Towns In Pre Modern India

Contributed articles on urbanisation in India; based on the proceedings of a seminar on urbanisation in India, trends and prospects organised by the Bihar Research Society.

The death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1707 until the annexation of Maratha territories by the British East India Company in 1818 was a period of transition for the economy of India. This book focuses on these transitions, and shows how a study of this period of Indian history contributes to a deeper understanding of the long-run patterns of economic change in India. Momentous changes occurred in business and politics in India during the eighteenth century - the expansion of trade with Europe and the collapse of the Mughal Empire, resulting in the formation of a number of independent states. This book analyses how these two forces were interrelated, and how they went on to change livelihoods and material wellbeing in the region. Using detailed studies of markets, institutions, rural and urban livelihoods, and the standard of living, it develops a new perspective on the history of eighteenth century India, one that places business at the centre, rather than the transition to colonial rule. This book is the first systematic account of the economic history of early modern India, and an essential reference for students and scholars of Economics and South Asian History.

This volume looks into the ways Indian Ocean routes shaped the culture and contours of early modern India. IT shows how these and other historical processes saw India rebuilt and reshaped during late medieval times after a long age of relative ‘stagnation’, ‘isolation’ and ‘backwardness’. The various papers deal with such themes including interconnectedness between Africa and India, trade and urbanity in Golconda, the changing meanings of urbanization in Bengal, commercial and cultural contact between Aceh and India, changing techniques of warfare, representation of early modern rulers of India in contemporary European paintings, the impact of the Indian Ocean on the foreign policies of the Mughals, the meanings of piracy, labour process in the textile sector, Indo-Ottoman trade, Maratha-French relations, Bible translations and religious polemics, weapon making and the uses of elephants. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of early modern Indian history in general and those working on aspects of connected histories in particular.

India and the Early Modern World provides an authoritative and wide-ranging survey of the Indian subcontinent over the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, set within a global context. This book explores questions critical to our understanding of early modern India. How, for instance, were Indians’ religious beliefs, their ways of life, and the horizons of their learning changing over this period? What was happening in the countryside and towns, to culture and the arts, and to the state and its power? Were such experiences comparable or linked to those in other parts of the world? Can we speak of a global early modernity, therefore, within which India played an important role? Organised thematically, each chapter engages with such key issues, debates, and concepts, covering wide ground as it connects, compares, and contrasts developments witnessed across early modern South Asia to those around the globe. Drawing on the fruits of research in numerous fields over the past fifty years and rich in detail, India and the Early Modern World is a pathbreaking volume written engagingly and accessibly with scholars, students, and non-specialists in mind.

This much anticipated volume looks at the historical evolution of towns and cities in medieval India from the early thirteenth to the late eighteenth century. The selection is based on the availability of documents. These include the narratives of European travellers in English, French, Italian, Dutch, and German with the exception of Ibn Battuta in mid-fourteenth century and also Middle Bengali literature in case of towns in Bengal. While the coastal towns and cities have been looked at, the interior ones are also described on the basis of the writings of later historians and archaeologists. Care has been taken to explain the rise, growth and the decline of some towns and cities in which the changing courses of rivers had played a crucial role. Attempts have been made to search other factors responsible for such eventualities. The delineation of physical features within the city has been given due emphasis including the different quarters of the city and the manners and customs of the local population with reference to craft production and commercial links. The morphological differences between the cities of eastern and those of the western or northern India have also been described. This is clear from the observations of port towns described here. All these would show that India was one of the most urbanized area in the medieval period before advent of the British.

This handbook presents a multilayered and multidimensional history of state formation in premodern India. It explores dense and rich local and subregional historiography from the mid-first millennium BC to the eighteenth century in South Asia. Shifting the focus away from economic and political factors, this handbook revises the conventional understanding of states and empires and locates them in their quotidian conduct and activity on socio-cultural and concomitant factors. Comprehensive in scope, this handbook addresses a range of themes connected with the idea of state formation in the subcontinent. It includes discussions and debates on ritual practices and the Brahmanical order in early India; the Delhi Sultanate and role of Sultans among the Hindu kings; the cosmopolitan ‘Islamicate’ cultural influences on Puranic Hinduism; cultural background of the Mughal state. The handbook examines new questions and ideologies of state formation, such as: · facets of violence and resistance; · the significance of the autonomous spaces and forests; · regional elites, including ‘Little kings’; tribal background of some famous cults; · trade and maritime commerce; · royal patronage, courtly manners, lineage formation; · imperial architecture, monuments, and temple, among others. Featuring case studies from different part of the India subcontinent, and with contributions by renowned historians, this authoritative handbook will be an indispensable reading for teachers, scholars, and students of early India, medieval India, premodern India, South Asian history, Asian history, historiography, economic history, historical sociology, and South Asia studies.

Revisiting India’s Past is Commemoration Volume presented to Prof. Vijay Kumar Thakur, He was a renowned Historian in India, on his Eighty two birth anniversary (15th July 1941). These articles are in other way serve as garland of flowers to decor Prof. Vijay Kumar Thakur. A great scholar in History, Buddhism, Epigraphy and Culture. There are more than 30 articles shedding light on Indian Historical studies. This prestigious volume contains a wide spectrum of research articles covering History, feudalism, science and technology, Epigraphy and Numismatics, Buddhism, Historiography, Tourism, Modern History and Trade, Economic history, Folklore, literature and culture. This volume containing a good collection of research papers contributed by renowned authors will serve as an important source of information and reference book for research students and teachers as well. Incidentally, this volume also highlights the love and affection of Prof. Vijay Kumar Thakur enjoys in the intellectual world.

Thakur Vijayam: Spectrum of History, Culture and Archaeological Studies is a Commemoration Volume presented to Prof. Vijay Kumar Thakur was a renowned Historian in India, on his Eighty second birth anniversary (15th July 1941). These articles are in other way serve as garland of flowers to decor Prof. Vijay Kumar Thakur. A great scholar in History, Buddhism, Epigraphy, Archaeology, andCulture. There are more than 35 articles shedding light on History, Culture and Archaeological Studies. This prestigious volume contains a wide spectrum of research articles covering Archaeology, History, Art, Architecture, Epigraphy and Numismatics, Buddhism, Religion and Philosophy Tourism, Modern History and Economic history, Folklore, literature and culture, This volume was edited by Prof. Pedarapu Chenna Reddy who is already well-known for similar volumes in honour of Prof. B. Rama Raju, Dr. P. V. P. Sastry, Prof. R. Soma Reddy, Dr. I. K. Sarma, Dr. V. V. Krishna Sastry, Dr. Robert G. Bednarik, Prof. A. Sundara, Dr. Deme Raja Reddy, Dr. Annapareddy Venkateswara Reddy, Prof. K. V. Raman, Dr. Janumaddi Hanumath Sastry, Prof. K. Rajayyan, Prof. Alan Dundes, Prof. Bhakthavathsala Reddy, Prof. K. K. N. Kurup, Dr. A. K. V. S Reddy, Dr. Y. Gopala Reddy, Prof. M. L. K. Murty, Dr. M. D. Sampath, Prof. Katta Narasimha Reddy, Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah etc.