The Portuguese were the first European imperial power in Asia. Dr. Pearson's volume of the History is a clear account of their activities in India and the Indian Ocean from the sixteenth century onwards that is written squarely from an Indian point of view. Laying particular stress on social, economic, and religious interaction between Portuguese and Indians, the author argues that the Portuguese had a more limited impact on everyday life in India than is sometimes supposed. Their imperial effort was characterized more by reciprocity and interaction than by an unilateral imposition of...

Barbara Ramusack describes the pre-colonial origins of the Indian princes, frequently portrayed as synonymous with oriental luxury, and how they adapted their public activities and personal lifestyles to survive as political leaders and cultural icons. Their collaboration enabled the British to govern India with relatively limited manpower from the late 1790s to 1947. The book is intended for students of colonial history and visitors to the princely states.

The author traces the history of Indian women from the nineteenth century under colonial rule, to the twentieth century after Independence. She begins with the reform movement, established by men to educate women, and demonstrates how education changed their lives, enabling them to take part in public life. Through the women's own accounts, the author has compiled an accessible and immediate record of their achievements over the past two centuries, which will be of interest to students of South Asia and to anyone concerned with women and their history.

In this book, Dr. Stewart Gordon presents the first comprehensive history of the Maratha polity, which was an important regional kingdom in the seventeenth century and the largest political entity of eighteenth century India. He focuses on the origins of the elite families, problems of legitimacy and loyalty, military organization and change, and the development of administration, tax collection and religious patronage. Through the use of a vast array of documents, the author also gives a picture of everyday life in the Maratha polity.

This volume provides a synthesis of some of the most important themes to emerge from the recent proliferation of specialized scholarship on the period of India's transition to colonialism and seeks to reassess the role of Indians in the politics and economics of early colonialism. It discusses new views of the "decline of the Mughals" and the role of the Indian capitalists in the expansion of the English East India Company's trade and urban settlements. It considers the reasons for the inability of indigenous states to withstand the British, but also highlights the relative failure of the...

The Mughals seized political power in north India in 1526 and became the most important artistically active Muslim dynasty on the subcontinent. In this richly illustrated work, Dr. Milo Beach shows how Mughal patronage of the arts was radically innovative for the Indian context and profoundly altered the character of painting in the Rajput Hindu areas of north India. He reveals the different styles and subjects of Mughal and Rajput painting and the interplay of the two traditions. Beach also explores the tolerance each showed toward outside influence and change, demonstrating a uniquely...

The Politics of India since Independence provides a concise but comprehensive analytical study of the major political, cultural, and economic changes and crises in India during the past forty-five years. The organizing focus is on the consequences of the centralizing drives and tendencies of the national leadership of the country to create a strong state, a unified nation, and a dynamic economy, all of which have been placed in serious doubt in recent years.

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has increased in recent years and has played an important part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. David Arnold's wide-ranging analysis combines a discussion of all three fields across the entire colonial period--from the 1860s through to Independence--offering both a survey of recent scholarship and an original overview. Arnold assesses the role of science in the making of colonial India and in the fashioning of Indian responses to British rule.

This volume is the first to offer an overall survey of the architectural and artistic heritage of the Deccan Sultanate and to place this legacy within its historical context. The cultural links which existed between the Deccan and the Middle East, for example, are clearly discernible in Deccani architecture and paintings and a remarkable collection of photographs, many of which have never been published before, testify to such influences. The book will be a source of inspiration to all those interested in the rich and diverse culture of India.

The Mughal empire was one of the largest centralized states in the premodern world and this volume traces the history of this magnificent empire from its creation in 1526 to its breakup in 1720. Richards stresses the dynamic quality of Mughal territorial expansion, their institutional innovations in land revenue, coinage and military organization, ideological change and the relationship between the emperors and Islam. He also analyzes institutions particular to the Mughal empire, such as the jagir system, and explores Mughal India's links with the early modern world.