Warriors and the State in Early Modern India

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Richards
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Rural Society ◽  
North India ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Grand Nombre ◽  
Nous Permet ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Military Contractors ◽  
Scholarly Attention

AbstractThis essay argues for reconsideration and greater scholarly attention to the insights of Prof. Dirk Kolff as expressed in his 1989 book, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy and in later writings. Kolff described a fluid, pervasive military labor market in late Mughal and early colonial North India that made vast numbers of armed, largely peasant soldiers available to military contractors, rulers, and rebels alike. His formulation permits us to see that armed Indian peasants in this period had considerable agency and independence within a society that was riven with con flict. Such a reconsideration underscores the magnitude of the changes wrought in Indian society by violent British conquest, pacification and disarmament in rural society — especially after the failed 1857 revolt. L'article plaide pour une reconsidération et une réévaluation des idées du professeur Dirk Kolff, telles qu'elles sont présentées dans son ouvrage paru en 1989, Naukar, Rajput et Sepoy, et dans ses publications ultérieures. Kolff décrit un marché du travail militaire flexible et omniprésent en Inde Mogole et en Inde Septentrionale au début de l'ère coloniale, et qui a rendu disponible aux courtiers militaires, aux dirigeants et aux rebelles un grand nombre de soldats d'origine paysanne. Son exposé nous permet de voir comment, pendant cette période, les paysans indiens armés avaient une importance et une indépendance considérables dans une société fendue par les con flits armés. Une telle reconsidération souligne l'importance des changements dans la société indienne, déclenchés par la soumission violente, la paci fication et le désarmement par les Anglais — surtout après l'échec de la révolte de 1857.

scholarly journals Dreams, songs and letters: Sectarian networks and musical archives in eighteenth-century North India

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-604
Author(s):  
Richard David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
North India ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Literary Expression ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Musical Accompaniment

Early modern poets conventionally began their compositions by praising and invoking the blessings of their higher authorities, be they their gods, gurus or courtly patrons. In the eighteenth century, North Indian society was particularly unstable, and the relationships between these different power brokers proved volatile. This article considers how intellectuals attached to religious households navigated the challenges of the period, particularly invading armies, religious reforms and forced migration. I examine the works of Vrindavandas (c. 1700–87), a Brajbhasha poet and lay devotee of the Radhavallabh Sampraday, and provide contextualised readings of two of his poems, concerned with recent history and the contemporary political climate. Vrindavandas was not a scribe or chronicler in a conventional sense; however, closer examination of his works reveals the porous boundaries between scribes-cum-recorders and other kinds of intellectuals. Here, I consider how Vrindavandas’ literary activity included copying archival sources, recording recent history, documenting dreams and emotions, and folding different senses of temporality into a single work. This article asks how far his poetic works gesture to a distinctively eighteenth-century mode of literary expression and reflexivity, and how performing these poetic archives through reading, singing, and musical accompaniment provided the sect with tools to navigate a turbulent political landscape.

Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
North India ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Northern India ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Literary Cultures ◽  
Literary Histories

Early modern India—a period extending from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century—saw dramatic cultural, religious, and political changes as it went from Sultanate, to Mughal, to early colonial rule. Witness to the rise of multiple literary and devotional traditions, this period was characterized by pulsating political energy and cultural vibrancy. Text and Tradition in Early Modern North India brings together recent scholarship on the languages, literatures, and religious traditions of northern India to highlight the importance of reconstructing multilingual literary histories. Focusing on the rise of vernacular languages, the volume underscores the manifold connections across regions, languages, communities, and traditions to reveal the diversity of literary and religious practices in this multilingual world. Analysing the emergence and development of literary cultures of north India, Text and Tradition also highlights processes of exchange and influence across these cultures. Spanning across various disciplines, the chapters here shed new light upon not only existing literary and religious traditions, but also those that may have disappeared but which should not be forgotten.

Literary Conduits for ‘Consent’

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Kumar Jha
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
North India ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The North ◽  
Literary Cultures

The making of the imperial subjects is as much a matter of historical process as the emergence of the empire. In the case of the Mughal state, this process started much before its actual establishment in the sixteenth century. The fifteenth century in North India was a period of unusual cultural ferment. The emergence of the Mughal imperial formation in the next century was intimately related to the fast congealing tendency of the north Indian society towards greater disciplining of itself. This tendency is evident in the multilingual literary cultures and diverse knowledge formations of the long fifteenth century.

scholarly journals THE RISE OF THE AMBASSADRESS: ENGLISH AMBASSADORIAL WIVES AND EARLY MODERN DIPLOMATIC CULTURE

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 617-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEMMA ALLEN
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Intelligence Gathering ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Scholarly Attention

AbstractThis article reveals how the ambassadress became an important part of early modern diplomatic culture, from the invention of the role in the early sixteenth century. As resident embassies became common across the early modern period, wives increasingly accompanied these diplomatic postings. Such a development has, however, received almost no scholarly attention to date, despite recent intense engagement with the social and cultural dimensions of early modern diplomacy. By considering the activities of English ambassadresses from the 1530s to 1700, accompanying embassies both inside and outside of Europe, it is possible not only to integrate them into narratives of diplomacy, but also to place their activities within broader global and political histories of the period. The presence of the ambassadress changed early modern diplomatic culture, through the creation of gendered diplomatic courtesies, gendered gift-giving practices, and gendered intelligence-gathering networks. Through female sociability networks at their host court, ambassadresses were able to access diplomatic intelligence otherwise restricted from their husbands. This was never more true than for those ambassadresses who held bonds of friendship with politically influential women at their host or home court, allowing them to influence political decision-making central to the success of the diplomatic mission.

Segmented Possibilities: Migrant life Histories of Hindustani Workers in Post Colonial India

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
pp. 134-158
Author(s):  
Camille Buat
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Paper Mill ◽  
North India ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
History Of

AbstractStarting in the late 19 th century, workers from north India came to constitute the backbone of the urban and industrial labour force in Calcutta and neighboring mill municipalities. As they settled in and around the colonial metropolis, these Hindustani workers maintained strong connections with their rural homes. One generation after the other, they reproduced this dual settlement over the following decades. This bi-local structure of labour circulation, which linked village and city through the constant coming and going of men and women, progressively broke down from the late 20 th century onwards, following the closure of the large textile, engineering and paper industries which underpinned the economic vitality of the Calcutta region. The article sketches out the history of this socio-spatial configuration over the second half of the 20 th century, through the life histories of two migrant Hindustani workers. Born around 1940, Siraj Prajapati and Mohan Lal both spent the greater part of their working lives in Calcutta's industrial suburbs. Siraj, a potter by caste, was engaged in the artisanal production tea-cups in Howrah. Born into one of the most marginalized sections of north Indian society, Mohan managed to train as a mason, and was employed in the Titagarh Paper Mill through the 1960s and 70s. Both have now settled back in their respective villages of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Teasing out the contradictory ways in which both men frame their life trajectories, the article contributes a micro-perspective to the social history of rural-urban migration in post-colonial north India.

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