonial `public space` as well as outside it—this book provides insights into political and social change in 20th century India. Emphasizing micro-level revolts—which, rather than subaltern militancy, express a collective endeavour by the people to solve their local problems by wresting immediate and tangible concessions—this book: - Details the multiple forms of mobilization and resistance among various groups—women, peasants, elites, lower castes and tribals. - Explores issues such as the nature of social conditions, leadership and participants; the development of mass consciousness; the moralities and methods of mobilization; and, the role of religious symbols and popular culture in such mobilizations. - Delineates various facets of peasant mobilization over 1934–47, including the peasants` response to political processes and their relationship with political associations, and the nature of agrarian conflicts as well as that of peasants` identity. - Studies both the collective action of tribals—in the form of crimes for survival, religious reform and politically motivated struggle—and Dalit mobilization around the issue of untouchability. - Contributes to the theoretical debate on nationalism and identity while critiquing the three main strands of nationalist thought as represented by Ernest Gellner, Anthony D Smith and Benedict Anderson.

This book offers one of the first critical evaluations and in-depth analysis of the intellectual movement in Maharashtra in the 19th century. Arguing against the prevalent view that Indian rationality was imported from Europe through the colonial agency, it traces the rational roots of the movement to indigenous intellectual traditions and history. It also questions the centrality assigned to the ‘Bengal Renaissance’ as being the representative of the contemporary intellectual movement in the country. Strongly grounded in primary research, this volume brings forth many new facts and facets into the scholarly discourse on topics such as the idea of ‘Drain’ and the rise of Indian nationalism, so far seen as a predominantly political process divorced from its cultural dimensions. It re-examines the view that cultural consciousness that preceded political agitation was a separate sphere of activity and suggests that both were integral stages of anti-colonialism in the country. The author maintains that rationalism and nationalism were closely connected as a means-and-end continuum. He also provides a new and substantially different understanding of the 19th-century intellectuals Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Pandita Ramabai among others. Lucid, accessible and thought provoking, this book will interest scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, Indian political thought, sociology, philosophy and Marathi literature.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

This book charts the flow of India's grass-roots archaeological history in all its continuities and diversities from its Palaeolithic beginnings to AD 300. The second edition includes a new afterword which discusses all new ideas and discoveries in Indian archaeology in the past one decade.